HONOLULU Magazine May 2023

Where Are The Hawaiian Chefs?

P.57

HOST A HAWAIIAN GAME NIGHT P13 | HONORING THE “KAMA‘ĀINA OF THE YEAR” P16 | EAT MORE LIMU P22

LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1888

We asked a diverse group of leaders in the Native Hawaiian community who they see as the up-and-comers guiding Hawai‘i into the future— in education, tourism, community activism and more.

Hāwane Rios at Pu‘uhuluhulu on Hawai‘i Island

WE ASKED OUR STAFF

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My friends and I are very serious Pictionary players. You think “third door on the left” is an impossible prompt? Not when Renee and I team up. Which is why our partnership has been banned— we’re unbeatable.

“What’s your favorite game?”

For inquiries, contact our circulation department: Phone: (808) 534-7520 Email: circulation@pacificbasin.net Publisher: Donna Kodama-Yee (808) 534-7501 | donnaky@honolulumagazine.com Associate Publisher

Meghan Thibault

editorial design Executive Editor

Katrina Valcourt Editor at Large

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YES!

Martha Cheng

Food & Dining Managing Editor

Creative Director

I love playing (and winning!)

Trivial Pursuit—a game created by some fellow Canadians in the early ’80s.

James Nakamura | (808) 534-7151 jnakamura@honolulumagazine.com Senior Art Director

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Mari Taketa

Contributing Dining Editor

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Senior Editor

I love cribbage!

Growing up, my family played it all the time and we even gifted my dad a custommade board.

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Elroy Garcia

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I adore the music and the world you get to explore on a wondrous adventure!

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4 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

My family loves musical chairs!!

We all are very competitive and we get very physical when we play!

Home Ownership is IMPOSSIBLE

Let us help make your dream of home ownership a reality.

We get it, saving up for a home in Hawai’i is a big task. So our experienced ASB bankers are here to help you save thousands on your closing costs and mortgage insurance with our competitive rates and personalized financing promotions like these: First Time Home Buyer and Purchase Promotions Hometown Heroes Promotion for teachers, first responders and more VA loans, jumbo loans, construction loans and more Plus, save yourself time by using our fast, easy and secure online mortgage application.

We also offer a home loan program for Department of Hawaiian Home Land beneficiaries!

For a complete list of our mortgage promotions and details, scan the QR code or visit asbhawaii.com/promotions.

MKT-23.01.010.a5(2/23)

A R A N C I N O AT T H E K A H A L A C E L E B R AT E S 1 0 TH A N N I V E R S A R Y

ale ‘Aina Gold award-winning Italian restaurant Arancino at The Kahala has been the destination for locals and visitors seeking exceptional unique Italian cuisine, marking its 10th year at the iconic Kahala Hotel & Resort this May. Grazie Mille & Mahalo to all of our guests who have supported us over the years!

2022 Best Italian Restaurant GOLD Best Oahu Restaurant FINALIST

Best Italian Restaurant GOLD

Best Italian Restaurant GOLD Best Tasting Menu BRONZE

Best Italian Restaurant GOLD

Best Italian Restaurant SILVER Best Oahu Restaurant TOP WRITE-IN

Best Italian Restaurant GOLD Best Oahu Restaurant FINALIST

Best Italian Restaurant BRONZE

Best Italian Restaurant BRONZE

TAGLIATELLE AI FRUTTI DI MARE

2014 Best Uni Pasta

Best Italian Restaurant FINALIST

Arancino at The Kahala The Kahala Hotel 808-380-4400 @arancinokahala HAKU LEI INSALATA

www.arancino.com

MAY 2023 | VOL.LVII I NO. 9

28 6 ‘Ōiwi to Watch We asked leaders in the Native Hawaiian community who they see as the up-and-comers guiding Hawai‘i into the future.

Here are six to watch. by kai andersen, jasmine chagnon, robbie dingeman and kawehi haug

42 The Native Hawaiian Health Crisis It’s a matter of fact: Being Hawaiian increases your risk of chronic illness and an early death. Despite a decadeslong effort to rehabilitate the health of the Hawaiian people, there’s much more work to be done. by christine hitt

photo: courtney mau visual

Mango haupia from Haili’s Hawaiian Food, one of O‘ahu’s two Hawaiian restaurants owned by Native Hawaiians. Read more on page 57.

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 7

MAY 2023 | VOL. LVII NO. 9

DEPARTMENTS

10 Welcome to the Issue

A Reason to Celebrate We’re moving in the right direction. by katrina valcourt

13 Calabash

57 ‘Ono

loved festival 15 May Picks 16 Meet Historic Hawai‘i Foundation’s Kama‘āina of the Year 18 New signs of life in the Ala Wai Canal 20 Must see: ‘Ai Pōhaku, Stone Eaters 21 Downtown’s alternative bookstore 22 The Waimānalo Limu Hui 23 From Our Files

by martha cheng

Food for Thought How can Hawai‘i establish food sovereignty? Ideas from Italy and Ireland inspire.

25 Style

by makana wilhelm, as told to martha cheng

14 A new chapter for a well-

In the restaurant industry, Native Hawaiian food traditions are rarely represented by Hawaiian chefs. Here, two talk about cultural awakening and a personal history that keeps Native customs alive.

64 Afterthoughts

On our radar: botanical-inspired fashions haute off the runway, cool finds from up-and-coming Native Hawaiian brands, and culture-driven designs from a local architecture firm. by stacey makiya and brie thalmann

Where Are The Hawaiian Chefs?

P.57

HOST A HAWAIIAN GAME NIGHT P13 | HONORING THE “KAMA‘ĀINA OF THE YEAR” P16 | EAT MORE LIMU P22

6 ‘ŌIWI TO WATCH

Limu lepe ‘ula‘ula

LOCALLY OWNED SINCE 1888

A custom-made jacket from Makuahine Vintage

Special Promotional Section

– LAHUI RISING j In this special issue, we highlight Native Hawaiians—visionary new leaders in our Islands who are rising up in their spheres—and how they are making an impact for a better Hawai‘i.

➸ In this special issue, we highlight Native Hawaiians—visionary new leaders in our Islands who are rising up in their spheres—and how they are making an impact for a better Hawai‘i.

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM August 2020 8

Hāwane Rios at Pu‘uhuluhulu on Hawai‘i Island

ON THE COVER Hāwane Rios at Pu‘uhuluhulu on Hawai‘i Island.

Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

(ISSN 0441-2044) © 2023 PacificBasin Communications, LLC. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized copying, distribution, or adaptation is strictly prohibited and will result in liability of up to $100,000.

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photos: aaron k. yoshino

MAY 2023 | VOLUME LVII NO. 9 | $5.99

SPECIAL PARTNER CONTENT

We asked a diverse group of leaders in the Native Hawaiian community who they see as the up-and-comers guiding Hawai‘i into the future— in education, tourism, community activism and more.

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HI_LC_Honolulu Magazine_May 2023.indd 1

3/14/23 4:13 PM

Welcome to the Issue

Feature Contributors

A Reason to Celebrate We’re moving in the right direction.

arrives this month: May 11 marks the end of the national COVID-19 emergency.

For many, not much will change— restrictions ended long ago, and testing, vaccines and treatments seem to have gotten things largely under control. But the disease hasn’t gone away—as of March, before Johns Hopkins stopped tracking data 24/7, it reported a global average of more than 140,000 new cases and 1,000 deaths a day. And COVID is still a source of concern for those with compromised immune systems or prolonged effects from earlier infections. That rings especially true for many Native Hawaiians: As a group, they face a higher risk of complications because their rate of developing chronic diseases is three times greater than any other ethnic group in Hawai‘i, according to a 2020 study. It’s a problem whose causes go back centuries. Writer Christine Hitt delves into what’s being done about the Native Hawaiian health crisis on page 42.

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so throughout this issue we focus on Native Hawaiians working to preserve and perpetuate Indigenous culture through design, food and leadership. Our main feature spotlights six people, and we asked each of them to tell us about their background and what they hope to accomplish in Hawai‘i for a series of videos you’ll find online at honolulumagazine.com in May. We hope you enjoy the expanded digital presence of our stories on our website and social media. And though scrolling on a phone or screen can never replicate the feeling of a new issue of HONOLULU in your hands, we appreciate our readers, however you arrive.

KATRINA VALCOURT

Executive Editor

10 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

Kawehi Haug is a professional baker who used to be a journalist; she now writes simply for the joy of it. Born and raised Hawaiian, her favorite stories to tell are the ones about home. She contributed profiles of Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Punihei Lipe (page 30), Ikaika Rogerson (page 38) and Hāwane Rios (page 40).

A freelance writer from O‘ahu, Christine Hitt has been covering our Islands for 15 years. She’s a Kamehameha Schools and University of Hawai‘i graduate, and her work has been seen in the Los Angeles Times, SFGATE, Flux, Mana, HAWAI‘I and HONOLULU, among others. She often focuses on Native Hawaiian culture and issues.

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF KAI ANDERSEN, KAWEHI HAUG AND CHRISTINE HITT

T

HE DAY WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR

A West O‘ahu native and Kamehameha Schools graduate, Kai Andersen’s adventuresome career spans marketing, media and cultural institutions in New York, Honolulu and Puerto Rico. After eight years in the Caribbean, he looks forward to beginning a new chapter in Hawai‘i and the Pacific in 2023. Andersen is a consummate fan of the Kaimana Beach Hotel—you’ll find his article about its general manager, Ha‘aheo Zablan, on page 32.

SH ADES OF BLU E A ND SOM ET H I NG NEW

A LO H A L A N E | G U C C I | M A I S O N M A R G I E L A | N A H O K U | S U N R I S E S H AC K | VA L E X T R A | Z A R A

S H O P P I N G & D I N I N G AT T H E H E A R T O F T H E PA C I F I C ALAMOANACENTER.COM

We gathered some of the top breakfast and brunch restaurants for a morning of delicious sweet and savory bites, bloody marys and mimosas and entertainment at the Outrigger Reef Waikīkī Beach Resort.

