I have chosen the topic of Hawaiian Food for my research project. Specifically I am looking at indigenous Hawaiian foods and the ‘newer’ Hawaiian foods. To me these two types are unique in how they came about.

The native Hawaiian foods use a select group of ingredients that are native to the island. These ingredients are becoming more and more scarce as the population has increased and land grabs have happened. As the environment of the island changes so do the natural resources that once were plentiful are now scarce leading to a harder to find native Hawaiian cuisine.

The other cusine I am looking at is the ‘newer’ or local Hawaiian foods. These foods are a fusion of other cultures that have come to the islands in the later half of the 1800’s. This cuisine including Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Chinese and other Pacific Islanders food. This food is unique in that immigrants from these nations brought their own cooking styles to Hawaiian and over plantation lunches they all become one new uniquely local cuisine.

This research project looks at plate lunches as a sample of this amalgamation of cultures into a single unique cuisine. Specifically plate lunches from local diners in Hawaiian and family recipes in The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage and larger chains like L and L.