One of the main visitor attractions in Hawaii is its food. From simple offerings to magnificent luau feasts, the Islands offer an amazing, mouthwatering array of dishes and spices, with some dating back hundreds of years.
Since the Hawaiian Islands are of volcanic origins, there were few edible plants prior to the arrival of the first Polynesian voyagers sometime between 300-500 A.D. The plants brought in by these settlers represented the first agriculture in the islands, mostly taro, which is still a staple in today’s culture.
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The popular Hawaiian plate lunch combo presents a mouthwatering sampling of a number of foods and a variety of spices from many cultures.
Later, voyagers from the Marquesas Islands and Tahiti came ashore with breadfruits, bananas, coconuts, sugarcane, sweet potatoes, and yams. The first meat was also brought in with the introduction of chickens and pigs. The one thing Hawaii did have was fish, which abound in its warm waters. In the late 1700s, European and American influences entered the cuisine picture, when whalers and missionaries arrived in the islands.
The first pineapple was cultivated in Honolulu by Don Francisco de Paula Marin, a Spanish botanist, in 1813. Combined with sugarcane, these two crops put Hawaii on the world export map around 1850. In fact, the international demand became so great, thousands of plantation workers were brought in from many countries, each with their own food cultures.
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Hawaii has been influenced by the arrival of settlers and immigrants from many countries over the centuries, contributing to its rich, multi-cultural cuisine, which is adored by visitors to the Islands today.
With the Chinese came dim sum dishes and sweet and sour flavors, the Koreans shared kimchi and marinated meats with garlic sauce, the Japanese brought bento, sashimi, tofu and soy sauce, the Portuguese featured pork, tomatoes, chili peppers and malasadas, the Puerto Ricans contributed spicy soups and casseroles, and the Filipinos introduced beans, peas and vinegar and garlic dishes. Even as late as the 1970s, Hawaiian foods were being influenced by immigrants from Southeast Asia, who brought fish sauce, lemongrass and galangal, which are popular in the Thai and Vietnamese dishes.
In 1992, Hawaii Regional Cuisine emerged, which emphasized using locally grown ingredients in restaurants. Today, visitors enjoy a fusion of foods and flavors brought to the Islands from all parts of the world for hundreds of years.
Tantalizing Hawaiian foods are just one of the many reasons visitors flock to the Islands. When on Maui, check out the Royal Lahaina Resort and, while on Hawaii’s “Big Island,” stop at the Royal Kona Resort for some palate-pleasing, oceanfront dining—Hawaiian style. For more information, go to www.hawaiihotels.com.
