skchai
-
Posts
1,038 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Posts posted by skchai
-
-
You asked a really tough but interesting question, mongo_jones.
As you note, the British are responsible for just about everything in U.S. Indian restaurants that is different from what you might typically find in India. Perhaps not surprising, given their much longer history and larger number in Britain.
Perhaps the only practice that seems to be more or less distinctively American (though I may be wrong, not having sampled very many British Indian restaurants) is the ubiquitous lunchtime buffet. This seems to have been a feature of the majority of U.S. Indian restaurants from the very beginning, perhaps as a way of enticing those unfamiliar with the foods (I noticed that Chinese restaurants in areas without many Chinese also often tend to have lunchtime buffets). Anyone in the restaurant business have some info on how the lunchtime buffet business became so popular?
Of course, the practice of having buffets does not define an "Indian-American cuisine". It probably takes at least a few generations before an ethnic cuisine becomes popularized to the extent that it can be given a hyphenated identity, as in the case of Chinese-American, Mexican-American, and Italian-American food.
If you want to derive some predictions about the Indian-American restaurant food of the future, take a look at Chilis and Chutneys by Neelam Batra (Morrow, 1998). It's mostly a collection of her and her friends' adaptations for Indian foods to feed their own families and to adapt to local ingredients. But it doesn't take much of logical leap to infer that such dishes might form the basis for some the stuff you would find at the "Kabab Hut" and "Curry Garden" of the future (though their versions will probably not be nearly as good as Batra's).
BTW, Patak's is now owned by Hormel, I believe, so it is officially American!
-
That's perfectly understandable. Some Japanese refer to us as
"Hawai-ken", someplace east of Okinawa-ken. . .
-
This may already have been posted in another forum, but William Grimes wrote a glowing review today:
Hemant Manthur, the tandoori master at Tamarind, has packed his tools and found a new oven at Amma. He's also found a new partner, Suvir Saran, a highly respected caterer, teacher and consultant, and a new mission, to make some serious southern Indian food.Overall, nice review, but could have been longer!
Sun-Ki
-
Russel,
Thanks so much for that information on the restaurants of the past.
And welcome to egullet - hope to hear more from you in the future!
The former Chicken Alice's is now the site for a ramen shop and an organic mochi shop (as well as the headquarters for Duke Bainum's infinitely drawn-out campaign for Honolulu mayor). Never had the privilege of eating there, unfortunately. . .
Bella Italia went out of business a while ago, but Lynn's is going strong. . .
-
I really want a book that covers the popular local foods, loco moco and the like as well as more traditional Hawaiian foods as well as the Hawaiian variations on other (mostly Asian countries) foods.
In the cookbook thread I noticed a reference to a book called Food of Paradise which seemed to cover mostly what I am looking for and just seconds ago I purchased it through Amazon Japan.
Kristen, the author of Food of Paradise is Rachel Laudan, who is a frequent poster to Egullet (as "caroline"), as well as very nice person to boot! She posts mostly to the "Mexico" and the "Pacific NW, Alaska, and Hawaii" forum (you might try to post this inquiry to that forum as well).
Food of Paradise is really the best book ever written on the everyday food of Hawai`i, so you hit the jackpot in finding it. It won the prestigious prize for best literary food book of 1997 from the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
If you are looking for other sources on Hawai`i's food, I have posted a guide to media resources at the beginning of the Honolulu Dining digest in the "Food Media and News" forum. Some of these sites have recipes.
I have also posted a Guide to Guides to Hawaii Restaurants in the "Pacific NW, Alaska and Hawaii".
I'll try to put up a proper list of cookbooks and web sources for recipes soon, but I'm being dragged away right now. . .
-
In addition to Claudia Roden, Tess Mallos, and the usual authorities you ought to take a look at this new cookbook:
-
Sweet Willy,
L&L is certaintly not a bad establishment. Their quantity/price ratio is among the best, and the quality is O.K. relative to other Honolulu plate lunch places. The knock against them is that they lack any thing distinctive to set them apart from other places, and lack a lot of side dishes other than mac salad. Also, being a large chain, they are always a convenient target for gripes!
