Kapiolani Community College
Diamond Journal 2003Fall

It’s Kaukau Time
Mary-Frances Kuulei Kuahine

Coming from a very large family, I was the only one who was raised in the town side on the island of O’ahu, while the rest of my family was born and raised in the heart of the country, Nanakuli. My family always threw a lot of luaus and pa’inas. For those who don’t know, luaus are most common for celebrating a baby’s first birthday and pa’ inas are just a way that Hawaiians celebrate someone’s graduation or anniversary. Whenever my family had a luau or pa’ina, I always looked forward to the long drive out to the country to help prepare and eat the delicious food with my family.

Throwing a luau or a pa’ina requires a lot of time and preparation. Everyone in the family must contribute or help out in one way or another. The adults usually take care of the harder tasks while the kids take care of the simple ones.

My uncles Solomon, Joseph, Saimin, and my cousin Jacob would go hunt pigs in the back of Nanakuli Avenue, near my uncle Saimin’s ranch, is in order to make kalua pig, shredded pork that’s cooked in the imu or underground oven and pork laulaus, pork wrapped in luau leaves and steamed in ti leaves. My older cousins, Happ, Chucky Boy, and Bronson would go hunt for squid down at Punalu’u beach to make my favorite squid luau, chunks of squid, cooked luau leaves with a little coconut milk added for sweetness. Squid luau is a dish that is more on the soupy side, normally thrown over rice. My cousins would also take a boat out to Barber’s Point to fish before heading on over to Maili Point to pick opihi. Some fish like uhu were stuffed and then grilled, others were steamed, and some fish like ahi were prepared raw, sashimi style. Opihi are very expensive to buy in the market; that’s why we picked them ourselves. To get them my cousins picked them off rocks where there’s rolling surf, which is risky business for the opihi pickers. Thank goodness the women in our family didn’t have to pick opihi. The opihi are a delicacy on a Hawaiian menu; they’re small ushy shellfish that you scoop out and eat raw. I personally think opihi is best when eaten with poi.

My aunties would guide my younger cousins and me in preparing poi, which is made from the root of the taro plant. We pounded the taro with a poi pounder made of stone, then added water until we reached the consistency we desired. Poi is the main starch meal on a Hawaiian menu, like how rice or mash potatoes are to other cultures. A few other dishes my cousins and I enjoyed making were lomi-lomi salmon, which is a mixture of diced tomatoes, onions, green onions, and salted salmon, haupia, which is a coconut jell-o dessert, kulolo or poi mochi, and triangle sliced pineapples.

“It’s Kaukau time,” my aunties yelled as they made sure there was enough food for everyone and the children were put back to work once again, serving the food to all the guests.

For me, learning how to throw a traditional luau or pa’ ina made me feel proud to be Hawaiian. However, one experience made me question my pride.

When I was in the sixth grade at Lili’uokalani Elementary School, our teacher Mrs. McCullen had the class learning about different cultures. The cultures we studied on were: Filipino, Japanese, Portuguese, and Hawaiian. I was stoked when my teacher mentioned that the Hawaiian culture was one of the cultures we were going to study. This required a lot of research. The students were separated into groups and we gathered information on different aspects of each culture. I was anxious to share my knowledge of what knew about the traditional Hawaiian foods we prepared in my family.

After all the research was completed on each culture, my classmates and I couldn’t wait to try all the different ethnic foods we learned about. When it was the week to eat the Hawaiian food, boy was I weak in the knees; I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into some great squid luau, pork laulaus, poi, lomi-iomi salmon and haupia!

Once the Hawaiian food was out on the table, a group of boys made some nasty comments about what the food looked like. I remember Ty, Brady, and Justin laughing out loud and mading rude comments such as “the opihi looks like cats eyes” and “the squid luau looks like diarrhea.” Those comments really bothered me. I became embarrassed to admit that I enjoyed eating Hawaiian food because I was worried about what they might’ve thought of me. Would they make fun of me also?

Mrs. McCullen served even portions of each dish on everyone’s plate. Everyone gave it a try. The very same students who had previously made the rude comments came to the conclusion that the food tasted much better than it looked. I remember the look on Ty’s face when he first tried the squid luau. He gave a pleasant smile and said with his mouth still full, “This is not bad,” and Brady nodded his head in agreement.

I was disappointed in myself for allowing their initial comments to upset me. What others think about the Hawaiian culture or food shouldn’t have affected me because I love Hawaiian food and it’s my culture.