Native Hawaiian cuisine refers to the traditional Hawaiian foods that predate contact with Europeans and immigration from East and Southeast Asia. The cuisine consisted of a mix of indigenous plants and animals as well as plants and animals introduced by Polynesian voyagers, who became the Native Hawaiians.
A lava rock poi pounder dated from the 18th century or earlier. (From the Honolulu Museum of Art's collection)
A Hawaiian poi dealer. Photograph by Menzies Dickson dated to between 1860 and 1870
Pounding taro into poi. Taro plants can be seen growing in the background below the banana leaves
Fish were caught in near-shore reefs and tidepools using spears and nets
Limu, otherwise known as rimu, remu or ʻimu is a general Polynesian term for edible plants living underwater, such as seaweed, or plants living near water, like algae. In Hawaii, there are approximately one hundred names for kinds of limu, sixty of which can be matched with scientific names. Hundreds of species of marine algae were once found in Hawaii. Many limu are edible, and used in the cuisine throughout most of Polynesia.
Ahi limu poke: raw fish with limu
Image: Sargassum 1
Image: Sargassum 1
Image: Sargassum 1