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTICIPATING RESTAURANTS: Over Easy, Café Kaila, Koko Head Café, Fig and Ginger, Pop Culture, Aloha Donut Co. and Kani Ka Pila Grille A BIG MAHALO to our presenting sponsor American Savings Bank and supporting sponsors

SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

➸ KAMA‘ĀINA OF THE YEAR p. 16 // NEW LIFE IN THE ALA WAI p. 18 // EAT MORE LIMU p. 22

Calabash

P E O P L E P L A C E S

PHOTO: AARON K. YOSHINO

C U L T U R E

Game On

➸ MOVE OVER, MONOPOLY. Island game nights have been going local thanks to Akamai, the new limited-edition board game that challenges players’ knowledge of Hawaiian culture. Native Hawaiian and longtime educator Pūlama Collier (who’s logged 30 years teaching Hawaiian language and music) originally dreamt up the game during quarantine as a deliverable for her own studies with EA Ecoversity, a Hawaiian culture-based higher education program. She then teamed up with her mentor, scholar-cultural practitioner Manulani Aluli Meyer, to develop it for a larger audience and tapped local artist Alika Spahn Naihe to help bring the concept to life with vibrant illustrations.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 13

calabash | THINGS TO DO

Follow @worldwidewalls on Instagram for updates.

High-Resolution Evolution Big moves are coming this month for Hawai‘i’s beloved, larger-than-life mural and street art festival.

BY N ATA L I E S C H A C K

“It’s a fun, family-friendly way to learn about Hawai‘i in a broad perspective, from the earliest migrations, connecting to land and place, to Maunakea and our struggle to reclaim our identity, to our sacred places,” says Collier. Community games popped up first on Maui, where Collier lives, followed by Hawai‘i Island and now O‘ahu—Wai Wai Collective and Nā Mea Hawai‘i have hosted a few at the Arts & Letters space in Downtown-Chinatown.

Up to eight players compete, rolling dice and answering trivia questions (the set includes 600) to advance their pieces around the board and earn special cards. Topics range from historical (the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom) to local-kine and humorous (name three things you use rubbah slippahs for). And rules and strategies are rooted in Hawaiian values—the first person to roll is the elder and to use certain cards you must share knowledge and work together with other players—learned and internalized along the way. “It’s a Hawaiian game played in a Hawaiian way,” Collier says. Available at playakamai.com, @playakamai, on O‘ahu at Nā Mea Hawai‘i, Ward Centre, (808) 596-8885.

14 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

HEN POW! WOW! first entered the scene in Kaka‘ako,

there really wasn’t much of a scene to speak of. The area consisted primarily of industrial buildings and warehouses—a far cry from the art destination and sought-after residential neighborhood it is today, thanks in part to the festival itself.

And while it’s always fun to look at the murals and celebrate with an annual block party, 2023 marks a move in a direction aligned with its core values of giving back to the community, particularly in areas most in need of beautification, invigoration and community love. In late May, the festival—now known as World Wide Walls—will move to Kalihi, where artists will paint murals at the Pālama Settlement community center.

World Wide Walls founder Jasper Wong says he’s taught art classes at the center and has seen the challenges some of the students face with accessibility and resources. A lot of the kids didn’t have internet service at home, and the vast majority didn’t have iPads on which to do the digital artwork he was teaching. Wong responded by working with local politicians to raise money to buy the students iPads. The experience highlighted for him just how deserving this slice of Honolulu is for some love, attention and art. He hopes to expand to more venues in Kalihi by the time the festival rolls around but was still working out the details as of press time.

“We’ve seen firsthand the positive impact art can have on a community, on a neighborhood, how it pretty much changes the fabric of the community,” Wong says. “It also feels safer, it gets foot traffic, it benefits the businesses. So we thought we should give back to communities that really need it.”

photos: aaron k. yoshino; opposite page: courtesy of shinnyo lantern floating hawai‘i, aaron k. yoshino, courtesy of hawai‘i contemporary

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

World Wide Walls founder Jasper Wong works on his piece for the first Pow! Wow! Hawai‘i in 2011.

May 1 is Lei Day! Celebrate at Kapi‘olani Park from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

calabash | THINGS TO DO

May Picks

For more things to do visit honolulum agazi things-to ne.com/ -do

Support Hawai‘i’s contemporary art, check out the live version of a ’90s blockbuster, and eat as much poke as your belly can handle.

CONCERT

The Doobie Brothers

BY J U L I E S TA N L E Y

May 5 / 7 p.m.

Waikīkī Shell / $49.50–$179.50 ART

Hawai‘i Contemporary artXchange May 20–28 / various times Royal Hawaiian Center / various prices

COMMUNITY

Shinnyo Lantern Floating May 29 / 6:30 p.m.

Ala Moana Beach / free After a three-year hiatus, this beautifully moving ceremony is returning to Ala Moana Beach for Memorial Day. Send off candle-filled lanterns at sunset in honor and remembrance of departed service members and other loved ones. Lanterns are available for free the day of the event, but make sure to arrive early as this popular event draws a large crowd. lanternfloatinghawaii.com, @shinnyolanternfloatinghawaii

This weeklong event and fundraiser supports artists and the nonprofit Hawai‘i Contemporary, which hosts the Hawai‘i Triennial art exhibition. Attendees can enjoy a range of experiences, from an immersive benefit (tickets start at $1,000) to free public programs and viewings of professional art up for auction, plus a free young contemporaries exhibit featuring budding local artists. Though the next triennial isn’t until 2025, Hawai‘i Contemporary plans to continue providing access to art and engaging the community year-round. hawaiicontemporary.org/artxchange, @hawaiicontemporary

COMEDY

Natasha Leggero and Moshe Kasher May 19 / 6:30 and 9 p.m.

Blue Note Hawai‘i / $35–$45 This married duo’s sharp-witted comedy covers relatable topics like children, relationships and life’s hilarious daily mishaps. bluenotehawaii.com, @bluenotehawaii CONCERT

Bernadette Peters May 27 / 8 p.m.

Hawai‘i Theatre / $89–$130 Let this renowned Broadway star— and Grammy Award-winning artist— serenade you with musical theater standards and hits from her own albums. hawaiitheatre.com, @officialbernadettepeters THEATER

FESTIVAL

The Bodyguard - The Musical

Frolic Hawai‘i’s Poke Fest

May 26–June 11 / Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

May 20 / 4–8 p.m.

Ka Makana Ali‘i, Kapolei / free admission More than a dozen O‘ahu poke shops and restaurants will sell lineups of classic poke and new creations special to this event. Stick around for live entertainment throughout the day, including a set by Kimié Miner, and don’t forget to vote for your favorite dish; the winner will be crowned the new King of Poke Fest. Lines can get long, so we recommend having a game plan before you arrive. Find the list of vendors and what they’ll be offering on our website. honolulumagazine.com/frolic-hawaii, @frolichawaii

Come join this Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band for its 50th anniversary tour. Lounge on the lawn or rock in your seats to hits such as “Listen to the Music,” “Long Train Running,” and “Black Water.” blaisdellcenter.com, @doobiebrothersofficial

Diamond Head Theatre / $27–$52 Reminisce about the ’90s during this month’s opening weekend of this popular musical with songs originally recorded by Whitney Houston. diamondheadtheatre.com, @diamondheadtheatre

 Tom Haar (b. 1941 Tokyo; lives and works in Honolulu); Yayoi Kusama in her New York studio, 1971; Print for an exhibit in 2017; Gelatin silver print, artist proof; 18.75 x 12.75 in; 24 x 20 in (framed)

➸ Looking to get the word out about your upcoming event or activity?

Email info@honolulumagazine.com.

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 15

calabash | CULTURE



photo: aaron k. yoshino

Heather Haunani Giugni, ‘Ulu‘ulu special collections/ producer

16 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

Her first series, Enduring Pride: E Mau Ana Ka Ha‘aheo, in 1986-87 featured Hawaiians both in front of and behind the camera, with host Karen Keawehawai‘i.

Film Fighter A lifelong Native Hawaiian storyteller is being honored as “kama‘āina of the year” for her documentary work and for founding a public archive that preserves film and video images.

BY ROBBIE DINGEMAN

F

ILMMAKER HEATHER HAUNANI GIUGNI

can’t wait to share her latest projects exploring Hawai‘i’s unique culture, food and arts. That storyteller’s passion helps to explain how she also founded the state’s film and video archives.

This year, her projects connect food and culture and include profiles of Native Hawaiian artists. Her film work, which began in the early 1980s when she spent six years working behind the scenes in the KGMB newsroom, became more focused in the mid’80s, when she launched an independent production company to tell stories of the resurgence of Native Hawaiians—“people that just stepped up, stepped out and fought for whatever that single thing [was] that they believed in,” says Giugni (pronounced ju-knee).

“For me, it was using the camera as a tool to make an impact in our kānaka maoli community and to make change happen wherever it could happen.”

She’s taken Hawai‘i’s diverse food history to a nationwide audience as the Emmy Award-winning executive producer of Family Ingredients, which began airing nationally on PBS with chef Ed Kenney in 2014.

The third season debuts this summer.

Since 2006, Giugni has been executive producer of the Kamehameha Schools Song Contest broadcast.

She has also created various Hawai‘i-based television series and documentaries that highlight the Native Hawaiian community.

Giugni’s career behind the camera began at a time when women rarely appeared in production film credits outside of hair and makeup. Few films focused on Indigenous issues. But by 1993, the U.S. government acknowledged and apologized for the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy a century before, and 20,000 people marched at ‘Iolani Palace, and interest in Hawaiian programming rose.

After the death of her father, who had served as chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, Giugni pushed for the creation of an archive of Hawai‘i film and video resources. Inouye steered Congress to commemorate his friend with funds that in 2009 created ‘Ulu‘ulu: The Henry Ku‘ualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Ha-

“For me, it was using the camera as a tool to make an impact in our kānaka maoli community and to make change happen wherever it could happen.”

–HEATHER HAUNANI GIUGNI

wai‘i. It’s home to 70,000 films and video recordings that represent the history of Hawai‘i from the 1920s to the present, from home movies to professional productions. The fragile nature of film and video means that many images had already disintegrated or been dumped before the archive was formed to store them properly.

Historic Hawai‘i Foundation named Giugni its 2023 “kama‘āina of the year,” describing her as “the consummate dot-connector” and praising her vision to preserve a treasure trove for researchers, historians and storytellers. “They are priceless sources of information for all generations,” says foundation executive director Kiersten Faulkner.

Historic Hawai‘i Foundation will present the “kama‘āina of the year” award to Giugni at a May 13 fundraiser at The Royal Hawaiian hotel. historichawaii.org/koy-2023 ‘Ulu‘ulu: The Henry Ku‘ualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawai‘i is closed to in-person visits until renovations are completed at the UH West O‘ahu library building that normally houses the collection.

The archive remains accessible online. uluulu.hawaii.edu HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 17

calabash | ENVIRONMENT

Signs of Life Midway through the Genki Ala Wai Project, the notorious waterway shows impressive results.

