When I had visited a few members of the Chinese Community who explained to me a few family histories of Oahu's Chinatown I learned alot, however, never had any of them mentioned much about Chinese on other islands. It wouldn't be until I went to the Waipahu's Hawaii Plantation Village that I would get the chance to learn about the China Town on Maui "Tsoong Nyee Society building" replica. This is where I started researching about it and stumbled upon the curious thought of the area of Keokea. I would end up referring to those from the ever so helpful "Kwock Hing Society".
Keokea is in the Hawaiian mapping of the Kula area. It is separated by placing an area of Keokea Ahupuaa which means "The Sound of White Caps" (Kula Wood Area). The sound of white caps refers to the sound of dangerous conditions of wind and waves and are the reflection from the waves at the tips. Going to the north will connect Waiohuli and to the south is Kama'ole that are bottoms of hills that meet the Ma'alaea Bay. Keokea is one of six ahupua‘a of Ka‘ono‘ulu. The area where Keokea is connected to a fishpond, fertile land, and developments in forestry and medical from the sanitarium. The area would develop over time and be known as Maui's China Town where early chinese settlers who were skilled carpenters who mostly came from Southern China to the island of the "Sandalwood Mountains". Cooking with wood was used at the time as more families had to make due with what they had. Even if something was over cooked and slightly burnt or even left too long to roast many of these dishes would still be eaten. In 1800's, there were plots of sweet potatoes that many were replaced by white potatoes for sales to Whaling Ships at the time or those heading tot he California Gold Rush overseas. They would fill their wagons and make their way all the way down to the ships and sell their produce to them. Sometimes they would bring back some food from their delivery and bring fish like 'ama'ama (mullet) and scraped awa (milk fish). There also was Maui's China Town which was pretty dirty as well as crime ridden without much law enforcement for its time. Ingredients of the Maui-China Town would be dried goods like: Shiitake Mushroom (dried fa gu mushrooms), Woodear Mushroom (dried black fungus mushrooms), Dried Kelp Seaweed (Konbu, Hai Dai), Dried Wakame Seaweed, Dried Shrimp, Dried Squid,and Lupcheong Sausage.The Chinese would set up stalls of many canned goods with there known sweet potatoes and white potatoes. Fruits that were sold would be bananas, pineapples. Later on they would sell: sweet onions, cabbages, taro, and more. If food was going bad they would sometimes use additional spice and dates for a rich red color that would mask some of the older food. In 1900s, In the years following there they cultivated a can do attitude for the people living there no matter how they decided to work. They would have built a Cookhouse was used as a Community Cooking House. They would be using very large woks, steamers, pots, pans. With the beauty of the country side the sunsets were said to be breath taking, especially in the times of year that the light fog would roll in. The food that was grown would be eaten or sold, there would be families that would set up residence and even start their own businesses, and there was plenty of delicious food with a hint of smokiness. The next immigrating chinese would arrive and see the different land from where they came from and had to adapt and do things different and search around the land. They would look at what was around and do things slightly different and because it was Hawaii it was different to adapt from the Hawaiians and learn from them as well as use the historic knowledge of the Chinese. There was a ranch, forestry, and agriculture and a Hospital. Chinese families had married into Hawaiian families and recipes started to cross over to satisfy everyone in the family. The Fong Store was a icon of the area and made you really know you got to the residential area. Aunty Violet Fong would calculate costs by hand while Uncle Willie Fong's "Kung Fu Workshop" at the back. Memories were made from the organized newspapers that were delivered to the store with tape with peoples names to pick up their paper. Kids would go to get snacks or if they needed to fill their bike tires as they went off to the park to play softball. The area was known for its imported goods and a specialty of Wood. In Keokea, the cooks who were quite skilled in the arts of cooking over burning wood had needed to find out where to get the wood, so they would seek it out. If there wasn't direct contact over fire a few families would take a large wok and begin cooking with many hungry mouths awaiting the yummy smelling food. Dishes that were shared or found that are as old as the plantation days to the 80s are specialties of families of: Keokea Mushroom Hekka, Hakka Kau Yuk, Kau Yuk Laulau (Kokea Laulau), Stuffed Tofu Pork, and Mushroom Stuff Gau Gee. Garnishes to make the most of meat would be minced, mushrooms minced, ginger minced, black fungus minced, and green onions minced
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