By the way, the link you gave seems to lead to a cybersquatter. The url for L&L is http://www.hawaiianbarbecue.com/.
Aloha
-
Wow - Karen. We often go into Ala Moana Neiman Marcus and have looked longingly at many of your wonderful pastries, and even tasted some of them on occasion.
Admittedly, the usual objective for going is so our kids can use the amazing lavoratories, since we're not in any position to afford many of the products on display. However, we sometimes get waylaid at the pastry counters on the way in or out. Have never had a chance to make it Mariposa, but have heard great things about Doug Lum's East-West cuisine. I assume you would not classify him as part of HRC, though!
-
I'm no expert by any means either. However, it would seem that very small producers could form co-ops of source to justify occupying a stall. Another possible source of complementary might between food producers and other small artisan producers of candles, jewelry, etc. including those are soon to be displaced from their stalls at the Waikiki International Market place. I don't think there's any point in restricting the "gathering place" (incredibly bland name) to food products alone.
The key question may be the Kaka`ako location. Other than those who frequent the nearby Ward complex, tourists may hesitate that far from Waikiki to attend a farmer's market. Hence it's success may depend in large part on the state and city's success in building a multi-faceted attraction destination including the Ocean Science museum run by Bishop Museum, as well perhaps expanding the Children's Discovery Center children's museum.
In summary, I have no clue, really.
I wish more of the Seattle people on this forum would contribute, particularly with regards to the Pike Place Market experience and precedent. . .
Sun-Ki
-
Vikram - thanks for posting that excellent and though-provoking article. Might I ask for the bibliographical information (magazine, issue, page) for your review in case I would like to cite it at some future time?
The Appadurai piece is fascinating and raises a number of crucial issues on the relationship between food and national identity. One of the most intriguing one is whether, like political nationalism, culinary nationalism tends to homogenizes regional distinctions. The interesting counterpoint is the contention that, in certain cases, culinary nationalism may also serve to heighten those distinctions, though at the cost of simplifying them to stereotypes and suppressing "weak" (in the marketing sense) cuisines in favor of strong ones.
This in turn points out one of the interesting characteristics of cuisine and nationalism. In mainstream contemporary discourse, one of the accoutrements of a proper national cuisine seems to be the existence of clear-cut regions, each with its own distinctive features, as well as a set of common features that bind the regions together. This may be in part an extension of multiculturalist ideals, but in many ways is much more stark with regards to cuisine than to other aspects of society. Why this is I'm not sure.
Any division of this sort brings with it oversimplification and arbitrariness in drawing boundaries. In some cases, it simply means identifying regional cuisines with political subunits, such as the division of France into Norman, Provencal, Alsatian etc. cuisine, ignoring the fact that there may be greater variation within certain provinces than between them. In other cases, regional categories are associated with certain "great" subcuisines, while variation that does not fall within these subcuisines is ignored. The prime case is the division of Chinese cuisine into Canton, Shanghai, Beijing, and Szechuan. Much of what gets eaten in China does not fall cleanly into any of these categories, and is hence ignored.
The problem, however, is probably most acute in India. This is because of the fact that social divisions in India society tend to be particularly complex and often unaligned with geography. Regional differences in culture are often less pronounced than religious or caste differences, which in turn are quite complexly intertwined in their own right. Hence any attempt to divide Indian cuisine into "regional cuisines" will necessarily ignore a great deal of variation, or privilige a superficial one based on geography over all others.
Any thoughts, comments, criticisms?
By the way, here is a cite for the Appadurai piece, in case anyone wants to look it up:
Arjun Appadurai, "How to make a national cuisine: cookbooks in contemporary India". Comparative Studies in Society and History 30:1 (January 1988), 3-25.
I would also recommend the following as well.
Arjun Appadurai, "Gastro-Politics in Hindu South Asia". American Ethnologist 8:3 (1981), 494-511.