BY J U L I E S TA N L E Y

members of the Genki Ala Wai Project prepare for the blessing ceremony of their fourth launch site, behind the Hawai‘i Convention Center. Honolulu Festival representatives, volunteers and members of the media are each handed their own Genki Ball to throw into the Ala Wai; the tennis ball-sized “mud ball” is like a rock, surprisingly dense and dry. It’s hard to believe that it can help clear out decades of pollution in the canal.

Chikako Nago, Genki’s business liaison, says that “all the happy energy is in each ball.” As Kumu Leilani Kaho‘āno begins the March ceremony she mentions that the site was already blessed by a visit from a Hawaiian monk seal the week prior. We line up along the wall and with a “kahi, lua, kolu, Genki hou!” proceed to toss the Genki Balls into the canal. The rippled reflections spread as Kaho‘āno continues her chant and song.

The Genki Ala Wai Project started in 2019, its goal to make the canal fishable and swimmable by 2026 using bioremediation (read more at bit.ly/hn-genki-balls).

Hiromichi Nago, the project’s technical adviser and president of EM Hawai‘i, which makes the balls, explains how microbes inside the balls digest pollutants, and “as the Genki Balls absorb water, the microbes are released and they start to work further downstream as they move with the tide.” Now, about halfway through its projected timeline, the team believes it’s on track—and gaining momentum.

18 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

At first glance, it may not seem like much has changed in the Ala Wai; its reputation as a health hazard due to pollution and bacteria is as strong as ever. But the numbers collected by the Department of Health at the Genki Ala Wai test sites tell a different story. In one Genki launch and test area, sludge levels are down from as high as 21 inches to as little as 5 inches. Colony-forming units, or cfu, of enterococci—which indicate the presence of fecal matter—initially ranged on the high end from 697 to 1,298 cfu, suggesting potential water contamination. Those levels are now at an average of 41 cfu, nearing the EPA safe standard of 35 cfu for recreational water. But don’t jump in just yet. More consistently low measurements spanning a wider portion of the Ala Wai will be necessary to deem it safe for recreational purposes.

As Nago walks me through the data, he says that, as with any ecosystem, the results will fluctuate depending on heavy rains and other environmental factors. But things are looking up overall. Besides the numbers, an-

photos: aaron k. yoshino

A

S THE MORNING SUN PEEKS OUT OVER LĒ‘AHI,

The Genki Ala Wai Project’s fourth launch site, at right

A bowl of Genki Balls in 2019

“As the Genki Balls absorb water, the microbes are released and they start to work further downstream as they move with the tide.”

–HIROMICHI NAGO

other sign of the project’s success is the return of diverse aquatic wildlife: weke (goatfish), large ‘anae (full-sized mullets), schools of ‘ama‘ama (baby mullets), āholehole (Hawaiian flagtail), kākū (barracuda), pāpio (baby ulua) and moi (threadfish), Nago says. Recent videos on social media show a monk seal and multiple turtles in different parts of the canal. And now, the reef is visible in areas where it had been covered in sludge for decades.

Even after the 2026 projected completion of the Genki Ala Wai Project, maintenance of the Ala Wai will be ongoing. Nago talks about eventually expanding to the streams that empty into the canal, and how the success of this project could help set a precedent for the rest of the world. The Genki Ala Wai Project team, which says it’s determined to provide a healthy Ala Wai and a better future for the community, envisions the canal as a vibrant and community-driven landmark with seating along the sidewalk and keiki playing.

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 19

For more info and the list of participating artists, visit puuhonua-society.org.

calabash | ARTS

Kānaka Artistry A major exhibition of Hawaiian contemporary art is on display at University of Hawai‘i campuses this spring and summer.

BY BRIE THALMANN

‘Ai Pōhaku, Stone Eaters brings together multimedia works by nearly 40 Native Hawaiian artists—poets, painters, carvers, weavers, filmmakers, photographers and musicians—from across the Islands.

Curated by Drew Kahua‘āina Broderick, Josh Tengan and Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu, the six-part series explores the concepts of perseverance and resistance through creative expression and reflects the richness of the Native Hawaiian contemporary art movement that began in the 1970s. What’s especially noteworthy is that it’s been more than 20 years since a largescale exhibit of this kind has been presented within the University of Hawai‘i system, a topic addressed throughout the exhibit along with the lack of Native Hawaiian viewpoints in academia and systemic racism.

The exhibit opened at UH Mānoa in January; though it completed its initial run there, find different portions of the exhibit at galleries across the island through August:

Gallery ‘Iolani, Windward Community College

East-West Center Gallery, UH Mānoa

45-720 Kea‘ahala Road, Kāne‘ohe, (808) 236-9155, gallery.windward.hawaii.edu

John A. Burns Hall, 1601 East-West Road, (808) 944-7177, arts.eastwestcenter.org

Free admission, open Sunday through Friday, 1–5 p.m.

Koa Gallery, Kapi‘olani Community College 4303 Diamond Head Road, (808) 734-9374, kapiolani.hawaii.edu Free admission, open Wednesday 5–8 p.m., through Aug. 13

20 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

Free admission, open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Sunday, noon–4 p.m., through Aug. 13 Hō‘ikeākea Gallery, Leeward Community College Opening spring 2023, leeward.hawaii.edu May 1–Aug. 25

photos: courtesy of sheika alghezawi/university of hawai‘i art & art history department; opposite page: brie thalmann, steffen & christin

A

RT FANS, TAKE NOTE .

photos: courtesy of sheika alghezawi/university of hawai‘i art & art history department; opposite page: steffen & christin, brie thalmann

calabash | BOOKS

A Novel Approach Skull-Face Bookstore, Honolulu’s newest indie bookshop, opens with a deep, dark, nerdy and weird collection of books and music.

BY BRIE THALMANN

Y

OU MAY ALREADY BE FAMILIAR with the owners of Skull-Face Bookstore, husband-and-wife duo Josh Spencer and Jenna Hipp Spencer, from their popular shops The Last Bookstore and Lost Books in Los Angeles. But while their California spots cater to a broad audience, Josh Spencer decided that if he was going to open a bookstore in his home state (he grew up as a surfer-skater kid in Hawai‘i Kai), it might as well be a true reflection of his own unique tastes.

Skull-Face’s window displays are the first hints that this isn’t your average bookstore. A skeleton floats midair, caught in the beam of a flying saucer, while aliens mingle with earthlings in trippy beach scenes. While visiting friends and family, the couple found themselves falling for Downtown-Chinatown. “It feels real and organic. It has history behind it and kind of a rough edge to it, which goes well with our personalities and what we like,” Spencer says.

Inside, woven tapestries featuring mythological creatures hang from the ceiling. The walls are plastered with retro movie posters, flyers for punk shows and surf contests, and comic strips. “I wanted it to be overstimulation with a maximalist feel. I covered the walls with things that meant something to me— shows I’d watch, movies I love, bands that I liked,” says Spencer. “I also wanted to make it feel like somebody’s bedroom in a way and cover it with posters and artwork, and have these really cool blankets.”

As for the books, Spencer handpicks each and every one. “There seemed to

be a void on the island for the kinds of things that I personally love—darker, weirder, more action-oriented stuff, everything from punk rock to ancient Roman and Greek history to science fiction,” he says. “It’s kind of a mash-up of nerdy stuff and really hip stuff.”

Instead of run-of-the-mill category names, you’ll find fashion and tattoo books filed under “Art on Bodies.” Science fiction and fantasy favorites, such as Dune and Sarah J. Maas’ fairy series, fall under “Swords, Magic, Lasers and Spaceships!” The shop also boasts a large Tolkien selection, including its most expensive item, a $250 red leather-bound copy of The Lord of the Rings filled with the author’s hand-drawn illustrations. The rest of the shelves feature everything from poetry and military history to classic literature and cookbooks inspired by pop culture.

Skull-Face also carries an extensive vinyl selection of ’90s grunge and alternative rock, reggae, funk, blues and jazz. There’s a used DVD section built around horror, sci-fi, action and anime, plus surf, snow and music documentaries. And in the last few weeks of each month, the shop buys and trades DVDs, along with records and books.

All of this combines to create a richness of experience that the Amazons of the world simply can’t duplicate. And while some may think it risky to eschew the mainstream for the offbeat, Skull-Face bookstore is already finding its people. “Since day one, everybody that comes in is like, how did you know? We needed this!”

Skull-Face Bookstore, 1148 Bethel St., @skullfacehawaii HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 21

calabash | FOOD



Hear more from Rogerson on page 38.

Limu huluhulu waena

Limu lepe ‘ula‘ula

Home Plate



Restoring traditional limu practices, one planting at a time.

BY M A R I TA K E TA

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IMU KOHU, WAWAE‘IOLE, LIMU MANAUEA:

Remember when fresh seaweed washed up on beaches, ready to be gathered and cooked? Overharvesting, urbanization, climate change and other factors have relegated the days of abundant limu to memory in many places, but now there’s reason for hope. Efforts to propagate different species are blooming around the state, and on O‘ahu at least, one is starting to take root.

Off Kaiona Beach along the curving sweep of Waimānalo Bay, the Waimānalo Limu Hui has been planting limu manauea, or ogo, the Japanese name it’s widely known by. Today it’s the most common limu for poke. But early Hawaiians also chopped, salted and mixed it with meat or other seaweeds, according to The Limu Eater: A Cookbook of Hawaiian Seaweed. The reprint of Heather J. Fortner’s vintage 1978 collection came out last fall, chronicling 17 types of limu and 85 recipes for everything from pickles and salads to limu meatballs, tuna-tofu-limu patties, and martinis with limu lipoa “olives.” The Limu Eater tells us that the other seaweed the hui has been planting, the bright red lepe ‘ula‘ula, Hawaiian for the rooster’s cockscomb it resembles, was used to thicken stews and soups. “It keeps well if dried rapidly in the sun and stored in a jar,” Fortner writes. “The tasty dried fronds can be served as a snack, somewhat like potato chips.”

Plantings of both types of limu disappear within hours, the hui’s Ikaika Rogerson says, signs that the bay’s ‘oama, ‘omilu and other fish are eating them—and presumably distributing the spores westward with the currents, toward Bellows Beach. The hui is also working with Sea Life Park to raise huluhulu waena and ‘ekaha, seaweeds that do well in brackish water. “When it becomes abundant once again, people can harvest their own limu, like what we used to do years ago,” Rogerson says. “My hope is that a kupuna could go buy limu ‘ele‘ele at Foodland so she can have that with her beef stew for her dinner. That would be an awesome goal. Why couldn’t that happen?”

 Limu ‘ekaha

Limu lepe ‘ula‘ula



Limu manauea “ogo” 

 Find the cookbook through nativebookshawaii.org.

