Local cuisine is a major part of any vacation experience. At Remax Kauaii, we understand and hold excellent Hawaiian cuisine in the highest esteem. We want our guests who stay in our Kauai beachfront rentals to appreciate local cuisine as well. Hawaii is known for its population of people of different ethnic groups. This makes the island rich in cultural diversity, going a long way to influence the lives of the locals.
Visitors are also included in Kauai culture as they will come to love everything the island stands for. And the food is no exception. Every culture’s cuisine differs; nothing makes a trip more exciting than an opportunity to explore an array of local dishes. And like all great things, Hawaii’s cuisine has a rich history going way back to the island’s first settlers.
Let’s take a trip back to how Hawaiian cuisine started and where it is now and find out how dining became one of the iconic things to do in Kauai.
About Hawaiian Cuisine
The natives of Hawaii were mostly Polynesian voyagers from Samoa, Marquesas, and the Society Islands recorded to have journeyed to Hawaii in the years 300 and 800. They brought plants and spices to the island along with them on the voyage.
When they settled, the native Hawaiians wasted no time cultivating the available produce on the island. They also planted the crops they had brought with them. The sea became an added advantage to the people as it was another major source of food on the island. This went on for years, and the island prospered.
In 1778, the island of Hawaii received foreigners from Europe and America on its shores. These foreigners were mainly Christian missionaries, and like any travelers, they brought items from their home countries. The Christian missionaries also had a major influence on what is now known as local cuisine in Hawaii.
As the years went by, Hawaii became famous for its crop production. Hawaiian soil grew sugarcane, pineapples, coconuts, yams, and sweet potatoes. Soon, it became a hotspot for foreigners, and trade slowly but surely began on the island. People came in from all over the world: Korea, Japan, China, Portugal, The Philippines, and Puerto Rico.
The immigrants came not only with their laborers’ skills but also with culinary insights from their home country. Little by little, foreign recipes began to fuse with Hawaiian dishes. Post World War 2, Hawaii got a lot more visitors, and so the number of hotels, house rentals in Kauai, and restaurants on the small island increased as well.
The restaurants trying to keep up with the influx of foreign visitors made food using ingredients that came from overseas. The Hawaiian restaurants were also influenced by other American menus and recipes, all in a bid to cater to the foreigners on the island.
This continued until 1991 when a group of twelve chefs came together to challenge and change the status quo of Hawaiian cuisine. The chefs were natives of Hawaii, and they decided to stop using ingredients from other countries and instead replaced them with food grown on the island. They created a perfect blend of locally grown food and flavors already present on the island. The strategy worked, and Hawaiian cuisine was transformed into meals bursting with flavor and color.
Thirty years after the most significant transformation in Hawaiian cuisine, the island is still bursting with Kauai restaurants serving meals that have put Hawaiian cuisine on the map. Are you planning to visit Hawaii on your next vacation? Here are a few Hawaiian dishes you must try on your Kauai vacation.
Poi
Poi is a meal that is uniquely from the Kauia culture. It is made from the Taro plant grown on the island. When cooked, the root/corn is mashed into a paste, and water is added till the desired consistency is achieved.
The purple pudding-like dish can be found anywhere on the island, from local restaurants to food trucks and grocery stores. Three poi categories refer to the consistency and how many fingers you’ll need to scoop it. There is the one-finger, two-finger, and three-finger, each ranging from fluid to thick and doughy.
Laulau
Laulau is made with fatty pork and butterfish wrapped in lu’au and ti leaves. It is steamed and eaten with rice and poi. The ti leaves act as a steamer for the pork and butterfish to cook properly, while the lu’au leaves are the inner wrappings of the dish. Properly made laulau is meaty and has a savory taste. Once served, all you have to do is untie the strings holding the ti leaves and enjoy the hearty meal.
Kalua Pig
The Kalua pig is one of the most revered delicacies of Hawaii, dating as early back as the native settlers on the island. Pigs were not native to Hawaii, but when the native settlers came to the island, they brought a lot of crops and livestock, including pigs.
The Kalua pig is cooked in an underground oven called an imu. But the pig isn’t the only food in Kauai Hawaii cooked using this method; fish and vegetables are also cooked with the imu, and they are all referred to as Kalua. However, the pig Kalua is the most popular. Kalua is also present at every luau and is traditionally cooked whole.
Plan Your Visit
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Poke
Hawaiian sushi, if you will. Poke is a Hawaiian dish that first began when the local fishermen on the island would season the cutoffs from their catch to serve as snacks. The snack gained popularity in 1970, and the locals made it with skinned and fileted fish. The poke is served with roasted, ground candlenut meat, Hawaiian salt, and seaweed.
Lomi Salmon
As the name implies, the lomi salmon is made from salted salmon. The dish is also called the lomi lomi salmon, and it is prepared by kneading the fish in the water to remove all the salt. The fish is cooked using green and white onions and seeded tomatoes.
Chicken Long Rice
The immigrants on the island influenced a majority of Hawaiian dishes. One such dish is chicken long rice. Chicken long rice is a Hawaiian dish derived from a Chinese recipe. The main ingredients include vermicelli noodles, chicken thighs, clear chicken broth, ginger, and onions. Chicken long rice bears a similarity to chicken soup. The only difference is there are more noodles and less broth. Chicken long rice is a favorite of Hawaiians, especially in the cold weather, and it is available at almost any Kauai restaurant on the island.
Book Your Kauai Rentals with Remax Kauai
A vacation to Kauai is not complete if you don’t have a comfortable place to stay. At Remax Kauai, our rentals in Kauai offer our visitors the most accommodating services and security on our resort. Our condo rentals in Kauai are only minutes away from the shore and are a walking distance from local restaurants serving Hawaiian delicacies. Book your Kauai vacation rentals with us at Remax Kauai today and have the best vacation experience.