-
No idea what to suggest, but I believe arbi in English is taro, cocoyam, colocasia, or dasheen, depending on which english-speaking country you are in!
-
Holy postapalooza SW! Very glad you're enjoying your vacation in the islands. Don't spend too much time hooked up to your computer!
Leonard's Malasadas are more or less fried constantly throughout the day. So there's no need to keep them warm, since they get bought up almost as soon as they're made. The reason the lady has to disappear into the back to get them is that often they're taken directly out of the fryer into your box.
There's some controversy here over who has the best Malasadas. Leonard's is the original, but several years ago one of their chefs (who is originally from Macau and hence had prior experience with Malasadas) left and started his own place called Champion Malasadas. Champion always fries their malasadas to order, sometimes they are literally sizzling in front of you - and they let their malasadas rise much longer, which gives them a slightly sour taste that some like and others dislike.
-
O.K, the latest edition of the Honolulu Advertiser's annual guide has just come out. Hot off the presses, errh, server!
I've started a thread on the Pacific NW, Alaska, and Hawai`i Forum with links to this and a whole bunch of other guides to local dining:
A Guide to Guides to Hawaii Restaurants
Also this week in the Advertiser:
Includes: grass-finished beef from A'ala Meat Market via J. J. Andrade Meat Market in Honoka`a; free-range, no-antibiotic beef from various sources, kalbi and teriyaki-marinated ribs from Kalihi Super Meats; a list of a lot of places in Chinatown that carry all parts of the pigs.
OFF THE SHELF: Catch the tail end of the 'dragon's eye' longan season
QUICK BITES: Japanese food fest.
"Aki Matsuri" at Japanese Cultural Center; former UH football player Tyler Tanigawa opens "Tani's Lunchwagon" after stints at Sam Choy's and Mariposa; and more.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Mililani's grad 'Grinds' take the cake
High School graduation committee releases "Grrr-eat Grinds" for their senior party. Favorites include (Guamanian) Chamorro dish called champuladu (any relation to Okinawan champuru?), chocolate congee.
All above articles by Advertiser Food Editor Wanda Adams. I guess I have to post an apology to Ms. Adams for saying the doesn't put that much out on her byline - she's really outdone herself this week!
In the Star-Bulletin:
Discovering America, one pie at a time, by Betty Shimabukuro
Bill Windsor stops in Hawai`i on the last leg of his quixotic (?) trek to sample as many pies as possible across the U.S. Calls Leonard's Malasadas the "best doughnuts in America".
BY REQUEST: Chinese recipe comes with language class, by Betty Shimabukuro
A recipe for Mapo Tofu, complete with its complicated history.
THE ELECTRIC KITCHEN: Rock shrimp make tasty dish, with Chef Mariano Lalica of Meritage Restaurant
Finally, another sad note:
Wilfred N. Kawamura, founder of W&M Bar-B-Q Burger in Kaimuki, passed away last week. A humble but popular burger place with only four items on the menu, it is responsible for that grilled-meat smell that you sense whenever you're crossing the intersection of St. Louis Heights Dr. and Waialae Ave. W&M will be closed in mourning until the end of the month, but Kawamura's children have vowed to keep it going after that. . .
Obituary in the Advertiser:
Founder of Kaimuki burger place dies, by Curtis Lum
and in the Star-Bulletin:
-
In case anyone here hasn't already read it, here's a link to a related thread going on in the California forum on David Shaw's putdown of the West Coast version of Zagat's.
Anyone have an idea why Zagat seems to be suddenly coming under attack from multiple journalistic directions? It's not as if their methodology has changed or that it hasn't put up anomalies in the past. . .
-
I was just looking through the preface of the Veeraswamy book and it seems that he was faced with the same problem that many contemporary authors might face - conforming recipes with the experience of likely readers and the availability of ingredients.