22 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

photos: aaron k. yoshino

 waimanalolimuhui.org

calabash | FROM OUR FILES

The battle of Nu‘uanu was fought in May 1795.

May HONOLULU Magazine emerged from Paradise of the Pacific, a publication commissioned by King Kalākaua that began in 1888, making it the oldest continuously published magazine west of the Mississippi. Each month we take advantage of its enviable archive with a nostalgic dive into the past. For this issue, we flipped back 65 years to see what the city was buzzing about in May 1958.

BY J U L I E S TA N L E Y

a day to honor the lei, and it is kamaaina writer Grace Tower Warren who suggested May 1 as the appropriate date.” The festival—nearing its 100th anniversary—is still held every year at Kapi‘olani Park, a reminder of Hawai‘i’s rich cultural heritage.

Symbols of Hawai‘i The May ’58 cover features hula dancers wearing ti leaf skirts and colorful lei, an image that many people still picture when thinking of Hawai‘i. A three-page feature inside on Lei Day explains the significance of the lei to Hawai‘i. “A lei is a likeness or portrait of the character of Hawaii … a lei is the symbol of the natural beauty and song, the friendliness and love in Hawaii.” Today the lei continues to embody the spirit of aloha.

“May Day is Lei Day”

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LTHOUGH THE HISTORY OF THE LEI ITSELF

dates back to Polynesian voyagers, Paradise explains the origin of “Lei Day,” which was first celebrated in 1928. “Hawaii’s wellloved poet [Don Blanding] suggested the idea of

Learn more about the evolution of covers in HONOLULU Magazine and Paradise of the Pacific: 125 Years of Covers, available at shop.honolulumagazine.com.

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 23

FROLICHAWAII.COM FOLLOW US @FROLICHAWAII

MAY

2023

ST Y L I S H F I N D S F RO M N AT I V E H AWA I I A N D E S I G N E R S P. 2 6 / / STO RY T E L L I N G T H RO U G H A RC H I T E C T U R A L D E S I G N P. 2 7

BY S TA C E Y M A K I YA A N D B R I E T H A L M A N N

Golden Hour We’re living for this Loewe leaf top that mirrors kalo. The paper-thin texture, organic heart shape and lifelike vein patterns give major Hawai‘i vibes. Our model, Keau Fey, who is Native Hawaiian and a lover of squid lū‘au, is obsessed with this look and shares what it’s like to be a minority in the modeling world.

PHOTO: AARON K. YOSHINO; MAKEUP/HAIR: MARIAH MELANIE

Read more on page 26 

Top, $1,300, Ala Moana Center, (808) 207-6554, loewe.com, @loewe.

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 25

style | ONES TO WATCH

Hawaiian Made Heart, heritage and high-level creativity: Native Hawaiian-owned brands are the moment. These three local businesses drum up excitement with their ingenuity and authenticity.

Makuahine Vintage OWNE R: DEB O R A H A L I PI O

“We focus on storytelling with a needle and thread, sewing mo‘olelo and bringing it to life with fabric inspired by the uniqueness of our culture and the history of our people.”

BUY : Custom-made, upcycled denim and camo jackets. makuahinevintage.com, @makuahine_vintage

The ‘Iwa Athletic Co.

“Growing up in Hawai‘i and being Native Hawaiian, our culture inspires every collection we design. We create each collection based on a feeling, memory, or moment in time that we’ve experienced. Each piece is given a unique Hawaiian name that either describes the item or is special to our family. Through these practices we hope to perpetuate our culture and language.”

B UY : Comfy, casual athleisure wear. theiwacompany.com, @theiwacompany

Kahua ‘Āina

OWNE RS : KE A HI A N D J O R DA N C A M A R A “Our culture is the reason we started Kahua ‘Āina. The work and designs we create are meant to raise awareness for our endangered and threatened native species whether it be birds, fish, bugs or plants. We believe our connection to our ‘āina is something that needs to be instilled in our keiki and passed down through generations to come.”

BUY : Charming, cute keiki accessories. kahuaaina.com, @kahuaaina —SM

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

“Being Native Hawaiian means having a welcoming energy, love of nature and deep connection to our ancestors and traditions,” Keau Fey says. “It’s often a conversation starter when meeting new people. I love to educate them about our culture and land. The core values of the lifestyle—humility, honesty, responsibility, caring for family—have played a huge role in how I live my life and are responsible for the decisions I make for work. So far, as a model, I’ve felt like I’ve had more opportunities being Native Hawaiian. Luckily, I’m living in a day and age where having a culturally rich background is celebrated and people like to see diversity, especially locally owned brands.” —SM

26 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

PHOTOS: AARON K. YOSHINO, COURTESY OF THE ‘IWA ATHLETIC CO., COURTESY OF KAHUA ‘ĀINA; OPPOSITE PAGE: OLIVIER KONING, COURTESY OF WCIT ARCHITECTURE

OW N E R S: K A MA L A A ND K A I L A L I Z A MA

style | DESIGN SPOTLIGHT

Story Lines

Above: Turtle Bay Resort, left: Maui Brewing Co. Kīhei

WCIT Architecture seamlessly fuses beautiful design with elements of Hawaiian history and culture.

“W

The architecture and interiors firm applies this framework, which it calls mo‘o methodology, to all of its projects. A celebrasays WCIT Architecture chairman tion of Hawai‘i’s rich history and cultures, it’s built around four Rob K. Iopa. I first learned about key principles: mo‘okū‘auhau, researching genealogy and history; WCIT’s unique methodology while on a press tour mo‘oka‘i, reflecting on the journey taken to arrive at the present; of the newly revitalized International Market mo‘olelo, the sharing of stories; and mo‘owaiwai, an understanding Place. There, Iopa pointed out several elements of of the values that will be left behind. its design that celebrate Queen Emma, who was The impetus for its development came from Iopa’s own want gifted the land by King Kamehameha IV, including to explore deeper ways to express his Hawaiian culture through large-scale etchings of her quotes on the center’s design. “By using this approach, we are able to tell that story that is glass elevator, a pond crowned by floating lilies found nowhere else and is distinctly and authentically of its place.” (her favorite flower), and a healing garden that The methodology is evident in WCIT’s other works, from points to her care for her people. They’re subtle yet restaurants and resorts to its civic and public projects. The fiery striking details that once learned forever reframe color and undulating roofline of Hale ‘Ōlelo, the home of UH Hilo’s the significance of the space.

Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, tells the story of the red scarf laid out by Princess Ruth to stop Pele’s bubbling lava flow from wiping out Hilo. The repurposed-surfboard windscreens at Turtle Bay Resort’s show-stopping oculus lounge speak to the North Shore’s surf culture. The wavy Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language glass façade and columns of the Waiea residential tower point to Kaka‘ako’s once thriving fishponds and the stiltlike legs of the ae‘o that frequented the nearby reefs. And the geometric dividers in the Kīhei Maui Brewing Co. offer a nod to kapa.

“We want these experiences to spark curiosity and thought for those who use these spaces, which then can inspire them to share it with others.” wcit.com, @wcitarch —BT E SIMPLY CAN’T DESIGN FOR THE FUTURE WITHOUT LOOKING BACK,”

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TO WATCH We asked a diverse group of leaders in the Native Hawaiian community who they see as the up-and-comers guiding Hawai‘i into the future—in education, tourism, community activism and more.

BY KAI ANDERSEN, JASMINE CHAGNON, ROBBIE DINGEMAN AND KAWEHI HAUG

PHOTOS BY AARON K. YOSHINO

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 29

style | PROFILE

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KAIWIPUNIKAUI– KAWEKIU PUNIHEI LIPE

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IT’S N OT G O I N G TO H A P P E N OV E RNIGHT , but Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu

Punihei Lipe is down for the journey. As the Native Hawaiian affairs program officer for the University of Hawai‘i, an executive position within the UH Mānoa chancellor’s office, Lipe’s days (and nights and ◄

Lipe at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa campus

sometimes weekends) are spent advancing the university’s goal of becoming a “Native Hawaiian place of learning.” While that sounds pretty straightforward, the job comes with many layers, turns and sometimes twists, which means that she’s a master manager, negotiator, problem solver and, in her own words, hand-holder. A former academic adviser, she modeled her work style after her own favorite college advisers. They guided her enthusiastically, but gently, she says, with lots of hand-holding. She’s using that method now to gently guide UH toward its goal.

Soon after she was hired to head UH’s Native Hawaiian affairs program in 2017, the university, under Lipe’s guidance, became one of the first in the U.S. to receive official designation as a “Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation” campus center.

“What that means is that we made a commitment to raise the next generation of leaders that will

continue to break down systemic racism, particularly through narrative change work and racial healing,” she says. “We already do a lot of that in small pockets, but the challenge now is, how do we achieve that as an entire campus?”

Lipe and her team have created a framework, a sort of curriculum, that will serve as a road map to realize the university’s goal of becoming a place where every individual, regardless of race, can recognize their kuleana to care for each other and for Hawai‘i in a way that embraces Hawaiian values.

“The way we define that is twofold: Be more responsive to Native Hawaiians, and be more reflective of Indigenous Hawai‘i,” says Lipe. This is where the hand-holding comes in.

“We move very intentionally— plenty of intentionality, plenty of thought before we take a step, and so the work is very slow. And a lot of the work is people work, and you can’t do that quickly.” —KH

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‘OI WI TO WATCH

HA‘AHEO ZABLAN FROM PA PA KŌL E A

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AGE: 45

IN

HIS OFFICE AT THE KAIMANA BEACH HOTEL ,

General Manager Ha‘aheo Zablan displays a photograph of his paternal great-grandmother, Elizabeth. “I’ve always had that image of her in front of her lei stand on Kalākaua Avenue, and it’s what brought me to Waikīkī,” Zablan says.

“She’s watching over me, making sure I’m doing what I’m supposed to.”

His tūtū’s legacy inspires the Roosevelt graduate at the helm of the iconic and gorgeously renovated Gold Coast property. The position is the latest step up for Zablan, who credits years of experience at Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa, for teaching him all facets of the industry. As one of Hawai‘i’s few Native Hawaiian GMs, he is committed to Hawaiian values he considers fundamental. At the forefront is kuleana, or responsibility. Also high on the list is ho‘okipa— hospitality. “It’s in our DNA,” Zablan says. “It’s part of who we are.” At the same time, he proposes a regenerative model of tourism, encouraging those in the industry to provide “more grounded, Hawai‘i-centric” information when talking to visitors.

