The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1912-01-19
POI IN HAWAII.
This Peculiar Food Is &c the
Bread Is to -.


What bread is to the Amorlca1
European poi is to the NATIVE Ha-
waiian. No meal is complete with
out it, and for the great majority
OF the natives it forms the princi-
pal article of diet. While they prob
ably could at the present time live
without this accustomed dish, the
time once was, before the advent Of
the whites to the islands and the in
PRODUCTION of new foods, that life
without It would at least have been
precarious.
Poi is made from the tuberous
root of the taro plant, a species of
the caladium family, of which the
well known elephant ear plant IS
also a member. The tuber, which
averages in size that of a large
sweet potato, is baked and after
ward pounded up with water until q
smooth white paste is obtained.
much resembling a wheat flour
paste, except that the color is a
pale pink or purple, dependent
upon the variety of faro used. This
paste is allowed to slightly ferment,
or sour, when it is ready for use.
In olden times each family prepared
its own poi, the work being done by
the men, as in fact were most other
cooking operations. At the present
time'poi3factories in which machin-
cry grinds the taro and mixes it on
a large scale have largely supplant-
ed the old hand method. The Chi
nese of the territory have come to
be the leading manufacturers of the
product.
Many of the white residents of
the islands eat poi to almost the ex-
tent as the natives, but the taste is
largely acquired, and strangers sell
dom carc for it. Poi has a high
food value, and, since it formed the
principal article Of diet of the old
Hawaiians, some persons have cred
tied it with the splendid physical
development of the race.
Poi was always eaten from wood
en- bowls, or calabashes, and was
conveyed to the mouth by the fin
gers, one, two or three being en-
ployed, according to the consistency
Of the food, which also establishes
a designation of one, two or three
finger poi. White poi eaters now
usually employ a fork or spoon in
lieu of fingers, although it is still
common even in the highest fami-
lies to give native dinnsrsrp or @luaus.
at which knives and fofsf are ia
booed and fingers only used. Thero
is as much etiquette among the Hs-
waiians in eating with the fingers as
with modern table implements, and
the graceful motion by which a por-
ton of poi is twisted upon the fin
gers and transferred to the mouth
would not shock the sensibilities OF
the most refined. An invitation to
a real luau, at which poi, baked pig,
fish baked in leaves and cocoanut in
various forms form the principa!
part of the menu, is something that
is always looked forward to by every
visitor to Hawaii and always pleas
antly remembered afterward.
Tho rover OF Enthusiasm.
Enthusiasm is one magnet d.
power. You must fire every event
with it, touch thoughts and acts
with it. 1t will transmute dross
into gold, drudgery into delight.
What matters If the soul which
lives beside you is cold and selfish?
Set him "a good example! Joy is
sunshine, and he will feel it. Every
irksome task is a chance for power,
for the qualities which they bring
out are Gods gifts which fit us to
enjoy better things. Easy things
will come if you have spent your
hearts blood on gaining strength,
for the very goal of power is the
ease which comes from strength.
We laugh at things and people who
used to COW or annoy us. We do
gracefully and swiftly the tasks
once so hard. One by one we have