Hawaii's favourite feast

Oct. 5, 2010 - PRLog -- Throughout history in media such as television shows and movies we have come to know a little bit about Hawaiian parties called Luau.  Grass skirt hula girls with a band playing commercialised Hawaiian music are just some the images the media portrays to us.  But not many people know about the traditional and the true aspect of a Hawaiian Luau.

The origins of a Luau spawned from the formation in 1819 by King Kamehameha II.  Around this time men and women weren't allowed to share their meals together due to social and religious taboos rules, like some of the food wasn't allowed to be eaten by men and vice versa.  At the feast held by King Kamehameha II he outlawed the rules by eating with women and his followers.

You see the traditional Hawaiian feast was called 'aha 'aina, this was a feast that was used for special occasions such as people coming to age or a significant milestone in their life, honouring a great victory in war, celebrating a great harvest, birth of a new born child, launch of a new canoe and so forth.  These feasts were full of symbolism and the goal of the event was to unite the people, in a way to show the strength and future goals that the participants hope to archive.

As time went on these feasts would continue to be popular for example there was King Kalakaua who was well known for his love of throwing parties, thus was given the nickname Merry Monarch.  Threw a huge Luau for his 50th birthday, in which he opened to everyone.  The turnout was more than 1,500 guests, there was so many people that they had to feed in three different shifts.

The name Lu'au came from a popular dish that was regularly featured in these feasts, which is leaves of taro which are baked with coconut milk in an imu (underground oven), when the leaf is young it is similar to spinach in the way it is cooked and is often mixed with meat such as chicken or squid.

Hawaiian families will still gather for the special family occasions/events as mention earlier, these would be more private occasions rarely open to visitors, whilst hotels, resorts and numerous private companies have cashed in on the popularity of Luau’s especially when it comes to the tourist trade.  For example In Oahu there are two of the largest companies that specialise in Luau’s.  They are Germaine's and Paradise Cove and they gather over a thousand visitors a week and transport them away from Waikiki to their special beach front locations for a night of entertainment.  So it doesn't matter if you are in one of the many Hawaii vacation rentals as you will still be able to find a Luau somewhere

There are some who have merged the concept of Luau with party which has resulted with an influx of various different events such as graduation luaus, wedding luaus, and birthday luaus.  At a Luau feast you will be able to sample some the best food Hawaiian has got to offer such as Kalua Pig which is a succulent pig that is roasted in an Imu pit.  Poke which is a raw fish salad that is usually served as an appetizer. Loni salmon is a side dish that features the fish diced mixed with tomatoes, Maui onions and sometimes chilli peppers and/or ice, there is also another version that is mixed with cucumber and sweet onion.

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