As he writes:
. . . I have selected only those dishes with which the average Westerner who has lived in India or travelled there, is more or less familiar.He adds:
Practically every recipe in this book is one that can be used in any country and by the ordinary housewife. . . Nearly all the ingredients named in these recipes are to be had at the leading Stores.Given that this book was originally published in London in 1936, these conditions must have limited his recipes quite a bit! Hence some of the strangeness and seeming lack of sophistication probably arose from his need to balance taste with the demands of his audience of returned-memsahibs!
-
This thing about making the crust more and more cheesy has to reach its logical conclusion sometime - eliminating the pizza crust and replacing it with a cheese bottom. The can toast the cheese to the point where they have a nice "cheese koge" that won't turn to goo in your fingers. . .
-
LBH - welcome to Egullet and hope to hear more from you!
Irwin, looks like you were creating what HRC is supposed to be about, long before the term even existed! Your use of local ingredients in a way was far more true to sources that current HRC chefs, who not only cultivate local vendors but also to some extent dictate what they should produce. You, on the other hand, did more to raise the profile of foods that have always been available in different parts of the island for generations.
Karen - I guess it's absolutely clear how you stand on HRC! I'm not an insider regarding the politics of the HRC Inc. chefs, am certainly in no position to make any statements regarding their assistance or lack thereof towards other chefs. I did read Sam Choy claiming once that he had been against the idea of limiting the membership of the organization, but he didn't say who it was that insisted on it.
Nor am I claiming that HRC Inc. chefs invented East-West fusion cooking. As you mention, Chinois existed from 1983. In addition, Rick Fennelly's ahead-its-time Santacafe in Santa Fe started about the same time as Roy's (BTW is it true that Fennelly is now working in Hawai`i?). Of course, long before any of them, there was Irwin's old friend Trader Vic Bergeron (though that's an entire genre in and of itself). On the other hand, I still think it is fair to say that HRC in general as a movement, and people like Yamaguchi, Choy et al. in particular, played the major role in making East-West fusion a national trend in the 1990s.
Regarding your allegation that they use instant or preprepared products - that would be pretty horrible given the image that HRC seeks to project of freshness and creativity. Do you have some specifics - who among the these chefs uses ice cream base, Best Foods, and imitation crab? And for what?
Perhaps we need to think of a new name for HRC to separate the concept of high-end Hawai`i cuisine based on local ingredients from the Hawaiian Regional Chefs, Inc., Hawaiian Island Chefs, Inc., Fish and Poi Chefs, etc. and the alphabet-soup of organizations that has sprung up around the business. This may allow us to to take this discussion away from one about individual chefs and more towards one about the food itself. Any suggestions? "Hawai`i Cuisine" is the most obvious, though perhaps a bit too obvious. . .
Mahalo!
-
Rachel - thanks for starting this thread!
The big recent news: The Hawai`i state government is keen on the idea of building a large farmer's market called "The Gathering Place" on the Kaka`ako waterfront (between Waikiki and downtown Honolulu). The market is supposed to be "similar in scope to Pike Place Market in Seattle", and to serve as an environment-friendly tourist attraction, an outlet for local agricultural products, and a part of the redevelop Kaka`ako. It is planned to be on a much larger scale than existing Honolulu farmers' markets - on 4-5 acres of waterfront land near the existing waterfront park and proposed science museum / UH medical school complex, with proposed construction costs in the $25-30 million range. Here are some articles:
Lingle touts farmers market, by Sean Hao
Tours to offer taste of Hawai'i, by Beverly Creamer
Hopefully the topic is something that can lead to some "cross-pollination" between the Hawai`i and Pacific NW posters. The articles repeatedly quote officials as drawing comparisons between the proposed Gathering Place and Seattle's Pike Place. Is this a useful comparison? There is the small issue that Pike Place has nearly 100 years of history behind it. Can government initiative substitute for that kind of tradition? Just how important has Pike Place been in sustaining artisan-quality agriculture and aquaculture in Washington? More generally, what is the role that the state government can / should play in developing local farmers' markets?
Farmer's markets are truly burgeoning across the island, as indicated in this story:
Oahu sprouts new farmers’ markets By Betty Shimabukuro
The KCC Saturday Farmers' Market is perhaps the biggest and most successul of these, and the state Dept. of Ag seems have to be inspired by the apparent great initial demand at the KCC market in developing the idea for the Gathering Place.