Zablan has taken this approach to heart by underscoring Waikīkī’s history as a home for numerous ali‘i and its spiritual significance. Case in point, the property’s new in-house program with kānaka-owned Kapua Wa‘a Experience: “A fourman canoe will take guests out in the waters in front of the hotel and immerse them in the rich history of the area, sharing the original Hawaiian names for the surf breaks,” says Zablan.

Equally linked to Hawaiian cultural values is Zablan’s dedication to the LGBTQIA+ community—he highlights in particular the role of māhū as revered individuals, healers and caregivers. (Zablan serves in his free time as board vice president of the Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center and vice chair of the Hawai‘i LGBT Legacy Foundation.) The GM sees his hotel as a place where everyone from guests to employees can feel at home. “We need to be diverse, equitable in the way we hire, and inclusive in the way we operate,” he says. —KA

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Zablan on the lānai of one of the Kaimana Beach Hotel’s rooms

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‘OI WI TO WATCH

CHRIS W AS E S T FROM K APAHULU

P R E S I D E N T O F T H E I LW U LO C A L 142, Chris West sees his role as fight-

◄ West at Pier 51, Sand Island

ing for what’s fair for union members and slowing the exodus of Hawai‘i residents to other states. “Unions are the ones fighting to keep local families here by providing local jobs so that they can afford to live in a way that makes sense,” he says.

West strives to lead with compassion, using Hawaiian values of lōkahi (working together) while being ‘olu‘olu (agreeable). This helps make the college-educated West relatable to the broad range of Local 142’s members, a stevedore who worked with him for 20 years tells me when I meet the union leader at Pier 51. Local 142 represents 16,000 workers in tourism, hospitals, supermarkets and agriculture as well as on the state’s docks. “I’m 100% transparent with my feelings, with my intentions, with my actions,” West says. “I’d rather give someone the bene-

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fit of the doubt and be wrong than think the worst of somebody.”

When we talk, West is upbeat about negotiating a statewide contract for workers at Foodland supermarkets. He says pandemic shutdowns showed how essential these workers are. “They stuck it out when Hawai‘i needed them,” he says.

Inspired by his parents’ example of helping others—his dad volunteered with Hawaiian civic clubs and served two decades on a neighborhood board, and his mom is a kumu hula—West started taking on union roles about three years after he became a full-time crane operator in 2001. Now he also coaches wrestling at ‘Iolani School, which his two daughters attend, and teaches martial arts. The different roles, he says, help him be a better leader. And he’s inspired by the ahupua‘a system as a good model of how a community can flourish when people play interconnected roles.

“Unions can get painted in a bad picture as driving up the cost of goods,” he says. “But when you look at it in its totality, it’s just workers uniting together to fight for what they believe is fair.” —RD

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GROWING U P AS T H E DAU G H T E R O F P Ō M A I K A‘ I LY M A N

LYMAN

and great-granddaughter of Auntie Genoa Keawe, both revered Hawaiian musicians, Mālie Lyman was thrust into the music scene right from the start. Like them, she’s multitalented—she dances hula, sings falsetto, plays the ‘ukulele and jams on the steel guitar. “My mom was the kind of mom who signed me up for everything, so I did it all.”

Though she’s been performing onstage with her family for years, after graduating from Kamehameha Schools in 2022 she pushed herself out of her comfort zone and enrolled in the Music & Entertainment Learning Experience program at Honolulu Community College. Her focus there is behind the scenes as a recording engineer and producer. So far, she’s loving it.

Lyman is proud of the path she’s chosen—one that continues her family’s legacy but stays true to who she is. “There was a point where it started to feel forced,” she says, “but I continued surrounding myself with people who love Hawaiian music and it motivated me to keep going, and even deepened my love for it.” Plus, living in her grandparents’ house in Papakōlea, where Auntie Genoa’s room has remained relatively unchanged, Lyman can wander across the hall when she needs inspiration to admire the things her great-grandmother left behind—letters from people like Mālia Kawaiho‘ouluoha‘ao Craver, journals she kept and songs that she was writing.

And 2023 is a big year for the budding recording artist. She went to Hawai‘i Island in March with Kimié Miner, sang at Merrie Monarch in April, with plans to jet off to Japan for a gig and perform in California in September. None of this will stop her from recording her first album. “I definitely want to branch out to do some hybrid genres, like mixing Hawaiian with R&B and jazz sounds, but my first album is going to be traditional Hawaiian music—it’s what I’m known for and what I do well,” she says. “I want to recognize my tūtū in my work, but make it my own. I’ll sing the same songs she sang, but it won’t sound like her; it will be unique to me.” We can’t wait to hear. —JC

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Lyman at her home on Pu‘u‘ōhi‘a

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IKAIKA R O IT G E R S O N

STARTED WITH A SEAWEED WIG. Or

FROM WA IM Ā N ALO

rather, with a talk story sesh reminiscing about the days when there was enough limu washing up on the Waimānalo coastline to grab fistfuls of the curly red bunches to use as wigs while bobbing in the sandy shallows. It’s been a long time since those days. Though there is no known data to quantify the decline of limu on O‘ahu shorelines, any beachgoer knows that it just isn’t what it used to be: abundant enough to wrap around your ankles and catch between your fingers in the shore breaks, and easily harvested for homemade meals of poke and poi with a side of limu and chile pepper water.

The scarcity of limu in the wild got the kūpuna of Waimānalo talking about how to get it back. Ikaika Rogerson listened. Born and raised in Waimānalo, Rogerson founded Waimānalo Limu Hui in 2017. The grassroots group of community residents meets monthly to plant limu under the guidance of kūpuna and other limu experts. The hui found its groove, cultivating, growing, planting.

Limu was making a comeback. Things were good. It was time to go bigger.

Waimānalo Bay is also home to the

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‘OI WI TO WATCH

only ancient turtle pond on the island, an offshore area with a retaining wall created for the ali‘i of Waimānalo. The pond, known as Pāhonu, is in need of restoration and is now a secondary project for the hui. Awarded a three-year permit to restore the wall, the group began rebuilding it, and though the COVID pandemic extended the hui’s timeline, Rogerson and his crew of volunteers and masons will keep building until they get it right.

It’s a trial-and-error process, he says. But “Pāhonu is a lifelong project. We’ve been rebuilding the greater part of the pond for the past four years, and every winter Kanaloa comes in and reminds us what we didn’t do right, and he takes it down for us. So we keep rebuilding—but we’re learning at the same time.” —KH READ MORE ABOUT THE WAIMĀNALO LIMU HUI ON PAGE 22

Rogerson at Kaiona Beach Park in Waimānalo

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 39

40 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

6

‘OI W I TO WATCH

HAWANE RIOS

FROM WA IME A ON H AWA I ‘ I I S L A N D | AGE: 34

WHEN HĀWANE R I O S was 9

years old she organized her first public protest. Her family, generations of ◄ Rios at Pu‘uhuluhulu on Hawaiians born and raised Hawai‘i Island in Waimea on Hawai‘i Island, had just received word that land along ‘Anaeho‘omalu Bay was being sold for development. That meant that her family stood to lose unfettered access to a beloved swath of land and ocean that, until then, had been available to everyone. Rios gathered her cousins and friends. With her leading the chants and pule, they asked the community, the developers, the politicians, her ancestors—anyone who would listen—to please spare the bay from being developed.

“I grew up around conversations that delved into what it means to be Hawaiian from a young age, and what it means to love the land, as well as the struggles of having to stand up and protect land. When ‘Anaeho‘omalu was sold, that was the first time I ever felt displacement in my life.

It’s a place that represents my first meaning of sacred connection.”

It’s been a quarter of a century since then, and almost a decade since Rios was arrested for protesting the groundbreaking of the Thirty Meter Telescope atop Maunakea. The fight to keep Maunakea free of research telescopes and other development has become one of the most notable community protests in modern Hawai‘i for its scale and outcome: TMT announced in 2016 that it would seek alternate sites. But that was just one battle.

Protecting and caring for sacred places is a calling, Rios says, a lifelong mandate that compels her to keep chanting, dancing, teaching, seeking justice. And now, to keep making music. She’s been a hula dancer and chanter for most of her life (she says her mom would move her tiny newborn hula hands to “Pūpū Hinuhinu”) and now she’s a recording artist too. Rios’ first album, Kū Kia‘i Mauna: Together We Rise, released in 2019, won a Nā Hōkū Hanohano award for contemporary album of the year. It’s both a love story to the mauna and a soundtrack to the life of a full-time kia‘i, a protector of Hawaiian values.

“I’m not naive to the realities of the world and the reality of what it means to be Indigenous in a society that wishes to erase us. But I don’t think that anything will stop us from doing everything that we can in the best way that we know how,” she says. “Everybody that stepped onto that mauna made a commitment. And while I can’t foresee how many people will show up the next time the call goes out, I know for sure that I’ll be there, and I’ll see you on the mauna.” —KH

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 41

THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN HEALTH CRISIS 42

IT’S A MATTER OF FACT: BEING HAWAIIAN INCREASES YOUR RISK OF CHRONIC ILLNESS AND AN EARLY DEATH. DESPITE A DECADESLONG EFFORT TO REHABILITATE THE HEALTH OF THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE, EFFECTS STEMMING FROM COLONIZATION PROVE LONG-LASTING, WITH MUCH MORE WORK TO BE DONE.

BY CHRISTINE HITT PHOTO COMPOSITES: JAMES NAKAMURA

42 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 43

T H E N ATI V E H AWAIIAN H E A LT H C RIS IS

44 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

“BY 1893, THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM WAS OVERTHROWN, AND OTHER ETHNICITIES AND PEOPLE CAME TO POWER. THE WORLD CHANGED FOR THE HAWAIIANS. ALL OF A SUDDEN, IN THEIR OWN PLACE, THEY WERE SECOND-CLASS.” — DR. GERARD AKAKA

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 45

T H E N ATI V E H AWAIIAN H E A LT H C RIS IS

The Complexities of Why HAWAIIANS HAVE SUFFERED HEALTH DISPARITIES since the

BY THE TIME MY MOTHER DIED AT 62, SHE HAD WRESTLED WITH HEALTH PROBLEMS all too familiar

among Native Hawaiian families. She survived a difficult battle with breast cancer, struggled with her weight, took insulin shots for diabetes and then developed Parkinson’s disease.

My mother’s story reflects what some Hawaiian families face every day. It’s tangible evidence of the still traumatic effects of the Islands’ Western colonization more than 200 years ago.

Hundreds of thousands of Native Hawaiians succumbed to infectious diseases brought to the Islands starting with the arrival of Captain Cook in 1778; today chronic diseases are taking a toll.

