Native cuisine of Hawaii
Nonetheless, when they arrived, few edible plants were indigenous to Hawaiʻi aside from a few ferns and fruits that grew at higher elevations.
Pigs were raised for religious sacrifice, and the meat was offered at altars, some of which was consumed by priests and the rest eaten in a mass celebration.
Early Polynesian settlers brought along with them clothing, plants and livestock and established settlements along the coasts and larger valleys.
Upon their arrival, the settlers grew kalo (taro), maiʻa (banana), niu (coconut), and ʻulu (breadfruit).
[1] This division importantly gave communities access to streams running through the valleys down to the ocean, which allowed for construction of lo'i, irrigated mud patches that were used for kalo agriculture.
Breadfruit, sweet potato, kava, and heʻe (octopus) are associated with the four major Hawaiian gods: Kāne, Kū, Lono and Kanaloa.
Popular condiments included paʻakai (salt), ground kukui nut, limu (seaweed), and ko (sugarcane) which was used as both a sweet and a medicine.
It is shared and is connected to the concept because Hāloa (Taro), the first-born son of the parents who begat the human race.
Animals were slow cooked primarily in imu, or underground ovens made by burying food with hot rocks and banana wood.
They were also often cooked by cutting the animal open, filling its body with hot rocks, and wrapping it in ti, banana, and kalo leaves.
[8] The name lūʻau came from the name of a food always served at a ʻahaʻaina, young taro tops baked with coconut milk and chicken or octopus.
Pigs and dogs were killed by strangulation or by holding their nostrils shut in order to conserve the animal's blood.
[9] Large pieces of meat, such as fowl, pigs and dogs, would be typically cooked in earth ovens, or spitted over a fire during ceremonial feasts.
The Konohiki, a class of royalty that at this time of year provided the service of tax collector, collected agricultural and aquacultural products such as pigs, taro, sweet potatoes, dry fish, kapa and mats.
The festival proceeded in a clockwise circle around the island as the image of Lono (Akua Loa, a long pole with a strip of tapa and other embellishments attached) was carried by the priests.
The second phase of celebration includes: hula dancing, sports (boxing, wrestling, Hawaiian lava sledding, javelin marksmanship, bowling, surfing, canoe races, relays, and swimming), singing, and feasting.
[14] In the third phase, the waʻa ʻauhau (tax canoe)was loaded with hoʻokupu and taken out to sea where it was set adrift as a gift to Lono.
