ALOHA HAWAII

The people and the place define the foods of paradise

By Jody Shee

The culinary flavors and traditions of the Aloha State took their time blossoming into a defined regional cuisine. Today, Hawaii is a food destination for locals and travelers alike.

The idea of Hawaiian cuisine as a regional American cuisine premiered in the 1980s when ACF Chef Peter Merriman was working his way up to executive chef of Mauna Lani Resort’s Gallery Restaurant on Hawaii’s Big Island. Chef Merriman, a member of the ACF Kona Kohala Chefs Association, says he was determined to label his fare regional cuisine, but it wasn’t so easy at first; there were no established relationships between chefs and local producers of produce, meat and fish. “When I came, restaurants were just doing their interpretations of local dishes, like lobster teriyaki, in an upscale manner,” Chef Merriman says.

In 1988, he opened his flagship restaurant, Merriman’s Waimea, on the same island while developing relationships with about a dozen other renowned chefs across Hawaii who had similar culinary goals. In 1991, they formed a coalition they called Hawaii Regional Cuisine to build a network of farmers, growers and ranchers from whom they could source local product, benefiting both the chefs and the producers. Chef Merriman served as the first president of this enterprise that set off a food revolution. Today he is chef/owner of ten restaurants throughout the islands. “Over time, as more local products have become available, regional cuisine has come to focus more on locally produced ingredients rather than just techniques from local people,” he says.

A Melting Pot Of Cuisines

As with any authentic regional cuisine, the dishes should reflect the culture. Thus, in Merriman’s view, “The cuisine of Hawaii is about the immigrants.”

With a population of about 1.4 million, fewer than 10% of Hawaii’s residents are native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, according to recent census data. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, sugar and pineapple plantation owners recruited workers from such locales as China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Portugal, says Joan Namkoong , author of “A Korean Kitchen: Traditional Recipes With an Island Twist,” “The Food Lover’s Guide to Honolulu” and other Hawaiian-centric books and retired food editor for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the largest daily newspaper in Hawaii. These ethnic groups remain on the islands and make up the majority of the population, which informs the local cuisine.

“Plantation workers shared their foods in the sugar fields over lunch, and everyone adapted to everyone else’s cuisine,” she says. “Hawaii is really a melting pot for cuisines and is the basis for the local food here in Hawaii.”

Namkoong points to saimin, the popular comfort soup of Hawaii. “It’s a noodle dish in broth,” she says. “It typically uses Chinese noodles in Japanese broth. It’s not ramen because it’s a different broth.” The broth is actually a dashi typically made with kombu, dried mushrooms and dried shrimp or bonito and garnished with green onions and kamaboko (fish cake), but it also sometimes features Chinese char siu, Spam, a sliced egg and/or shredded nori.

Poke, one of the most popular Hawaiian breakouts to the mainland, is indigenous to the islands. Poke is a Hawaiian term that means “to cut into small pieces.” Originally poke was made with raw fish, not always tuna, and seasoned with salt, roasted candlenut and seaweed, Namkoong says. The candlenut tree, also known as the kukui tree, is Hawaii’s state tree. Later, with adaptations from other cultures, poke took on such ingredients as soy sauce, sesame oil, chili peppers, onions, wasabi and mayonnaise.

Chef Merriman has his own poke views; namely, he’s not a fan of mayonnaise. “I like the cleaner flavor of fresh fish, because the quality of our fish in Hawaii is so good,” he says. “I like to include ginger, chili pepper and avocado, keeping it fairly simple so as not to mask the beautiful qualities of fresh fish.”

The sugar plantation lunches of old spawned what is now Hawaii’s iconic plate lunch served in local eateries. In divided-tray fashion, it’s usually two scoops of rice, a protein and macaroni pasta salad, Namkoong describes. The protein could be braised short ribs, fried chicken or teriyaki chicken, for example. “The key is that it’s carb and protein heavy with very little vegetables,” she says. “Sometimes restaurants will substitute green salad in place of mac salad.”

New Tastes And Traditions

Dishes at high-end restaurants in Hawaii always seem to balance ethnic heritage with island ingredients and modern twists.

Executive Chef/Partner Robynne Maii of Fête in Honolulu serves seasonal New American farm-to-table cuisine. “We want to cook food that is delicious and familiar, but we take creative liberties based on what’s available to us locally,” says Maii, the 2022 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef — Northwest and Pacific and the first woman chef from Hawaii to win. Maii was born and raised on Hawaii’s Big Island. Her grandparents are from Korea, so she grew up eating Hawaiian Korean food. Korean bavette is on the menu at Fête in honor of her heritage. The dish features local grass-fed grilled bavette, gochujang sauce, gingerscallion fried rice, sunny local egg and Asian pear slaw.

Adding a local touch to the restaurant’s spaghetti carbonara, Chef Maii uses a mix of slab bacon and Portuguese sausage. “It’s clearly not authentic, but it’s just as delicious,” she says.

For Chef Maii’s Kauai coconut prawns dish, she fries the black pepper-seasoned prawns in coconut oil, which is indigenous to Hawaii. Toward the end of the cooking time, she adds curry leaves from plants that grow everywhere on the islands. She then finishes with a quick squeeze of local lime and a sprinkling of toasted coconut.

Chef Merriman features smoked taro hummus on the appetizer menu as a way to introduce guests to taro, which is among what he calls canoe crops — items that native Hawaiians brought with them from elsewhere. “Originally there weren’t a lot of food sources on the island because we’re so isolated,” he says. “Bananas, sweet potatoes, taro and wild pig were all brought here in canoes.”

Just Desserts

With a myriad of tropical fruits, desserts benefit from a paintbox of flavors combined with cultures. Desserts are Michelle Karr-Ueoka’s specialty as chef/ owner and pastry chef at MW Restaurant in Honolulu. Her own family is a diverse melding of cultures. “I’m Japanese, Danish, Dutch and German,” she says. “My grandfather was from Ireland, and my grandparents are from Japan.”