“Native Hawaiians compared to other ethnic groups here in Hawai‘i bear a very disproportionate burden of many chronic diseases, even mental health issues,” says Dr. Keawe‘aimoku Kaholokula, a Native Hawaiian who chairs the Native Hawaiian Health Department at UH’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.

“Among the chronic diseases we face are issues around diabetes and heart disease, for example, and risk factors such as obesity and high blood pressure. We’re even seeing now with Alzheimer’s and other dementia an increase, if not higher rates, among Native Hawaiians.”

These diseases occur in the general population, too. But Hawaiians are at least three times more likely to develop chronic diseases than other ethnic groups in Hawai‘i, and the onset of those diseases occurs when they’re a decade younger, according to a 2020 JABSOM study co-authored by Kaholokula. These illnesses also make Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 infections and death.

Other recent UH studies are also disturbing: Hawaiians with colorectal cancer are twice as likely to die from sepsis. Hawaiian women with breast cancer have higher rates of inflammatory breast cancer, an aggressive form. Older Hawaiians have twice the risk of developing gout.

The average lifespan of Hawaiians shows steady improvement over the years—74.3 years in 2000 versus 62.5 years in 1950.

But even here, Native Hawaiians lag behind the rest of Hawai‘i’s population. They’re dying younger than everybody else by about six years.

46 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

days of Captain Cook. With Westerners came a long list of ailments—measles, smallpox, cholera, Hansen’s disease, venereal diseases, tuberculosis, the plague. Infectious diseases decimated the pre-contact population estimated around 700,000: By 1900, there were just 37,656 full and part Hawaiians, according to the U.S. Census.

Today it’s not infectious diseases but diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, congestive heart failure and cancer that Native Hawaiians disproportionately struggle with. In a state where the drowsiness that can follow a large meal is jokingly called a kanak attack, a diet high in sodium, saturated fats and processed foods seems an obvious culprit. But Hawaiians’ higher rates of chronic disease can’t just be pinned on individual choices.

“By 1893, the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown, and other ethnicities and people came to power. The world changed for the Hawaiians. All of a sudden, in their own place, they were second-class. That really impacts us today,” says Dr. Gerard Akaka, The Queen’s Health System vice president for Native Hawaiian Affairs and Clinical Support. He’s also medical director of the Native Hawaiian Health Department at Queen’s.

“As far as Hawaiian health, in general, I think they’re still dealing with things and the way it comes out is low aspirational goals. There’s still dysfunction, they’re still not eating the right foods. Hard to put my finger on it: Is it stress eating or is it historical trauma over the years? I’m sure it’s all baked into why the health did not really improve since the 1980s.”

Obesity is one cause of many chronic problems. Akaka is Native Hawaiian and has seen how preferences for Spam, mayonnaise, ice cream, rice and Coca-Cola have risen, sometimes driven by what’s most affordable. An upbringing that teaches not to waste food, because it’s uncertain when the next meal is coming, affects eating habits as well. And family gatherings for birthdays, graduations, weddings, parties and funerals typically include buffets of high-caloric foods.

“We love to eat. Eating is part of a celebration culturally.

That’s how we connect and reach out and fellowship with our loved ones,” Akaka says. “It’s about really changing things that Hawaiians love and hold dear.”

He suggests drinking water instead of soda, stepping away from the table when you’re 80% full, and walking, gardening or doing any physical activity. But changing behavior is only part of the solution. The social determinants of health—the economic, educational, environmental and social conditions that a person is born into—affect their lifespans and the quality of their lives.

“A lot of our Native Hawaiians live in what we call biogenic environments,” Kaholokula says. “[Those] environments just lend themselves to higher rates of obesity with less access to fresh fruits and vegetables, less opportunities for physical activity, or even being unsafe or having more exposure to toxins.”

“THE ABILITY OF HAWAIIANS TO ADHERE TO THEIR ANCESTRAL KNOWLEDGE IS CENTRAL TO THEIR IDENTITY AND SOCIAL RELATIONS, AND IS INTIMATELY TIED TO THEIR PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING.” — JABSOM STUDY

Where people live can affect their health. A CDC report published in 2018 noted that life expectancy in Hawai‘i Kai was 87.3 years, while in Waimānalo it was 72 to 79 years. In Wai‘anae, where Hawaiians are concentrated most, it was 74.9 years.

“I’ve seen too many of my neighbors and friends in Papakōlea who have had complications due to diabetes and many of them have passed,” says Puni Kekauoha, a lifelong resident of the Hawaiian homestead. “We know that … especially in the Hawaiian community, the number of kūpuna that are aging with Alzheimer’s and age-related dementia is like off the chart,” she says. “It is alarming. It’s scary.”

Healing Through a Hawaiian Lens THE JABSOM STUDY describes a hale with four corner posts.

Each represents the framework that holds the hale together and what’s needed to create systemic change, such as cultural spaces for practices and beliefs, programs that ensure fair and equitable treatment, access to nature and food sovereignty, and education about healthy food choices and how to incorporate traditional meals. “The ability of Hawaiians to adhere to their ancestral knowledge is central to their identity and social relations, and is intimately tied to their physical and emotional well-being,” the report states.

In other words, health equity for Hawaiians won’t be achieved through a Western lens. Hawaiian cultural values must be included. And around the state, many values now are, with different initiatives bringing a multifaceted healing process to Native Hawaiians.

In 2019, Kaholokula led a JABSOM team in studying hula as a means to heal maladies. The five-year study found that hula reduced hypertension in Native Hawaiian participants: Their systolic blood pressure dropped by an average of 17 points. In Papakōlea, Kekauoha is the senior vice president of the nonprofit Kula No Na Po‘e Hawai‘i, which provides residents with health education and activity programs—including hula classes inspired by the JABSOM study to help stave off the cognitive decline of dementia.

The Queen’s Health System has also embraced hula as a way to lower hypertension. Anela Lockwood started twice-a-week virtual hula sessions with Queen’s in January. The 34-year-old records her blood pressure daily and reports her numbers to the program coordinator once a week. “I just really wanted to be a part of it because I’m Native Hawaiian and I have high blood pressure,” she says. Her 69-year-old mom also has high blood pressure and signed up as well. Both danced hula many years ago and say they enjoy going through the six-month program together. “I think the most beneficial part of it is that it’s a group exercise. Also, it’s just fun,” Lockwood says. “It’s not like one of those fitness classes where you eventually feel like it’s a chore to drag yourself to the gym.”

HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 47

T H E N ATI V E H AWAIIAN H E A LT H C RIS IS

“I HOPE THAT HAWAIIANS WHO MIGHT BE READING THIS WILL KNOW THAT THERE’S WORK BEING DONE.” ­— DR. GERARD AKAKA

Another healthy lifestyle program teaches people how to make poi. Such culturally grounded activities are preferred by Native Hawaiians. But Kaholokula says it’s a challenge to get more of them into the community. And sustaining the programs once they’re in the community is another issue.

The Queen’s Medical Center, founded by Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV in 1859, started its own culturally adapted program in 2016 that brings community health workers known as “navigators” onto a patient’s health team. Navigators understand that in the Hawaiian view, creating a healthy individual requires looking at the body, mind and spirit.

They serve as liaisons among the hospital, community services and patients. The navigator program has helped to reduce Native Hawaiian readmissions to the hospital; Akaka would like to see it expand to other locations. “I just want to scale up so we can catch as many Hawaiian patients who come to Queen’s as

possible in our primary care clinics,” he says.

His Native Hawaiian Health Department is investing in technology he hopes will help patients live longer. Now, patients track their blood pressure manually. A new system will send that data electronically to a doctor, who can watch it remotely in real time. Akaka hopes to broaden the program to include data from diabetic patients. “It’s going to help Queen’s reach out to patients better and ultimately it’s going to help Hawaiians who use it,” he says. His goal: to reduce the gap between Native Hawaiians’ average lifespans and that of the rest of Hawai‘i’s population from six years to three within a decade.

It’s urgently needed. “I’m hungry to achieve that aspirational goal. … It’s ambitious and bold, but we’re going to do everything we can to achieve it,” Akaka says. “I hope that Hawaiians who might be reading this will know that there’s work being done.”

LE A D IN G C AU S E S O F DE AT H FO R N AT I V E H AWA II A N S A ND PAC IFI C I S L A NDE R S , 20 15

CORONARY HEART DISEASE

STROKE

NATIVE HAWAIIANS AND PACIFIC ISLANDERS

3.65 TIMES HIGHER

CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE

Source: Look, M.A., Soong S., Kaholokula, J.K. (2020). Assessment and Priorities for Health and Well-Being in Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Honolulu, HI. Department of Native Hawaiian Health, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai‘i.

3.44 TIMES HIGHER 1.96 TIMES HIGHER

CANCER

DIABETES

3.32 TIMES HIGHER

0

50

100

150

200

250

RATES PER 100,000

48 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

OVERALL STATE OF HAWAI‘I

2.64 TIMES HIGHER

300

350

400

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Shelee Kimura

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President and CEO, Hawaiian Electric

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The companies of HEI, which include Hawaiian Electric and American Savings Bank, are united by a common purpose — to create a better Hawai‘i.

One that thrives economically, environmentally, culturally, and socially, and where all in our community have access to resources and opportunities to attain their dreams.

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Lāhui Rising

From Left to Right: Cass Ohelo, Wanda Atkins, Chelsie Evans Enos

Chelsie Evans Enos

A

s Hawai‘i’s cost of living continues to climb, it’s people like Chelsie Evans Enos and her team at Hawaiian Community Assets who give residents hope for a brighter financial future.

Evans serves as the executive director of Hawaiian Community Assets, a nonprofit that helps low- and moderate-income earners, especially Native Hawaiians, achieve their dreams of homeownership. New this year, HCA purchased six condo units on Hawai‘i Island and, instead of displacing its renters, has given them the opportunity to rent to purchase. If they choose to move, HCA will create a financial plan and assist in finding a new home. It’s an innovative start, and already changing lives.

While HCA aims to empower Hawai‘i residents, it’s also looking to strengthen itself from within. “We can

only help the community as much as we help our team,” says Evans Enos. “So, we’re always making sure our lāhui is growing.” Case in point: When director of operations Cassandra Ohelo was accepted into the LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics) Impact program, HCA was on board to support her every step of the way. Designed especially for those in the nonprofit sector, LEAP Impact is a three-part, eight-month program to develop and empower professionals to thrive as advocates of their cause. “Professional growth means organizational growth, and our team will be stronger for it,” says Evans Enos. Ohelo is a rising leader committed to serving over 1,400 families a year and is continuing to grow services with an employee benefits program that will help staff own a home.

