page_title: Native cuisine of Hawaii
section_title: Dishes
hierarchical_section_title: Native cuisine of Hawaii / Dishes
caption_attribution_description: English: Inscriptions: Inscribed - Verso - Hawaiians eating Poi. Quantity: 1 b&amp;w original photographic print(s). DC Rights: Not restricted Part of: Haast family :Photographs / Portraits of scientists Format: 1 b&amp;w original photographic print(s), Albumen photoprints, Cartes de visite, Portraits, Single photograph.
context_page_description: Native Hawaiian cuisine is based on the traditional Hawaiian foods that predate contact with Europeans and immigration from East and Southeast Asia. The earliest Polynesian seafarers are believed to have arrived on the Hawaiian Islands in 300–500 AD. Few edible plants were indigenous to Hawaiʻi aside from a few ferns and fruits that grew at higher elevations. Various food-producing plants were introduced to the island by migrating Polynesian peoples.
  Botanists and archaeologists believe that these voyagers introduced anywhere from 27 to more than 30 plants to the islands, mainly for food. The most important of them was taro. For centuries, taro—and the poi made from it—was the main staple of the Hawaiian diet, and it is still much loved. ʻUala and yams were also planted. The Marquesans, the first settlers from Polynesia, brought ʻulu and the Tahitians later introduced the baking banana. Settlers from Polynesia also brought coconuts and sugarcane. ʻAwa is also a traditional food among Hawaiians. Breadfruit, sweet potato, kava, and heʻe are associated with the four major Hawaiian gods: Kāne, Kū, Lono and Kanaloa.
  Fish, shellfish, and limu are abundant in Hawai’i.
context_section_description: Kalua, pig cooked underground in an imu.
  Poi (pronounced po-ee) is made from cooked, mashed, and sometimes lightly fermented taro. It is the starch staple of the native Hawaiian diet.
  Laulau is made with beef, pork, or chicken and salted butterfish wrapped in taro leaves and then ti leaves. It was traditionally prepared in an imu.
  Poke (pronounced po-keh) is a raw marinated fish or other seafood salad (such as ahi poke or octopus poke). It is made with sea salt, seaweed, kukui nut oil and in more recent times with soy sauce and sesame oil.
  Squid luau (pronounced Loo-ow) is made with coconut milk cooked with taro leaves in a pot. It has a creamy consistency. Chicken is sometimes substituted for the squid.
  Haupia (pronounced how-pee-ah) is a flan like dessert made with coconut milk and ground arrowroot. Cornstarch has become a widespread substitute for the arrowroot.
  Ko'ele palau (pronounced ko-ele pa-lao) is a desert made from cooked sweet potato mashed  and mixed with coconut milk.
  Kulolo (pronounced ku-lo-lo) is a pudding dessert made from grated taro corm and coconut milk that's baked in an imu, having a fudge-like consistency.
caption: Hawaiians eating poi in a photo by Menzies Dickson circa 1870. Dickson was a pioneering photographer on the islands who captured some of the earliest images of Hawaiian people
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