Blog #45: Maui No Ka Oi

How many people are lucky enough to be able to say that they have lived and worked in Hawaii? Well, as much as I feel like the word “blessed” is overused, I truly was. It’s paradise on earth and a world destination for a reason. 

I was singing on an inter-island cruise ship in my early 20’s and one of the perks of the job was to join in on the passenger tours, if there was space available. I always took advantage of this and got to see so much, as a result. One of the tours was to go and see a performance art type of live production about the myths of Maui called “Ulalena” which encompassed everything from hula to chanting to acrobatics and stilt walking to beautiful Hawaiian music. Being a performer with brown skin means that you are “not right” for a lot of parts or roles in the US. But here I was, in the US, seeing the most stunning and spiritual show, with the most gorgeous sun kissed performers….and my first thought after giving them a standing ovation was “I want to be in this show. I CAN be in this show”. For once, I was actually, the right “type”. I went back the next week and left my headshot and resume at the box office, having no idea if they would ever reach a casting agent or directors hands. 3 years later, I was being flown out from NYC to join the cast of the show.

There are a rare few moments in life that…when you know, you know. From that point on, I flew back and forth between NYC, Hawaii and Las Vegas several times, making my time in Hawaii add up to about 3 1/2 years, cumulatively.

A part of my heart will always remain there. Maui No Ka Oi (Maui is the best). Now, the FOOD. 

FRUITS

Tropical places are a haven for beautiful, ripe, sweet and juicy fruits that cannot be found (or at least, not at the same freshness and quality level) anywhere else in the world. Hawaii is teeming with some of the worlds best mangoes, pineapples, papayas, lilkois (passion fruits) bananas, guavas, avocados and coconuts and they are truly abundant. When I was with the cast of Ulalena, fellow performers used to bring huge, cardboard boxes of mangoes in for any and all to grab and go when in season, as mango trees are often in peoples backyards. Papayas can grown just by the seeds being thrown in the backyard and they are so nutrient rich and delicious. I used to think they tasted like soap, but I guess I’d just never really eaten a good one! The pineapples are the sweetest you’ll ever taste and the pineapple fields are so beautiful to drive by when passing through Kahalui on the way to Up Country. Some of the locals keep fruit pickers in their trunks and know where to find these fruit trees in the wild, and go and pick them when ripe (otherwise, they often just crash to the ground and spoil). I got to partake in the fruit picking once and it was a thrill for this city girl! Even the bananas taste so wildly different from what we get on the mainland (what Hawaiians call the rest of the US) , it would always take me about a month to get used to the taste of them again after returning. I love and miss the taste of these fruits. I remember meeting some surfers once who said they would just eat avocados everyday to get by, and they said it with smiles on their faces. Some people there actually DO still live off of the land to a certain degree and there is a lot of beauty in that. One of my favorite dishes that is commonly found in restaurants in Hawaii is macadamia nut encrusted fish with lilikoi butter sauce which brings me to my next topic….

FISH

Opah (Moonfish), Opakapaka (Hawaiian Pink Snapper). Ahi (Tuna). Hamachi (Yellowtail), Mahi Mahi,(dolphinfish) and HUMUHUMUNUKUNUKUAPUAA. No joke. That is, in fact, Hawaii’s official state fish and I even know a hula dance about it! These are just a few of the melt-in-your-mouth, delicious fish found in Hawaiian waters and I didn’t know one thing about them until moving there. Boy am I ever glad that I do now!

My education in fish comes almost entirely from my time of living in Maui and oddly enough, I didn’t embrace the idea of raw fish until my last 3 months spent on the islands. I shake my head at all of the delectable fresh fish that I missed out on! I also learned about the tender and flaky grilled hamachi collar which one must ask about (if there is hamachi of any kind on the menu) because there are not enough of them to be put on a menu so…if you are “in the know” enough to ask, you are in for a fantastic treat. Thank you to my local friends in Maui for sharing all of their tricks of the trade. Ahi poke is another snack that is not to be missed. It is basically cubed raw tuna, mixed with shallots, green onions, soy sauce, chili oil (a Hawaiian favorite), sesame oil and sesame seeds. You can find it in just about any deli on any island. It is affordable, healthy and ono (tasty). Are you hungry yet? Oh, and my favorite entree: Macademia Encrusted Fish with Lilikoi Buttersauce. It is something you will never forget eating in your entire life and you will search for it forever too. If you are lucky enough to have a Dukes near you (a Hawaiian restaurant chain that made it to coastal cities in the US), you can indulge in this culinary delight. There are 2 places in Maui (that are still open!) that I want to highlight and mention for their stellar fish dishes, sandwiches and preparations. 

Mama’s Fish House/ 799 Poho Place/Paia, HI 96779

Paia Fish Market/ 100 Baldwin Ave/ Paia, HI 96779. 

if you are a lover of fish and you are visiting Maui, these 2 places are absolute, must-trys! 

LOCAL FOOD

The five, main cultures of people who went to Hawaii to work on the plantations were Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino and Chinese and you can taste these influences in all of the local food. If you visit a Hawaiian fast food chain called L & L Kitchen (now on the mainland too, including Las Vegas) you can find preparations such as katsu , kalbi and teriyaki. Saimin is a noodle soup with roots going back to the 1850’s when all of the field workers from  different backgrounds would share communal meals, contributing what they had, out of which this dish (similar to ramen but made with thicker noodles and a slightly different broth) was born. If you would like to try some authentic saimin, try Sam Soto’s on Maui. The Portuguese influences would include dishes such as Portuguese bean soup (often served at family gatherings) and bacalhau salad (a dried cod salad made with Maui onions, lettuce , vinegar and soy sauce). One will often find Japcahe (Korean stir fried glass noodles) and chicken adobo (Filipino chicken dish made with garlic, vinegar and bay leaves) in the corner delis. Spam musubi is a locals favorite ( sliced, grilled spam, sandwiched between a block of rice and wrapped in nori like the tradition of Japanese omusubi) and to be honest, the locals like to sneak spam into lots of things so watch out! You might be eating spam more than you realize! As you can see, all of these foods are just a beautiful melting pot and representation of the people who came to represent Hawaii. In reality, there are so few, pure blooded Hawaiians left and having any Hawaiian blood at all is cause for celebration on the Islands. However, it is this beautiful patchwork of immigrant blood that has come to make up what is now the face of Hawaii, or what they call “the locals” and the food they they brought with them. 

There is so, so much more food in Hawaii that I could talk about and deserves to be highlighted (taro root which makes poi, kalua pig, cooked in an imu, laulau- a Polynesian dish made of cooked taro leaves filled with pork or fish) and this could be a topic for a book all on it’s on. Today, I just wanted to wet your palate a bit and give you a little taste of Hawaii. When you go (which, of course you will) try one of these dishes that you never knew was special to the land of aloha and live as the locals do. You won’t regret it.