When HCA needed a community relations manager, Evans Enos went

against the norm. “In this tech age, everything is about looking forward and fast ahead, hiring someone young who’s social media savvy,” she says. “But our culture is all about looking for ‘ike from our kūpuna, and that’s what I did.”

She hired Wanda Atkins, who takes a more grassroots approach to connecting with the community—connecting with families, listening to their stories and connecting them with HCA’s services.

One family, for example, she visited in Kahalu‘u during their family reunion to educate the ‘ohana about their finances.

“When she was done, they said, ‘that’s exactly what our kids need,’” says Evans Enos. She appreciates the way Atkins has connected with the community, in ways we sometimes forget. “Close, personal, cultural—these are part of our roots as an organization for Hawai‘i.”

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HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 51

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Lāhui Rising

Ka‘iulani J.K. Neff Laehā

T

hese days, nearly everyone knows at least a few words of ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. It’s hard to imagine that, 50 or so years ago, the Hawaiian language was teetering on the brink of extinction.

And while it still lives in endangered territory today, Ka‘iulani Laehā is part of the movement to ensure that ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i never disappears. The Luna Ho‘okele (chief executive officer) of ‘Aha Pūnana Leo, a nonprofit dedicated to revitalizing the Hawaiian language, joined the organization in 2018 to help the organization’s mission of re-normalizing Hawaiian language in daily life.

At the time the ‘Aha Pūnana Leo was founded in 1983, Hawaiian language was banned in education systems. From 1896 up until 1986, in fact—90 years. “Our kūpuna were beaten in classrooms just for speaking the language,” says Laehā.

“It was looked down upon, and with that came the deterioration of our identity and culture.” By the time she was in her childhood years, ‘Aha Pūnana Leo was a few years old and already creating a new narrative around ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i. Laehā says she was drawn to the language as a way to connect to her family’s past, and was fortunate to grow up in a time when, thanks to the revitalization efforts of ‘Aha Pūnana Leo’s founders and other pioneers, learning and speaking the language was encouraged.

‘Aha Pūnana Leo celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, and it’s running stronger than ever. Its Pūnana Leo Kula Kamali‘i, or child care program, is conducted exclusively in Hawaiian.

Families are also required to participate in regular Hawaiian language lessons, so the language continues beyond the classroom. “Our aim is to revitalize the language, not teach it as a novelty,” says Laehā. “So, everything we’re doing, everything we’re investing, is with the intention to meet that goal.”

While there are many, one of the most amazing benefits she sees from the program is how ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i is changing the way keiki think and live. “These keiki have a different worldview, one that is rooted in an indigenous mindset and perspective.” Ultimately, she envisions a future where classrooms, offices, cafés, streets and homes are filled with the language of the Hawai‘i.

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Lāhui Rising

Makana Reilly

W

hether at home or at work, Makana Reilly is someone who is driven by a deeply rooted kuleana to servant leadership and has devoted her life to empowering Hawai‘i. A born-and-raised O‘ahu girl and lineal descendant of Kaua‘i, where she currently lives, Reilly remains firmly rooted as a cultural practitioner of hula and lei making.

In 2023, Reilly was selected as BEHawai‘i’s very first executive director. Although the nonprofit is relatively new—a pandemic brainchild born in 2020—it has been quick to gain momentum. Like Reilly, it aims to empower Hawai‘i by celebrating, supporting and nurturing its unique and spiritual cultural practices. Over the past three years, BEHawai‘i has worked with hundreds of musicians and venues statewide to increase promotion and live music opportunities for local artists.

In 2022, BEHawai‘i launched its Lei Poina‘ole Project, which aims to reconnect Hawai‘i to one of its most iconic traditions: lei making. Approximately 90% of lei sold in Hawai‘i are made from imported flowers—something that, Reilly says, needs to change. Through the project, she aims to drive the practice back into native ground, literally, by encouraging small-scale local growing and harvesting of our most beloved lei flowers. It’s a cause especially close to Reilly’s heart—she and her husband cultivate native flowers in their own backyard, which she uses to create all her adornments as a hula ‘ōlapa—and, in her new role, she’s empowered to keep the momentum going.

Reilly’s passion for reconnecting Hawai‘i with its roots runs deep. Before BEHawai‘i, she served as Director of ‘Āina Connection with the nonprofit Hawai‘i Land Trust, where she led the organizations’ efforts in helping people build reciprocal relationships with the land. As part of the most recent cohort seven of the Patsy T. Mink Leadership

Alliance, a 10-month program designed for professional women leaders and entrepreneurs who are committed to personal growth, professional impact and community leadership, she continues to empower and be empowered by other strong women in Hawai‘i.

All this, Reilly says, is just the beginning as she and BEHawai‘i continue their mission. “Hawai‘i is in a time of transition in so many ways,” Reilly says.

“I look forward to serving our Islands as we work to empower and affect positive change in the community.”

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ono

MAY

2023

Food and Drink in Hawai‘i

BY MARTHA CHENG // PHOTOS BY COURTNEY MAU VISUAL

PROFILES

Where Are the Hawaiian Chefs?

In the restaurant industry, Native Hawaiian food traditions are rarely represented by Hawaiian chefs. Here, the owners of Nui Kealoha catering and Haili’s Hawaiian Food talk about cultural awakening and a personal history that keeps Native customs alive.

Kāko‘o ‘Ōiwi in He‘eia

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IX YEARS AGO, A VISITING FOOD WRITER marveled that Hawai‘i

showcased an Indigenous culinary tradition more widely than anywhere else in the U.S. I agreed. After all, laulau and squid lū‘au are part of our everyday food vocabulary.

But one thing is missing: the Hawaiians.

Of the “traditional” Hawaiian restaurants on O‘ahu, only two—Haili’s Hawaiian Food and Waiāhole Poi Factory—are owned

by Hawaiians. Perhaps that’s not so surprising, given that what we know as the Hawaiian plate lunch was codified in the plantation era, resulting in laulau alongside chicken long rice and other products of post-contact local culture. Many of the most lauded local chefs who have brought Hawaiian food and culture to the forefront are not Hawaiian. And very few part Native Hawaiian chefs overtly incorporate that part of their ethnicity onto the plate.

So while Indigenous-owned companies are now bringing Hawaiian culture into everything from fashion to tourism, why is it a rarity to find Hawaiians cooking Hawaiian food professionally?

I spoke to two for whom Hawaiian food defines their work. Lorraine Haili Alo of Haili’s Hawaiian Food has been passing on a tradition from her parents for more than 50 years. Kealoha Domingo went full-time

with his catering business, Nui Kealoha, rather reluctantly only a few years ago. Here are their stories.

Kealoha Domingo

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ECAUSE HE CAME FROM a

restaurant family, Kealoha Domingo knew how demanding the industry was and didn’t want to enter it. But he always loved cooking for his friends.

At times, he’d moonlight from his full-time job as an elevator mechanic and consult at Highway Inn or present his dishes at the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival—he used to joke that he was the only chef who cooked at the Hawai‘i Convention Center and worked on its escalators. But for the most part, “I avoided the cooking for a living thing,” Domingo says. Until he couldn’t.

A few years ago, Domingo decided to cook through a Native Hawaiian lens full-time. Since then, he’s been invited to the James Beard House, where he pounded pa‘i‘ai and served it with cured ‘ahi and ‘inamona. At the Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy, he cooked with the famed Indigenous American chef Sean Sherman, presenting a tomato poke with hazelnut ‘inamona, based on what he found in Turin’s markets, and ‘awa he brought from Hawai‘i. In 2021, he received a James Beard Foundation grant for Indigenous-owned businesses, and he plans to open a food truck called Hawaiian Soul. All from the person who once said, “I don’t want to be that Hawaiian guy that makes laulau.”

Here’s how the reluctant Hawaiian chef came to embrace cooking Hawaiian. The following has been edited and condensed from two conversations.

KEALOHA DOMINGO: I’ve been on a path for the past 30 years to

get myself back into my culture.

In the mid-’90s, I was introduced to a Hawaiian cultural group called Na Papa Kānaka O Pu‘ukoholā Heiau, which cares for Pu‘ukoholā Heiau, a 230-year-old heiau built by Kamehameha I in Kawaihae. Being at the heiau, seeing ceremonies, and hearing 58 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

Tasting the kālua pig straight from the imu

the Hawaiian language spoken fluently for the first time, it hit me like a brick wall—I’m Hawaiian, proud to be Hawaiian, went to “the” Hawaiian high school, but I realized that I really didn’t know anything about Hawaiian culture. Then later on, I meet this local Japanese girl that speaks Hawaiian and becomes a Hawaiian immersion school teacher, I end up marrying her, we raise four sons who grow up learning the language fluently.

My moment of awakening at Pu‘ukoholā set me on a trajectory, a 30-year journey to know my culture. I tried a lot of things—lua, the Hawaiian martial art; oli, or chant; a little hula. None of it really suited me.

Getting involved with Na Papa Kānaka O Pu‘ukoholā; Ke Kula ‘o Samuel M. Kamakau, the immersion school my wife Kalaunuola teaches at and where my sons learned ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i; and later with the nonprofit Papahana Kuaola, really helped to shape my current life. I gradually gained some understanding of our culture, but also of the tragic and hurtful history that ultimately led Hawaiians like myself, as well as my father and many in his generation, to a point of cultural disconnect.

Kealoha Domingo (above and on opposite page) opens an imu with a wild boar cooked in it for an ‘ailolo ceremony.

One of the ceremonies I was introduced to is called ‘ai kapu. It’s the consumption of traditional foods with the belief that they are kino lau, or physical manifestations of our traditional Hawaiian gods. It was this crazy intersection of a kanaka on a path of cultural rediscovery, who had a little bit of experience doing imu, who loves to cook and feed people—a collision of culture meets culinary arts. I thought, maybe I’m supposed to be feeding people and connecting them to Hawaiian culture through food.

I don’t have anything against people who are not Hawaiian and cooking Hawaiian food, much like my Japanese wife who has dedicated her life to reviving the Hawaiian language. I do feel it’s critically important though for us as Hawaiians to take the torch

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and reconnect to our culture and identity. There aren’t enough Native Hawaiians out there representing the food scene and especially through the lens of the traditional Hawaiian beliefs. We as Hawaiians should do our best to stand up, revive, honor and practice the nearly lost traditions of our kūpuna, and to build and instill within our future generations a sense of Hawaiian identity and pride.