Emily, you're right in that the variety of produce on offer seems to be no greater than that found on the North Shore, and that the key factor to its success seems to be the in-town location. Another factor seems to be the tie-in with well-known local restaurants (different restauranters rotate each week to provide "plate lunch" breakfast specials).
Rachel, I don't really have a sense of the demographics of the KCC market vs. those you could find in Chinatown. I actually haven't been to the KCC market yet, but the website lists some of their major vendors, who do seem oriented towards the HRC angle - Nalo Farms salad greens, Ceatech prawns, and as Emily mentioned, North Shore Farms tomatoes. Dean Okimoto of Nalo Farms was one of the founders of the KCC market. I have no doubt that the proposed Gathering Place is designed to sell the same kinds of goods - there is an obvious tourist-oriented angle to the model being proposed, though this is not to say that tourists wouldn't be interested in ong choy or kamias!
Some of the smaller farmer's markets around town have interesting combinations of the "old" and "new" styles. The one in Manoa Marketplace sells ong choy, bok choy, and lychees, as well as Nalo-style mixed salad greens and vine-ripened tomatoes. The Friday farmer's market next to the University of Hawai`i Campus Center has a similar mix of goods. Would that be a preferable model for the gathering place - from a culinary and / or business point of view?
-
I have yet to have good bread in Hawaii. But has anyone else run into any information on The Little Blue House? I stumbled on the web page this morning at http://mysite.verizon.net/res7h4vq/
It talks about Artisan Natural Levain Bread in Honolulu. Has anyone else tried it?
-HonoluluEater
The folks at The Little Blue House have now put up a sample menu on their web site. To wit:
White Truffle Custard, Black Truffle RagoutVeuve Cliquot Ponsardin Brut NV
Chilled Carrot Soup
Pan-fried Hawaiian Moi with Balsamic Glaze, Confit Tomatoes, Basil and Garlic
Prince Poniatowski, Aigle Blanc, Vouvray 1989
Slow Roasted Salmon with Clams, Couscous and Fennel Three Ways
Domaine Darnat ,Clos Richemont, Meursault 1er Cru Monopole 1997
Saddle of Colorado Lamb with Potato Gnocchi, Japanese Mushrooms and Rosemary-Infused Lamb Jus
Chateaux Raussan-Segla Margaux 1993
Grapefruit Granita with Basil Consomme and Radishes
Molten Chocolate Birthday Cake
How about that?
Christopher Sy, one of the partners (the other is Emily B. Hunt), was a former Chef de Partie at Trio with Grant Achatz - who BTW posts frequently to egullet, before working at Chef Mavro's. Now he's out on his own. I emailed them, and it turns out that the site has only been up for a few days (how did you manage to find it, Mr./Ms. HonoluluEater?)
According to Emily, the natural levain bread came about because Chris once staged at a high-end boulangerie in Tours, France for three months while getting his English degree from the University of Chicago! They are currently trying to find retail distributors for the bread. . .
-
agreed that the plate lunch isn't the most healthful thing. i like the korean style plates from palama market, but i tend to share one plate with my mom. there's enough meat in one plate lunch for two meals! i remember being able to eat the whole thing (when i was younger!!). now, the metabolism just doesn't kick in the way it used to
.Palama Market's plate lunch outlet is pretty good - we usually eat there whenever we go to stock up on groceries. That whole Kapalama Mall on Dillingham is going through some pretty major changes. JaJa, which was a pretty good Chinese place, closed down, and was replaced by someplace called "777". Somebody in into lucky numbers, I guess. Haven't had a chance to check it out. A Japanese-style bakery has also opened up next door.
there's a place at the koko marina shopping center called "loco mocos" i guess it is like l&l and is quickly becoming an up and comer on the chain type plate lunch place. not too bad teri beef.Hear a lot about up-and-coming places on the Hawai`i Kai side. Don't get to eat over there very often, but lot of my friends are moving there. Any other suggestions in that area - plate lunch-wise, Alanamoana?
