The Daily News OnlineSay aloha to tastebud paradise
By Cathy Zimmerman
Aug 11, 2004 - 07:49:12 am PDT
To celebrate the way food brings different cultures to the same table, there's no better cuisine than Hawaii's.
Food links Hawaiians together, said Chris Whiteside of Longview, an active member of the local Hawaiian community.
"The food has an 'international' flavor, which includes Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and other ethnic influences," Whiteside said this week.
She and others who relish Hawaiian fusion have put together a savory menu of dishes from the islands for the eighth annual International Dinner on Saturday.
Participants will enjoy Kahlua Chicken, Pineapple Glazed Sweet Potatoes, Sticky Rice and Macaroni Salad, said Kina Quartly, who came up with recipes for the event.
Quartly, a 44-year-old administrative supervisor at Solvay, grew up in Longview and has Hawaiian ancestry. She learned about cooking at local luaus, she said.
"The kahlua pig is probably my favorite," Quartly said.
Why does everyone rhapsodize over this pork?
"It's not just the way it tastes," she said, "but how it's prepared."
After the whole pig is placed underground in a pit, "we sit around the imu, talking story with family and friends," Quartly said.
"It's such a nice presentation when they take it out of the pit. Then you get your hands in it, because you shred the meat. Everything from getting it ready, how it looks and smells, eating it with family, sitting around until the wee hours of the morning ... "
Kahlua pig is just one element of a tradition that draws culinary riches from the sea, tropical fruit trees, and cultures from all over Asia.
Accordingly, rice (make that "sticky" rice) is the staple of every meal, said Whiteside, 53, who works at St. Rose School.
"Hawaiians eat a lot of fish, cooked or raw (poke), as well as pork and chicken," she said. "But always, ALWAYS eaten with white steamed rice. There is a rice cooker in nearly every home in Hawaii, and they eat this sticky rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner."
Another Hawaiian staple is --- get ready --- Spam.
Whiteside said the canned meat "is offered at many local fast food places and a variety of restaurants."
"I do Spam Musubi," said Darren Espejo of Kelso, who sandwiches fried Spam between sticky rice and wraps it in seaweed.
"Spam was very popular in Hawaii," said Espejo, who was born and raised there. "During World War II, they couldn't get boats to ship stuff in, and Spam was one of the main things there."
Espejo, a 39-year-old diesel mechanic who moved to the mainland 12 years ago, learned to cook as a boy. "I was the 13th child," he said. "I had to fend for myself."
His family used to host from 800 to 1,500 people at luaus. "I tried just about everything with my different friends, not only Hawaiian, but Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Portuguese," said Espejo, who is of Spanish and Filipino descent.
"When Hawaiians get together, food is always involved," said Whiteside. "It can be just pu pu's (appetizers) or a
luau (big feast).
Hawaiians call a large celebration a ho'olaulea, she said. A smaller, more intimate gathering called ohana means "family night."
Cheryl Kaehu of Longview is an excellent cook who hosts many ohana nights, Whiteside said. Kaehu "learned to cook from her mom growing up in Waimanalo, Oahu." Some of Kaehu's favorites are lau lau (pork wrapped in spinach), lomi salmon and curry or tripe stew.
Most mainland Americans are familiar with the luau, an outdoor feast centering on a pig roasted in the ground. Whiteside said the Panis family of Longview has "been hosting luaus for family and friends locally for the past 25 years."
As a young girl growing up on the island of Kauai, she remembers her grandfather cooking a delicious stew with sweet potatoes and coconut.
"He took his big cane knife and cracked the coconut open and grated it, squeezing the milk out of it," she said. "No one else learned how to cook it. When he died, it was lost forever. ...
"Now we take steps to assure that family recipes are passed on. The younger girls are learning how to cook Pork Pimiento and Chicken Long Rice, sweet delights such as bico, a Filipino sweet rice, and malasadas, a Portuguese doughnut rolled in sugar."
The Panis patriarch, 80-year-old Modesto Panis, is teaching his granddaughters how to cook family favorites such as bok choy soup, corn beef and cabbage, and pork adobo, Whiteside said.
