The Lu'au is a contemporary expression of a traditional Hawaiian feast set with food cooked
in an earthen pit oven, the imu. This traditional form of cooking is found throughout Polynesia. In
ancient Hawai'i, men and women ate separately. Today, the lu'au is a celebration that brings together
an entire family and community.
Such a feast was not called lu'au until the mid-nineteenth century. "Lu'au" is the name of the leafy
tops of young taro plants cooked in coconut milk, one dish of the feast. The meal now
includes Hawaiian foods such as
- kalua pig, pork cooked in the imu
- fish
- opihi, raw limpets
- haupia, coconut milk custard
- poi, the Hawaiian staple, a pounded starch made from cooked taro root
There is usually an array of other ethnic foods including
- chicken long- rice introduced by Chinese
- sushi by Japanese
- chicken adobo by Filipinos
- macaroni salad by U.S. mainlanders
- lomi-lomi salmon, whose origins can be traced to whalers from the Pacific Northwest
Local lu'au are huge undertakings feed as many as several hundred people. A band plays
Hawai'ian music and anyone can get up and dance hula. Leis are often given to guests as a sign of
affection. A local lu'au differs from the lu'au many visitors experience in a hotel, which
include foods more familiar to the guests and dancing that is often cabaret-style Tahitian.
[Lu'au] | CFCH
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29 November 1995