And while we're at it, any other Korean plate lunch places people enjoy? We usually go to Ducky's, which is a small, semi-enclosed place near our house in Manoa. They have a nice charcoal grill, and an unbeatable $14.95 family pack special that contains lots of kalbi, fish jun, meat jun, chicken katsu, etc. plus several sides and a mountain of rice. No duck - it's a pun on the owner's name. At night they turn into a "outdoor bar style" establishment (I use the quotes because it's strictly BYOB) selling grilled pork belly, pig's feet, red-hot fish hotpot, and other stuff that's popular with the young Korean crowd.
Or have any favorites when it comes to Okazu-ya style plate lunches? We usually goes to Fukuya's near King and University. Their mochiko chicken is the best. Fried ahi is pretty good, and all kinds of nigiri (musubi) to go with it. Very good vegetable dishes, including kinpira (stir-fried shredded) gobo, stewed Kabocha pumpkin, and whatever else the owners have in mind that day. Who said place lunch couldn't be healthy?
-
Another pretty slow week. In the Advertiser:
Tours to offer taste of Hawai'i. By Beverly Creamer. State Department of Agriculture wants to create a open farmers' market along the Kewalo Basin in Kaka`ako, one that could turn Honolulu into a "farmer's market city" like Seattle or Vancouver.
OFF THE SHELF: Squeezable herb, spice flavors pricey but convenient. By Wanda A. Adams British Pepper and Spice Co.'s gourmet spice blends in toothpaste tubes.
QUICK BITES: Cooking classes. By Wanda A. Adams. . . at Lyon Arboretum. Colonade Asian Noodle Cafe opens on Westin Maui. Annual Great Kapolei Pumpkin Patch opens this weekend at Aloun Farms. "Chocolate" traveling exhibit opens its run in family section of Bishop Museum.
In the Star-Bulletin:
BY REQUEST: Right dressings take salad from ho-hum to yum. By Betty Shimabukuro. Made by Marsha Cades, chef at Kaka`ako Kitchen.
HAWAII'S KITCHEN: 25 garlic cloves flavor spaghetti. With Bob Longhi
ELECTRIC KITCHEN: Baked salmon a family affair. With Patricia Rodriguez
Perhaps readers of this digest (assuming such people exist) could suggest types of food-related stories or journals that they would like to have reported here. Thanks!
-
I know that a lot of local Hawaiians fight with a weight problem from the excess fat/carbs in there diet. My main question would be is why did they adopt such a cuisine? Hawaii is a tropical paradise with a diverse selection of beautiful fruits, vegetables and seafood.
Chef Fowke, excellent question. There are discussions of this issue (in bits and pieces) in the following threads:
spam and mac salad: "hawaiian" foods
The Future of Hawai`i Restaurants: New Concepts, "Theories of the Mid-Range"
and most recently a thread devoted to the topic:
-
Sun-Ki: I wasn't aware that your ethinic background was Korean until you posted with Sun-Ki.
The lady who introduced the Chicken Wings so successfully often ran adds in the 'Advertiser" promoting them for take out sales, or eat in. I would have to dig into many boxes to find the card with her name and the name of her Bar. She did advertise reguarly from 1984-87 while I still resided in Hawaii full time.
Yes - I am Korean. Though it took me a while to discover my "Inner Koreanness"!
That lady is an unsung heroine in local cuisine history. Nowadays Zippy's sells hundreds of plates of "Korean Chicken" a day from its many branches, and the dish appears on the menus of several other plate lunch places. It does come to think of it have some similarity to a Korean-Chinese dish called "kkanpunggi" but the presentation is quite different so I'm quite positive that she must have originated it. It's rare that we're able top pinpoint the inventor of a dish in popular cuisine, so if you could find the owner's name we could record it in the annals of history!
