Hawaii is America’s largest consumer of Spam. But the food culture on Oahu and the other islands reaches way beyond canned meat in both origin and sophistication.
There is no better place to sample the islands’ bounty than the Saturday Farmers’ Market, held each week in the shady parking lot of Kapiolani Community College near Diamond Head. Vendors selling Hawaiian grown and made products — everything from organic produce to tropical jams and aged honey — open their booths starting at 7:30 a.m. My advice: Go early and go hungry.
There are dozens of stalls serving hearty breakfasts and other dishes such as sliders (savoury meat on a bun), fried green tomatoes, pineapple cake, etc.
By 9 a.m., it’s packed with locals who come to nosh, shop, socialize and watch the cooking demonstrations. By 11 a.m., it’s winding down.
For visitors, the market is a chance to do something non-touristy and inexpensive. The vendors are generally pleased to chat about their products, how they are grown, how to prepare them, etc. You can pick up snacks to take along on your travels around the island, and Kona coffee and macadamia nuts — every variety from chocolate-covered to wasabi roasted — make wonderful gifts to take home for family, friends or yourself.
Sampling local cuisine is one of the unique experiences of travelling. Here are a few other things to try while visiting the Honolulu area:
Most of us have heard of Hawaiian dishes such as poi, a Polynesian staple made from taro, and the traditional luau show-stopper — kalua pig — slow roasted underground to melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. If you attend a luau, also try the fresh and tasty poke (raw fish salad) and lomi salmon (a fish and tomato dish).
A “plate lunch” is considered by some to be a quintessentially Hawaiian dish. These hearty takeaways are widely available but we tried Rainbow Drive-In on Kanaina Ave., which is a Honolulu institution. The place was crowded with locals of all ages, including taxi drivers, truckers, and a couple from Edmonton who had heard about it from relatives who own a condo on Oahu.
The “plate,” really a styrofoam container, is laden with a main dish — everything from mahi-mahi to kalua pork to Korean barbecue to beef teriyaki — plus two scoops of white rice and one scoop of macaroni salad. With a soft drink, it runs about $8.
We also ventured to Liliha Bakery on Kualani St., where even on a Tuesday the lineup snakes out of the door. Most people were there for the coco puffs, a melt in your mouth puff-pastry filled with chocolate pudding and topped with dense coconut-vanilla frosting. The bakery says they sell 4,800 to 7,200 coco puffs per day.
These sweets, and others such as malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts from Leonard’s Bakery on Kapahulu Ave.), go well with a cup of rich strong Kona coffee, which is grown on Hawaii’s Big Island. The Honolulu Coffee Co. shop in Bishop’s Square brews Kona coffee exclusively. Five minutes from Waikiki Beach, in Ala Moana Center, Pacific Place Tea Garden serves Kona coffee and interesting tea blends.
When it’s time to cool off, shave ice — a snow-cone-like treat of finely shaved ice on top of ice-cream or azuki beans — will usually do the trick. These come in dozens of flavours and colours. Another cool treat is mochi, a pretty Japanese rice cake filled with ice cream.
There are dozens more Hawaiian specialities to sample but discovering them yourself is half the fun of visiting.
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