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Hawaiian Luau

Luau

A luau (in Hawaiian, lu‘au) is a Hawaiian feast. It may feature food, such as poi, kalua pig, poke, lomi salmon, opihi, haupia, and beer; and entertainment, such as Hawaiian music and hula. Among people from Hawaii, the concepts of "luau" and "party" are often blended, resulting in graduation luaus, wedding luaus, and birthday luaus.

Etymology and history
According to Pukui & Elbert (1986:214), the name "luau" goes back "at least to 1856, when so used by the Pacific Commercial Advertiser." Earlier, such a feast was called a "paina" (pa‘ina) or ahaaina (‘aha‘aina). The newer name comes from that of a food always served at a luau: young taro tops baked with coconut milk and chicken or octopus.

Common luau foods

• Poi. "[T]he Hawaiian staff of life, made from cooked taro corms, or rarely breadfruit, pounded and thinned with water" (Pukui & Elbert 1986:337). It can be thick or thin, and can be new and sweet, or old and tangy (fermented). Hawaiians also had poi mai‘a "[m]ashed ripe bananas and water" before 1778, and thereafter, poi palaoa "[f]lour poi, made by stirring flour in hot water, eaten alone or mixed with taro poi". Breadfruit poi is called poi ‘ulu. Another of the various pois is poi ‘uala, or pa‘i ‘uala, "[c]ooked and compressed sweet potatoes allowed to ferment slightly and used as a substitute for poi when poi was scarce" (Pukui & Elbert 1986:303, 337). Mashing is a common characteristic of Hawaiian food preparation.
  
• Poke. The traditional Hawaiian poke was raw fish, gutted and sliced across the backbone. The slices still had skin and bones, which were spit out after all the flesh had been eaten. Poke was eaten with condiments such as salt, seaweed, and crushed roasted kukui nuts (inamona). Modern poke is made with skinned, deboned, and carefully filleted fish, and takes a variety of dressings and condiments. Poke means "slice" in Hawaiian (Pukui & Elbert 1986:337).
  
• Lomilomi salmon. Raw salmon "worked with the fingers and mixed with diced tomatoes, onions and seasoned with seasalt" (Pukui & Elbert 1986:212). Lomi means "mash".
  
• Laulau. "Packages of ti leaves or banana leaves containing pork, beef, salted fish, or taro tops, baked in the ground oven, steamed or broiled" (Pukui & Elbert 1986:196).
  
• Kalua pig. Pork cooked in a pit oven (imu). A whole dressed pig (pua‘a) is salted, wrapped, lowered into the ground oven, and covered. Kalua is the earth-oven cooking method (Pukui & Elbert 1986:123).
  
• Opihi (‘opihi). Raw limpet meat. Three species are called koele (ko‘ele), alinalina (‘alinalina), and makaiauli (makaiauli) (Pukui & Elbert 1986:292).
  
• Chicken long rice. Cellophane noodles (also known as "long rice"), simmered in chicken broth and served hot with pieces of chicken.
  Rice.
  
• Haupia (haupia). Coconut-arrowroot pudding. Cornstarch is substituted for the arrowroot (Pukui & Elbert 1986:62).
  
• Kulolo (kulolo). Coconut-taro pudding (Pukui & Elbert 1986:181).
  At modern luaus, drinks may include beer, soda, juice, etc. Many 19th century public luaus would have been "teetotal". At the lavish private luaus hosted by 19th century figures like the genial King Kalakaua, imported wine and hard liquor were prominent items on the menu.

Hawaiian feasts before 1778 would have featured pig, chicken, dog, seafood, bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes, and taro. None of those, except seafood, were indigenous to the Hawaiian islands, but were introduced by Polynesian settlers. Many of the foods now considered "traditional" at luaus were introduced by Europeans, Americans, or Asians. Dog meat is no longer eaten (legally) in the islands.

Before the breaking of the kapus in 1819 (the ‘Ai Noa), Hawaiian men and women ate separately, and certain foods, such as pig and most species of bananas, were forbidden to women.

Source: Wikipedia

In ancient Hawaii, men and woman ate their meals apart. Commoners and women of all ranks were also forbidden by the ancient Hawaiian religion to eat certain delicacies. This all changed in 1819, when King Kamehameha II abolished the traditional religious practices. A feast where the King ate with women was the symbolic act which ended the Hawaiian religious tabus, and the luau was born.

The favorite dish at these feasts is what gave the luau its name. Young and tender leaves of the taro plant were combined with chicken, baked in coconut milk and called luau.

The traditional luau feast was eaten on the floor. Lauhala mats were rolled out and a beautiful centerpiece made of ti leaves, ferns and native flowers about three feet wide was laid the length of the mat. Bowls filled with poi, a staple of the Hawaiian diet made from pounded taro root, and platters of meat were set out and dry foods like sweet potatoes, salt, dried fish or meat covered in leaves were laid directly on the clean ti leaves.

Much to the consternation of the proper Victorian visitors, utensils were never used at a luau, instead everything was eaten with the fingers. Poi of various consistencies got its name from the number of fingers needed to eat it… three finger, two finger, or the thickest, one finger poi.

Source

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