What We Eat Is Who We Are

Clifford Nae’ole was nearly fined last year for serving ‘opae (OH-pie), a native Hawaiian shrimp. It is not illegal to eat the freshwater shellfish, but it is illegal to sell it. This year, Nae’ole didn’t publicize the shrimp at his hotel’s Hawaiian feast. However, he did provide a small quantity for Hawaiians. They found the crunchy red delicacy at the raw seafood bar, along with fish-and-seaweed salads and another favorite, poi (poy). Poi is the pounded root of the taro plant, mixed with water and eaten as a staple like mashed potatoes.

Seafood and poi come from the ocean, streams, and land. Catching, growing, and eating this food is part of what makes Hawaiians who they are. However, in the 200-plus years since Westerners came to the islands, habitats for Hawaiian food have nearly been destroyed. Hawaiians fight for their native foods. Taro (kalo) is a prime example of an endangered Hawaiian food. Taro grows best in patches flooded with cool running water. The root is steamed and pounded or run through a mill. The product, poi, is moist and sticky, purple or gray. Traditionally, families grew taro together and ate poi from the same bowl with their fingers. One hardworking Hawaiian might eat 5 pounds in a sitting! Today, poi is sold in 1-pound bags or served at parties in 4-ounce containers. It sells for $6 or $7 a pound. Most supermarkets limit customers to two bags, because there’s not enough to go around. 

Why the shortage? Taro farming requires land and water. Hawaiians have lost most of their land to the government and foreigners. Water from more than 90 percent of Hawaii’s streams has been taken for sugar cane, housing, and resorts, leaving little to none in the streams. This leaves scant water for growing taro. The good news is that since the 1990s, water has trickled back into a few Hawaiian streams, following a 20-year fight in the courts by taro farmers.

Returning water may allow native Hawaiian stream life to revive. Stream foods include ‘opae, the freshwater shrimp, and hihiwai (hee-HEE-vie), a mollusk.

‘Opae are caught in nets under waterfalls. Daisy Kala’aupa, an elder, remembered from her childhood: “‘Opae weren’t hard to get. You could practically scoop them up, they were so numerous.” The people fried ‘opae or dried them and ate them with poi.

Hihiwai are freshwater snails. You can see their round shells sticking on the stones at night. There used to be plenty: all you had to do was “scrape it in your bag,” said Eddie Baker, another old-timer. Nowadays, they’re rare. You can occasionally find hihiwai served at luaus (LOO-ows), or parties for special occasions. Families from areas where streams still flow provide them. Stick a pin into the bottom of the black, bumpy shell and pull out a chunk of chewy meat. Delicious!

These delicacies depend on stream flow into the ocean to complete their spawning cycles. (Spawning is how they reproduce.) Ocean foods, too, need the nutrient-rich stream waters to survive. 

Take poke (POE-kay). Poke is seaweed mixed with raw chopped fish and Hawaiian rock salt. Its main ingredients are in danger.

In the past 20 years, the limu (LEE-moo, seaweed) supply has dropped. The causes include failure of streams to bring nutrients to the reefs, overharvesting, and pollution. Commercially grown seaweed is replacing native species in most poke.

Another ingredient, fish, is struggling. Hawaiians are scared at how the fish population has decreased. “The fishing lifestyle is gone already,” says John Turalde, whose family always fished for food. Recent laws have limited net fishing to preserve the resource. This angers Hawaiians who depend on their catch to eat. 

Another delicacy that’s getting rare is ‘opihi (oh-PEE-hee). ’Opihi are limpets: round, grooved shells protecting an animal with a sucker foot. ‘Opihi are crunchy, chewy, dangerous to collect, and expensive: about $250 a gallon. Overharvesting has led locals to closely monitor stock in a few remaining healthy environments.

Will Hawaiian seaweeds disappear? Will ‘opihi become as rare as ‘opae? Will these foods turn out like honu (HOE-noo), the Hawaiian green sea turtle? Honu was listed as an endangered species in 1978. The ban on turtle steaks has helped honu survive, yet Hawaiians risk arrest for eating this traditional food.

Around the islands, Hawaiians are rallying to protect their native food sources. On Molokai Island, people revive fish ponds to provide for the future. In charter schools around the state, students grow taro — even on dry land — and learn to make poi. The Food Sovereignty Conferences of 2007 and 2008 urged youth to preserve habitats and to grow Hawaiian food.

Many Hawaiians are working hard to protect the sources of their cultural foods. They feel they need to preserve fish and poi, because these are at the core of Hawaiian culture.

What we eat is who we are.