Food for Thought (in Hawaii)

Kava - do you like dirt?  Or potato skins covered in dirt?  Then this is the drink for you.  It is supposed to have a calming effect but you have to drink about 3 coconut bowls of them.

Beer - Hawaii has a couple of big name beers, Kona and Big Island being two of the most famous.  Gotta go to Hawaii for some their more interesting ones, like passion fruit.

Rum - Rum is distilled from sugar cane and sugar cane production was a driving force behind Hawaii's economy.  Koloa makes a most delicious coffee rum.  

Musubi- big spam sushi

Crackseed - it's the seed of a plum and mixed with a sweet and sour combination that is put on dried fruit and gummies.  It's called crackseed because it's literally cracked seed and also it's addicting. 

Poke - pronounced poh-keh.  It's a raw fish salad.  The simpler the better, in my opinion.

Plate lunch - if you read about what to eat in Hawaii, you'll most certainly come across the plate lunch.  It's a meal on a plate but you have to have 2 scoop rice or you're doing it wrong.   Below is chicken lau lau steamed in taro leaves. The taro leaves are good to eat too! 

 

Japanese food - plenty of this around given Hawaii's history.  And they do this really well given how many Japanese tourists visit per year. Beef ramen pictured below.  I'm hungry now.

  

Fish - oh gosh.  Can't get enough of this.  It's eye-closing, soft murmur fresh.  Seared ahi accompanied by mashed purple sweet potatoes.  I would go back just for this.

*Not pictured because we were too concentrated on eating and forgot to take photographs are two Hawaiian cuisines, loco moco and poi.  Loco moco is Hawaii's comfort food; hamburger patty atop a pile of white rice and topped off with a fried egg and gravy is the traditional way.  There are other variations but why mess with a good thing?  Poi is made by mashing the stem of the taro plant and it becomes a gooey consistency.  When poi is served, all conflict among the people at the meal must be halted.