dsi1 wrote:

> On Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 4:37:01 PM UTC-10, cshenk wrote:
> >
> > It is, but it's unique as well. It's the only place where there is
> > no 'majority' race/ethnic for example. I don't have the actual
> > stats in frnt of me but it's something like 20% Chinese, 20%
> > Japanese, 15% other islanders, and 20% mixed white and African
> > American. The remaining 5% are at least partly Native Hawaiian.
> > Something close to that if not quite right.
> >
> > Due to the distance, they have some differences but yes, they are
> > all American. The food is a melting pot of mixes just like the
> > Continental USA, but with a different melting pot mix used.
> >
> > Rice cake soup probably makes no sense to you due to this. Don't
> > worry, they make cheeseburgers too!
> > Carol
>
> Near as I can tell, most of the folks on rfc have no idea about what
> Hawaiian food is. Either that or they're acting dumb. The competent
> Hawaiian cook has to be familiar with American food, Hawaiian food,
> Samoan food, and Japanese, Okinawan, Filipino, Chinese, and Korean
> foods. Some of our favorite dishes originate from Puerto Rico and
> Portugal and, to a lesser extent, Thailand, and Vietnam.
>
> Some people on this newsgroup act like all we eat is Spam and poi.
> That may be true for some Hawaiians but I got too much going on to be
> eating just S & P. If people knew anything about taro and poi, they
> would be in awe of this plant. The ancient Hawaiians could pound the
> cooked taro corm and produce a nutritious food that would not spoil
> and could sustain life for months on long voyages across the Pacific.
> Taro is one of the world's most perfect foods. On this group, it's
> mostly one big joke.
>
> The reality is that this is not a real foodie group. Mostly, it's a
> group that disrespects and spreads fear about foods - especially the
> foods of other cultures.

Hi DS1,

It is likely most here aren't truely familiar with Hawaiian food,
because you have to have lived there to grasp it. I'm the only one I
can recall here who has lived there. (1986-1989). I also didnt try
everything there but have some really good memories of the things I
tried.

Before moving there, my thoughts were if it had pinapple in it, must be
Hawaiian. LOL, laugh with me! Years later it took me close to 6
months of random cleaup of my recipe software to remove the catagory
'Hawaiian' from being in every recipe I had downloaded that had
pinnapple in it!

My favorite Pinnapple recipe BTW was a salty one partly dehydrated.
It's a Filipeno dish ;-) and they had it in Hawaii at a local corner
store we used a lot.

I agree with you on Taro. There was a little 'Poi Place' near Kuilea
street. It was setup much like a salad bar and you added what you
wanted. I'd get a size small and add sour cream and green onions to
it. Others would just use salt and pepper. Itried the Avocados and
liked that too. Crushed blueberries were neat! They had other things
there as well. I think I recall Poi Pancakes? There was something
that looked almost like a tall Flan with a topping of ?honey? and some
sort of crumb mixed with I think brown sugar? Nifty was they had sweet
potatoes done up crispy like fries and you could dip your poi out with
them!

Poi came as 1, 2, or 3. At the time there, I didn't know the
difference other than thickness but liked the 2. I later found it's a
thickness based on fingers and the 2 is '2 fingers' to lift some to
your mouth.

I was utterly charmed with 'dime sausage' and have been seeking a match
since to no avail. I've come a bit close, but no match.

I think though you are too harsh that we don't have foodies here. We
have many. It's just that not all are into the same types of things in
our foodie trails. Some are not into 'spicy' and others very intensely
into them yet of the savory sort, not hot. Others want every bite to
scream with heat.

Carol