Food

adobo - Filipino dish of meat, fish or vegetables braised in vinegar, garlic and pepper.

ahi - yellow fin tuna prized for sashimi and poke.

aku - skipjack tuna used grilled, dried and for sashimi.

arare - Japanese thin sweet crackers often flavored with dried seaweed. Good snack for the movies.

Azeka ribs - sweet-tasting ribs available at Azeka's Ribs and Snack Shop.

banana - backyard varieties differ greatly in flavor, size and even color.

bento - a Japanese-influenced box lunch.

breadfruit, `ulu - a large green fruit with heavy dense flesh that can be boiled or fried. The downfall of Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty.

broke da mouth - very delicious.

calabash - a wood or gourd container used for food and other items. Also used to denote a close relationship, as a calabash cousin, someone you would share a calabash with.

char siu - flavored roast pork which is colored red.

chicken long rice - a common dish which contains thin translucent rice noodles.

chili pepper water - a seasoning made by soaking hot Hawaiian chili peppers in water.

chow fun - wide Chinese noodles or a dish using chow fun containing meat and vegetables.

crack seed - preserved fruits, mostly plums, either salted or sweetened. Most crack seed is an acquired taste. Some shops specialize in crack seed, such as The Working Mommies.

cream puffs - pastries Mauians wait in line for at Komoda Bakery in Makawao, along with long johns, glazed doughnuts and butter rolls.

fishcake - pink-rimmed cakes of processed fish used as a garnish for saimin and in omelets and stir fry.

grinds - food. To grind is to eat.

guri guri - unique frozen treat found only at Tasaka Guri Guri Shop. Name comes from mispronunciation of goody-goody.

guava - a small yellow fruit with a pink interior grown in the wild that is used for juice and jelly.

hashi - chopsticks.

haupia - a traditional coconut pudding and lu`au dessert.

Hawaiian salt - a coarse seasalt.

hibachi - small Japanese barbecue grill.

hot dogs -fast food available at many small grocery stores, notably Fukushima Store in Ha`iku.

hulihuli chicken - rotisserie chicken commonly sold at fundraisers.

ika - octopus or squid, popular as a pupu with beer.

imu - earth oven used to bake fish, pork and vegetables.

kalbi - Korean-style marinated meat.

kalua pig - pork that has been cooked in an imu, a must at any lu`au. Also available in sandwiches at restaurants such as Da Kitchen.

katsu - breaded chicken or pork cutlet. A good place to try katsu is at L&L Drive-Inn.

kaukau - food.

kim chee - spicy pickled cabbage.

laulau - meat and fish wrapped in taro and ti-leaves and then steamed.

lavender - a new Maui crop used for imaginative food products such as seasoned salt, salad dressing and tea.

li hing mui - the flavor of crack seed most consumed. Available on seed, candy, popcorn and as a powder.

liliko`i, passion fruit - a distinctive tart-tasting fruit grown in the wild and used for juice and jelly.

limu - edible seaweed used in poke, soups and salads, and as a snack.

loco moco - fast food Hawaiian style with a hamburger patty over rice covered with a fried egg and gravy. Try this local treat at Sheik's Restaurant.

lomi salmon, lomilomi salmon. Salmon mixed with tomatoes and onions which is always at lu`aus and sometimes at local restaurants. Try the Hawaiian plate at Hana Hou Café.

lu`au - Hawaiian feast.

lumpia - a deep-fried Filipino spring roll stuffed with pork and vegetables.

mahimahi - Hawai`i's best-known food fish.

malasada, malassada - a Portuguese doughnut covered with sugar and best piping hot.


manapua - a steamed Chinese bun most often stuffed with char siu.

mango - a prized fruit available seasonally which grows particularly well in Lahaina. .

manju - Japanese stuffed pastry. Try the lima bean manju at Sam Sato's and the black bean manju at Home Maid Bakery.

Maui onions - world-renowned mild and sweet onions grown in Kula.

Maui potato chips - an old-fashioned style of chips.

Maui-sadas - malasadas made with guava, liliko`i, coconut, etc. available at Simply Sweets Bakery.

mochi - a spongy bun made with rice flour or
pounded rice, eaten traditionally at New Year's and as a sweet.

musubi - rice shaped into a ball or block sometimes wrapped in nori or stuffed with a pickled plum. One popular version, the Spam musubi, includes the famous meat.

namasu - a cucumber salad flavored with ginger and rice vinegar.

nori - sheets of seaweed used to wrap sushi or musubi.

`ono - delicious Not to be confused with ono, the fish

`opakapaka - a Hawaiian red snapper.

`opihi - a shellfish eaten raw.

pansit, pancit - Filipino noodle dish. A favorite at the Maui County Fair.

pastele - Puerto Rican wrap similar to an enchilada. Prounounced patele. Try them at Mama Ding's.

pineapple - Maui is known for its field-ripened fruit from Maui Land and Pineapple Company, which has the only pineapple cannery in Hawai`i.

plate lunch - popular island lunch commonly consisting of meat, two scoops of rice and macaroni salad.

poi - taro root steamed and pounded into a paste.

poke - sashimi usually seasoned with shoyu, limu and chili peppers.

Portuguese bean soup - tomato-based bean soup spiced by Portuguese sausage.

Portuguese sausage - spicy pork sausage eaten either at breakfast, lunch or dinner; grilled at the beach; or used as a cure for a hangover.

Portuguese sweet bread, Hawaiian sweet bread - a round loaf of slightly sweet bread.

pulehu ribs - barbecued or broiled ribs.

pupu - party snacks, hors d'oeuvres.

rice - the potato of Hawai`i, eaten by all races. Locals even love rice for breakfast.

saimin - a noodle soup with toppings of char siu, green onions and fishcake. Try this local staple at House of Saimin.

sashimi - thin-sliced raw fish, particularly coveted at New Year.

shave ice - a snow cone.

shoyu, soyu - soy sauce.

shoyu chicken - arguably the most popular local dish on Maui. Also known as teriyaki chicken.

Spam - Hawai`i consumes more Spam per capita than any other state.

sugar - once king of island industry, now Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar is one of only two sugar plantations left in the State.

sushi -rice formed and wrapped in a number of ways with a variety of accompaniments. Available everywhere but none more gourmet than those at Sansei Seafood Restaurant.

sweet potato - a native plant of the Hawaiians and still popular.

taro, kalo - the primary food source for ancient Hawaiians as the source of poi.

tempura - vegetables or shrimp fried in a light batter. Try this Japanese dish at Tokyo Tei.

teriyaki, teriburger - meat marinated in sweetened shoyu and ginger.

tofu - locals put tofu in salads, soups, main dishes and eat it plain with shoyu.

wonton min - saimin with wontons in it. wonton - Chinese dumpling. Craving wonton min? Try Ichiban Restauran