The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1893-12-16
LEARNING TO EAT POI.
Acquiring . Taste for the National DalnI
OF tho Sandwich IslanSia.

At your first meal, says q letter from
! Hawaii you inquire hungrily for poi
and there is brought you q littl,
wooden bowl or calabash containing .
queer-looking grayish sticky compound
resembling paper-hanger's paste. YO,
regard 1t askance, and ask for q spoon
but are told it is to be eaten with the
fingers.
''Why, no one could take that stuff
up In their 6ngers!'' you gasp.
! -, yes, just sce,'' and into a com
Panlon calabash your instructor dips
two fingers, and with a twirl, only &C.
CURED by long practice, withdraws
them loaded with the compound, which
l is at once transferred to his mouth and
swallowed, his countenance assuming
meantime an expression of beatified
| epicureantsln. You do not know what
expression may have taken it's abode
upon your visage. but you know your
principal sensation is one of simon
pure horror.
''Now, you try it, says Epicurus.
Tentatively you thrust one finger into
the mess and gather up a minute dose
OF the delectable Wand. As you raise
| 1t toward your mouth your nose takes
cognlzance of a sour smell that har-
| monies perfectly with the appearance
| OF the poi. You close your eyes, and,
mentally breathing forth devout
ejaculation, open your mouth and suck
the poi from your fingers. BY sublime
effort OF will you keep your lips closed
over the mouthful, while your compan-
ion looks on interestedly, evidently ex-
Pect1ng to hear your palate scream with
delight Meanwhile your imaginat ton
is working with lightning speed. The
poi is cold and clammy. The poi tastes
like stale yeast; it stings your tongue,
and an unutterable disgust possesses
your soul You are sure you are going
to choke, though you know you dare
not, andy fguratively take yourself
by the throat and force yourself to
swallow the compound. You can trace
its progress through the esophagus by
the horrifaed shudder that organ gives
80 the mouthful passes along it: you
can hear the Will in your stomach
shrek as the frog-lil<e lump makes its
appearance among them, and you think
you are going to die then and there.
don you like it?'' your hear some one
ness and murmur your fear that you
are not educated to such a high point
of taste.
20, never mind,'' is the consoling
reply. you'll be so fond of it in a day
or two you can't keep house without it,
You know better than that, but you
offer no contradiction to the assertion.
with a conscience untainted by poi you
must hold to your resolution to alb
stain from tasting the stuff again. This
will be difficult to do. You will see all
your acquaintances dipping int to their
ca1abashes and hear them expatiating
on the delights of poi, and you begin
to aspire to taste again. You think
about it by day and by night, and at
last you venture. You take another
step along the downward pathway.
AS the poet has SO touchingly described:
You first endure, then pity, then en-
BRACE the Gala bash.
Poi is a dish that must long remain
peculiar to the Hawaiian islands-al-
ways, in fact, unless some means are
contrived for preserving taro so that it
will stand export Poi is made from
taro, a root resembling the turnip. 1t
grows in the water, with a large, hand
some, green leaf, and it is almost
tasteleSs. There is also an upland
taro cultivated in the mountains by
the natives which has a more de-
cided taste, and which, as 1 learned
to my cost on tasting it raw, bites the
throat like horseradish. The low taro |
is the chief vegetable in the island and |
in early days constituted the natives |
principal crop. When cooked it as
sumes a notified gray and white ap-
pearance very like the lava rock that |
a bounds every where in the islands. The |
process of manufacturing the poi is |
quite a lengthy one. A great hole is |
aug IN the ground and into this the |
taro roots are placed around piles of |
hot stones. The earth is then heaped |
over the place and the taro left to |
steam. When the taro is thoroughly
cooked, which operation often takes |
several hours, the roots are dug out |
again, peeled, and put into a huge stone |
in which they are pounded |
to a pulp. This work is performed by |
the men. 1t is an arduous task, and |
on a hot day land nearly all days are
hot on the islands) the pounding of poi |
is a scene over which it is desirable to
draw a veil. The poi FOUNDER not only
earns his bread by the sweat of his
brow, but mixes it as we'll largely with
that fluid.
The ''poi of commerce. is now made
by machinery. The natives, how.
ever, still make their own. When
the mass is thoroughly beaten and
it is mixed with water to the
proper consistency, about like good
thick paste, strained through a coarse
cloth, and set away for two or three
days, until it begins to ferment, when
it is ready to be eaten. 1t then tastes
= little like buttermilk, and is very nu-
tritious and wholesome. The natives
Eat it by the gallon. Give the average
native a big pot of poi, half a dozen
Jaw fish, and a bottle of gin, and you
nay have the kingdom and the rest of
,he earth as we'll. He will squat upon
,he ground, break the head off one of
,he fish, take a bite from its raw side,
pack it in a mouthful of poi, and wash |
,he whole down with a swallow of gin,
Ind repeat the process until all have |