Lest we forget i'm sure the Number one Hot Dog, type of Sausage product still sold in Hawaii continues to be the canned,"Vienna". I could understand the rationale for Spam, but never the Vienna Sausage popularity. Island loyalty for products, even things like canned Cake Frosting or 'Chef Boy R Dee", canned pasta. The only acceptable brand of "Lunch Meat", was Armour. THe one very popular product that seemed to be price related not brand was, "Imported Tinned Corn Beef".It's an interesting phenomenon. I've speculated a bit about this on the White Rice, Spam and Health in Hawaii thread really am not sure of all the reasons for the continued popularity of highly processed canned foods.
I'm amazed that Lynn's closed since it gross sales were quite high. The Chinese Plate Lunch with the Double Lined Set Up, owned by the same principal used to be the highest grossing per square foot business in Ala Moana Center is it still in business or the Italian Place he opened adjacent?You must be referring to "Patti's Chinese Kitchen". It is still going very strong in the Makai Market Food Court of the Ala Moana Center. It still has the double-line setup - the left line is for plate lunches from the steam table trays, the right line for "Gau", pastries, and Dim Sum-like dishes. It prospers despite the looming presence of nationwide chain "Panda House" near it in the Food Court. In my estimation, the lines at Patti's are usually longer than those at Panda House, and always contains a higher percentage of locals. Panda House just doesn't have dishes like Roast Duck, Jai (Vegetarian Monk's Food), Kau Yuk (Red Braised Pork), Fried Pork Hash. . .
It didn't occur to me that Lynn's and Patti's had the same owner, but now that I think about, they did use to run their advertisements together on TV!
I'm not certain about the Italian place; do you recall the name?
Jamba, is a chain who has been successful by applying locations together with purporting healthy product. In my opinion they aren't that different then, "Orange Julius', who put a scoop of Dextrose Mixture into their drinks. Jamba pretty much does the same, by will charge you extra for the types of Powder that they add. Smart if your able to pull it off, under the guise of Health Food.The Papaya King operation wasn't a branch store. It was opened by a friend of the owners who had relocated to Honolulu and conviniced them it would be feasable for him to bring to the Islands after he apprenticed at the place in NYC a similar version. Unfortunately it wasn't able to succeed.
It seems akamai food entrepreneurs have figured out that you can easily make money with young Americans by selling high-sugar processed foods under the label of health food, no matter how transparently bogus the label is. My little theory is that the public has an incorrigible appetite for the former, but an intention to consume the latter, and thus will resolve its imbalance / incongruence by accepting even the most implausible claimed health benefit for sweet snack foods. This explains not only Jamba Juice, but also the popularity of "Sobe" kool aid-type drinks and the ubiquity of the true but bizarre "low fat!" slogan on candies and soft drinks.
I suspect the Dr Sasso you're talking about is Mike Saso in Religion. He never published on Hawaii's food at least to my knowledge but is (among many other things) autor of A Taoist Cookbook, a highly informed book based on his own experiences in China,Rachel
Thanks, Rachel, for clearing that up.
I searched under "Saso" and it turns out that he is emeritus (retired) but is still apparently very active as a writer and practicioner, not to mention his cookbook. Seems he has been initiated as a Buddhist priest AND as a Taoist priest. Sounds like a very interesting person!
Sun-Ki
-
skChai: In your posts you often mention, "HRC", im not familiar with this term or what it signifies. Please clearify.
Sorry! HRC refers to "Hawaiian Regional Cuisine", a movement that arose among Hawai`i chefs in the late 1980s that sought to create a genuine haute cuisine out of local ingredients, a cuisine that match up with any of the great cuisines of the world. Until then, as you know, most of the food offered in the top-drawer dining establishments of Honolulu, particularly the hotel restaurants, was based upon "continental" cooking. Furthermore, the most prized ingredients were often flown in from the mainland, not procured locally.
