Living  in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the native Hawaiians were lucky enough to  have access to some of the best fish in the world.  While most of the fish they consumed consisted of reef fish, they did occasionally catch small tuna, which they would cut up and make into poke (pronounced POH-kay). Poke…

Anatomy of a “Loco Moco” So, what is a loco moco you ask? Not to be confused with the great Charlottesville institution, Mono Loco, a loco moco consists of a grilled hamburger patty on a bed of sticky rice, topped with a fried egg and brown gravy. While our Spanish-speaking friends here will be snickering…

Hawaii is a melting pot of many cultures.  Fueled by the need for cheap labor to staff its rapidly expanding sugar industry, Hawaii sugar plantation owners brought in hundreds of thousands of workers from China, Japan, Korea, and the Philippines between 1850 and 1930. Wily plantation owners diversified their labor force intentionally, so that the…

It’s true–every culture has their own version of fried chicken.  In Hawaii, at every tailgating event, at every pot luck gathering, you will always find a platter of Mochiko chicken.  Simply put, it is dark meat chicken marinated in soy, garlic, ginger, egg, and mochiko (rice flour), then deep-fried until crispy.  In our version of…

SPAM. Once upon a time, a skeptical Mochikonian asked Riki about the SPAM in Hawaii. “Just. Why?” To which he replied in his characteristically sage way that during the War, SPAM was one of the most accessible sources of protein on the island. He told this little Mochikonian a story about how the island people…