San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-04-26
MONDAY. APRIL &c, 1897.
POI FROM HAWAII.
Native Kanala Food to Be Tried
in This Country.
\ Handy Article of Diet That Will
Come as u Boon to the Busy
Housewife How II Is
Prepared.

A dispatch from San Francisco an
Tounces the arrival at that port of
consignment of poi for the Chicago
market. There are 2GO bags of stuff
it comes in the form of -four.
This is the first shipment of poi to
the United States, though the name is
familiar to most persons, by reason of
the great volume of transformation
that has been published about it.
As a matter of fact, poi is porridge,
made of -four obtained by grinding the
roots of tara, or taro. This latter is
plant grown in most of the Polynesian
islands, especially in Hawaii. It's
scientific name is alocasia macrorhiza,
but that is never whispered in Hawaii,
being not necessarily for publication,
but merely a guarantee of good faith
The plant grows to the height of about
two feet in small beds, which are so con-
structed that they may be flooded, as
rice fields are. The tops are used by the
natives as pot herbs, but the root of
the matter" as the Scotch preachers
say, is the portion underground whence
comes the poi.
The process of acclimating poi in
America should be watched with inter
est. This is the age when good house
wife is expected to serve to her dvs-
peptic husband u new cereal for break
fast every morning in the year, as the
wife of the Bedouin Arab was expected
20 10 hn- L. Z -,
of the date.
To the distracted housewife poi will
come as a boon. True. it is not cereal,
strictly speaking, but it is a practical
foundation for ''mush," and that is the
main thing. Persons suffering from a
certain class of disorders, including
some dyspeptics, may not toy. with poi
because of its excessive richness in
starch, but in the main the stuff is harm.
less-as witness the splendid health of
the Hawaiians-at least before the mis-
sicnaries came.
4 very pretty sight it was in those
days TO observe the pretty Kanaka girls
in primeval grab grinding the tara root
upon a stone as the wife of the Mexican
peon Still grinds the corn for her hus-
bands rejection. At least am told so.
In my day at Honolulu the native wom-
en- wore Mother Hubbards." and were
already civilized to the point of dis
liking homework.
Still there was plenty of poi to be had
and still is, doubtless. 1t is served
for breakfast at the Royal Hawaiian
hotel-which hostelry must, of course
have a new and republican name by
this time. And there l had my first
taste of the stuff. 1t was served after
the oranges-delightful oranges of
OuahO!-and l saw the resident whites
flooding their portions with cream and
covering it with sugar. They said they
liked it, but admitted it was an acquired
taste.
did not stay long enough to acquire
the taste. The mush was pinllish in
hue-a most unhealthy looking pink
and sickish in taste. I was content to
be able to say had tasted it. The
kanakas may have it for all of me
but there is no accounting for tastes.
Later on 1 had the fortune to en-
counter poi in circumstances much more
nearly au naturel. This was at a;luau,
or feast given by his majesty, the late
Kalagaua, of insanity, but most jovial
memory. This was on the WAIKIKI
beach, paradise, where eating is a
proclamation, except by the kings Or
ders, anyway.
At this function poi was served, ason
the table of the lowliest native, in jar
of rough ware, and eaten, as the lowly
natives eat it-with the finger. Notice
not fingers, but finger. The index
digit of the right hand thrust into the
pink and quivering mess, bent at the
proper angle, turned about and theh
brought forth. with portion of the poi