I love saimin, I love all the local foods, I love Pacific Rim cuisine. But it’s important for people to understand what traditional Hawaiian food is, and how the Hawaiian perspective on food is really, really such a complex thing. If you start getting into it, you’re forced to understand conservation, environment, resource management.

I’ve been using this phrase I heard from a friend, Pelika Andrade: “Eating ‘opihi doesn’t make you Hawaiian. Making sure that your grandchildren and grandchildren’s grandchildren can eat ‘opihi makes you Hawaiian.”

[With increasing catering jobs,] it all got to a point where really, my mind was thinking more about my menu for the catering coming up than my work. But I didn’t know how to make a living with it—I was well-paid as a mechanic, and I felt like we’re just barely making it. And then in 2019, I got laid off. Although I could’ve easily moved to the next company, I decided I was gonna take a little time.

I joined the Hawai‘i Investment Ready program, a pretty intensive crash course in business. And at the end we had this big pitch at Ka Waiwai. And that was the day Hawai‘i shut down because of COVID. All my catering bookings started falling off the table. I worked with Chef Hui and Kamehameha Schools putting together community meals. When the world opened the doors again I got hit hard with catering jobs.

When I talk to people about Hāloanakalaukapalili, the taro, I tell them, I didn’t grow up with this story in my life, and neither did my father. But maybe my grandmother or my great-grandmother did. But we were told by the colonizers that all of this was something of the past, and you know, all of a sudden we’re eating poi out of a plastic bag. And we lost a connection with our food.

It is a process of healing the injuries of

the past. I feel like the Hawaiians have lost so much that it’s important for us to hold onto it.

At one time, I told people, I don’t want to be the Hawaiian food guy. I don’t want to be known for that. I wanted to do “cool stuff.” I wanted to do fancy stuff. Hawaiian food is not fancy. It’s not pretty. It’s not glamorous.

But at the same time, when I have the opportunity to educate through reintroducing our traditional foods, it’s such a meaningful and impactful kūleana. E ola mau nā ‘ōiwi, e ola mau ka lāhui Hawai‘i.

NUIKEALOHA.COM

Tasting the kālua pig straight from the imu 60 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

Lorraine Haili Alo, owner of Haili’s Hawaiian Food

Lorraine Haili Alo

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BOUT FIVE YEARS AGO, an

assistant for Andrew Zimmern called Lorraine Haili Alo, asking to film at her restaurant. The assistant was cagey with details until, finally, when Alo pressed her for more information, she said the show was called Bizarre Foods. Alo re-

plied, “My story doesn’t belong on Bizarre Foods. Laulau is a culture. It is my culture, and there is nothing bizarre about a laulau.”

She tells me: “Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa and Jon Osorio are personal friends— they have doctorate degrees and are at the UH School of Hawaiian Knowledge.

We were at Kamehameha together. We were all part of that group of protesters in the ’60s and ’70s, with George Helm—we were of that generation. My husband was

on the boat that went over to Kaho‘olawe.”

Alo imagined being featured on Bizarre Foods and “Lilikalā calling and saying, ‘What the heck did you do!?’”

The assistant called back a few days later and said Zimmern had just started a new show, Delicious Destinations, and would she reconsider? This time, Alo said yes.

Alo’s parents, her father “pure Hawaiian” and her mother “pure Chinese,” beHONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 61

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gan Haili’s as a fish market and Hawaiian food counter in 1958 at Ward Farmers Market (now demolished).

Alo remembers Gabby Pahinui, a “good friend of my dad’s,” coming to the parking lot behind the market to play music and chase down beer with palu. “The old style of palu is the intestines and stomach of the fish, eyeballs, some fish meat, salt and chile pepper, mixed together and aged for a couple of days in the refrigerator,” Alo remembers. Her father and friends loved it.

Foreseeing increasing rents and development in the area, Alo and her sister moved Haili’s to Kapahulu in 2006 and focused on the Hawaiian food. Today Haili’s Hawaiian Food is one of the few places that still serves ake, raw beef liver; na‘au, a stew of pig intestines and lū‘au leaves; and poke mixed with ‘inamona and limu kohu. These are edited excerpts from our conversation.

Why did your family decide to start a fish market?

‘Opihi

My father’s sisters owned a bar down in Chinatown.

My mom would go to work with my aunties and it got to the point where my mother didn’t want to take my sisters into that kind of environment. My older sisters remember when the bar got really busy late at night and guys were drunk. The bar used to have these liquor closets, big back room cages to keep the liquor under key. My mom would lock my sisters in the liquor closet to keep them safe.

My mom told my father, let’s open our own store. I want a normal family life for my kids.

Who made the Hawaiian food?

My mother learned how to cook from my aunties. My dad also knew. And we were all given responsibilities. Even as a little girl, we would have to help make laulau—we’d all have to peel the leaves, 100 pounds of taro leaves once a week. And the poi would come in 50-gallon wooden barrels. Two men would roll it into the store and we’d have to go and use our hand and dig the poi out of the barrel.

I’m very old school. I’m very traditionalist as far as mixing poke. You know, you can go to places and they’ll have spicy poke with mayonnaise. Mayonnaise doesn’t belong with fish. I wasn’t raised with mayonnaise in my fish. Sometimes my children will tell me, “Well Mom, the trend is…” Well then, they can go over there.

I don’t want to be like everyone. I try to stay true to myself and true to what my parents taught us. And I think that’s another reason why we’ve been here for so long. Never mind what other people around you are doing. Stay focused on what’s here. Because this

Poke with limu kohu, ‘inamona, pa‘akai, chile pepper and green onions 62 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

is what got us to where we’re at today. And that comes back to the traditional way of cooking.

All the traditional stuff, I still make it. Ake, we still do that. I think right now I’m the only one that does it. It’s very time-consuming. You get the whole beef liver—one weighs 8 pounds—and you need to flush it out with fresh water. So you’re standing at the sink for at least an hour, just flushing it out. And you have to clean up all the veins and stuff and let it soak overnight in a salt brine. Then the next day, you can mix it with kukui nut and limu.

My clientele is very old customers and now their grandchildren and great-grandchildren are coming. A lot of people order to take to the outer islands because they can’t get it there.

Will someone in the next generation take over?

My two sons are firefighters and my daughter is a schoolteacher, so they have their own professions. That’s why we sent them to good schools—they got their education so that they wouldn’t have to do this. But now the trend is, people want to continue a culture.

Without food, without language, we wouldn’t have a culture. There’s no strength in the culture if we don’t continue to teach our kids how to prepare food, where to go get the materials that they need. Everyone has their own way of doing it, but there’s protocol when you go into the mountains to pick a certain type of fern shoot or when you go to the ocean and you start picking limu.

You have to ask permission, you give thanks. You say a prayer. And you only take what you need.

The Big Kahuna plate from Haili’s Hawaiian Food

What do you think that of all the Hawaiian plate lunch businesses on O‘ahu, only two are run by Native Hawaiians?

It’s sad because it’s hard to perpetuate our culture if there’s not enough people sharing their knowledge of the way that traditional foods are prepared. It means that our kids need to go to other cultures to eat.

It makes me happy to see that the younger people are trying to at least incorporate foods that are Hawaiian, that there is a movement going, because back in the ’50s and ’60s it wasn’t promoted.

But we have to still stay vigilant and share our culture and the spirit. My mana is being passed through the food.

Some people say that it’s just a Hawaiian plate lunch, but for me, it’s more than just a Hawaiian plate lunch.

HAILISHAWAIIANFOOD.COM

Ake, made with raw beef liver HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023 63

afterthoughts

MAKANA WILHELM

Food for Thought

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AKANA WILHELM GREW UP WITH and worked as the

education and outreach coordinator at Ho‘okua‘āina, a Maunawili kalo farm that her family started to empower at-risk youth and connect them with ancient Hawaiian traditions. Last September, she enrolled in a yearlong master’s program in agroecology and food sovereignty at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy.

While food security “aims to ensure the right of every individual to adequate food or to have access to food,” she says, food sovereignty “aims to ensure that people have a right to define their own food systems.”

Here, she reflects on her time in the program so far and what it will mean for her work back in Hawai‘i.

I thought of this program as a really beneficial knowledge base for back home, with the work that our family is doing, and I wanted to learn more about how to expand different agro-ecosystems throughout Hawai‘i. There’s this new movement of aloha ‘āina activism where people are really looking to engage in growing their food again or reconnecting to ‘āina in a deeper way.

It’s been really interesting to look at different case studies of how traditional knowledge is preserved [around the world], but I think that Italy really stands out in how it’s approaching sustainable agri-food systems and preserving traditional knowledge. It’s reflected in the food and the culture and the livelihood of these people. I think that Hawaiians and Italians have a lot in common culturally, with our love for food, fellowship, socializing and talking story.

The next phase of our program we’re spending in a farm community, where we’ll learn about different agri-food sys-

64 HONOLULUMAGAZINE.COM May 2023

tems and participate as work interns. So I’m going to Ballymaloe House in Ireland, which is a 300-acre organic farm and cookery school. Darina Allen is the head of the cookery school and is considered the Julia Child of Ireland. There are a lot of parallels between Hawaiians and Irish, too, with the somewhat similar histories and where we are in terms of language and cultural revitalization.

Ballymaloe has a well-established farm operation. It’s very diverse, and the folks there have created a unique short supply chain for their restaurant and for their community.

I’m interested to see ways that we can apply some of these systems back home on our farms and in our communities.

On an ag level, we’re looking at the ecology of soil and water and different practices that ensure the perpetuity of resources, so it’s shifting away from conventional agriculture into systems that mimic natural ecological functions.

We’re looking at very specific practices. But then aside from that, we’re also looking at social aspects—how to ensure that the agri-food systems that we’re creating or working with are also ensuring biocultural diversity, the preservation of language and traditions. And we’re looking at governance.

How do you break down different governance systems to ensure that your distributions and supply chains are within a local community and that the power is with the local community?

The program has laid a foundation for me to dive into some of these concepts and to figure out how we evaluate where we’re at in Hawai‘i in order to build upon the foundation that our kūpuna have left and to ensure that our future generations are well taken care of. —as told to Martha Cheng

photos: courtesy of makana wilhelm

How can Hawai‘i establish food sovereignty?

Ideas from Italy and Ireland inspire.

PRESENTS

Come celebrate Hawai‘i’s iconic dish at Frolic’s sixth annual Poke Fest presented by Fresh Island Fish!

Feast on a lineup of dozens of poke creations from the island’s favorite poke shops, then cast your ballot for whose poke reigns supreme!

MAY 20, 2023 FROM 4–8 P.M. w w w. f r o l i c h a w a i i . c o m

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