In 1991, twelve of the members of this movement banded together to create something called Hawaiian Regional Cuisine, Inc., an organization devoted to furthering their cause and spreading their ideas about cuisine. The original members included Sam Choy, George Mavrothalassitis, Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi, and eight others, who still in many ways form the core of the high-end culinary power establishment in the state. HRC chefs urged local agricultural producers to provide higher-quality and more varied ingredients, and were willing to pay prices to match. Like Alice Waters and other pioneers of California Cuisine, they sometimes went out of their way to nurture these producers and prominently feature the producers' names on their menus.
From the very beginning, HRC dishes took influences from around the Pacific Rim, most notably Japan, China, Korea, and Thailand. Hence much of HRC cuisine consists of "East-West Fusion". Indeed, it's reasonable to say that the HRC chefs were the main reason for the "fusion" boom nationwide in fine dining during the 1990s (sorry Wolfgang and Vong). They are also the reason you began to see dishes like "Seared Ahi" on menus of restaurants nowhere near Hawai`i. These fusion tendencies, while they in some way reflect the ethnic diversity of the islands, did not really build upon the everyday dining habits of the local people. Perhaps in some ways this is inevitable, as any haute cuisine must in some way separate from itself from ordinary cooking. However, it does raise the question of just how "local" HRC really is, despite its undeniable championing of locally-produced ingredients.
Another criticism of HRC has been its exclusiveness, starting from the decision to limit the membership of HRC Inc. to the twelve original members. This has caused some resentment among certain chefs who were not invited to join. It has also generated criticism that HRC is somewhat contrived, that it is as much a marketing campaign as it is a culinary movement. Of course, the same might have been said about California Cuisine or French Nouvelle Cuisine in earlier times as well.
Whatever the final judgement, there is no question that HRC has greatly expanded the national and international visibility of Hawai`i as a fine dining destination.
Anyway, that's making a long story fairly short!
Since i'm not longer bound by confidential restraints I feel free to respond and express my self in open forum. It's interesting to be able to answer questions or provide suggestions, comments or advice Probono. I am still available for challenging projects either as a consultant or as a principal. My dormer protoges whom operate the business often call me at all hours for advice from all over the world. It's very difficult to not be involved, i'm not sure if I'm capable of being inactive. Only time will tell. But as you're aware the Island's are very special to me, i've had the opportunity to study all aspects regarding food, as before I enter personally into any venture I attempt to learn as much as possable. During Trouble Shooting many operations we'd spend several weeks investigating the trash, before we even entered the operations and introduced ourselves to the Management. It was likely we'd have several of my staff employed at various positions from the date we accepted the contract. We generally were hired several months before becoming known. That's part of why we were so effective in resolving problems. We always tried our best, weather it was with new products or whatever.There are few things more satisfying then making someone proud of themselves, or seeing a satisfied customer, even thru serving and pleasing someone thru a crisis. Even though I haven't been able to visit as much as i'd like, at least I communicate with friends, and vicariously thru my Children who Graduated from UH, as well as attended HSG, SECO and St. Andrews who visit often. Irwin
Again, we truly appreciate your past accomplishments and continuing devotion to the islands. I'm sure the food community here will continue to find many ways to make use of your great expertise.
Just curious, are any of your children involved in the food industry?
Mahalo,
Sun-Ki
Why isn't Korean food popular in the US?
in Elsewhere in Asia/Pacific: Cooking & Baking
Posted
I think Jason has it right. Korean food is popular in areas of the United States where there are large numbers of Koreans. However, other than major metro areas, these are few and far between.
Pan has it right, too! Since Korean restaurant food has a relatively short history in the states and is still aimed primarily at the immigrant rather than the native population, there isn't yet that much adaptation to American palates. One exception is Hawai`i, where we have a lot of Korean-Hawaiian type plate lunch places that are extremely popular with the local community - Korean cuisine has become hyphenated here. The other exceptions are those few restaurants in places where people are not familiar with Korean food, which often have to double as Japanese or Chinese restaurants in order to attract customers, as jwagnerdsm and tryska have pointed out. In Tucson, where I lived for a while, Koreans owned not only sushi bars but also a lot of teppan-yaki places where they could serve quasi-Korean grilled stuff as Japanese food.