Comments on: Aloha, mahalo

Aloha, mahalo

Artw — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:31:42 -0800

The history of Hawaii, as told in plate lunches, by Sarah Vowell.

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:31:53 -0800

Interview

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:37:40 -0800

I heart Sarah Vowell so hard. Plate lunches, on the other hand, harden my heart. So I am torn.

By: mek

mek — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:46:21 -0800

No, they just harden your arteries.

By: nevercalm

nevercalm — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 15:54:55 -0800

I love Sarah Vowell, and my wife is from Hawaii. Sarah Vowell writing this book is completely, totally improbable. I can't get past it, seeing as how I spend my wedding reception in Hawaii being lectured about haoles by natives.

By: thylacine

thylacine — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:03:00 -0800

"Why" does a "best-selling" author put so many "words" in quotes?

By: thylacine

thylacine — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:03:44 -0800

Sorry, I guess that was just the 2nd link and not her writing.

By: padraigin

padraigin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:06:41 -0800

1. I am very excited about this book. 2. That plate lunch link made me salivate so hard, like "I feel sorry for myself because we're having burgers off the grill tonight" hard.

By: wreckingball

wreckingball — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:08:31 -0800

I prefer my Youtube histories of Hawaii to come from a cadre of communist cartoon cats, but that was cute also.

By: thsmchnekllsfascists

thsmchnekllsfascists — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:10:53 -0800

Those plate lunches look so good! We have a similar tradition, but with fewer variations. It's called the garbage plate and it is probably the single greatest drunk chow ever.

By: 1adam12

1adam12 — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 16:48:46 -0800

I remember taking my parents on a tour of 'Iolani Palace. After the tour guide did her thing, I explained to my parents that the construction of the palace itself basically bankrupted the little Kingdom. And then the monarchs proceeded to travel the globe and collect royal orders from various European and Asian monarchs, again at the expense of their islands which needed everything the world had to offer except, perhaps, enamel trinkets from Japan. For some reason the royals are still revered. Never made much sense to me.

By: kitchenrat

kitchenrat — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:02:44 -0800

adam, please watch wreckingball's video link. hawaii never needed a goddam thing from the rest of the world. that's why they called it paradise.

By: mek

mek — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:06:40 -0800

I remember visiting Iolani Palace while it was being occupied by secessionists. I wasn't arrogant enough to lecture them about their own history, but listened to what they had to say about their personal experiences of living in Hawaii. How could I dare claim I knew anything about the place, let alone more than they did, from what I'd read in a book?

By: maxwelton

maxwelton — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:08:19 -0800

I didn't realize Hawaii was dedicated to eating nothing but maxwelton chow. Man.

By: escabeche

escabeche — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:12:20 -0800

Waikiki Spam Jam. Wow.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:25:37 -0800

That all looked really fucking tasty.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:28:36 -0800

Just what accent does she have? Is it correct to call it "flat"?

By: eye of newt

eye of newt — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:42:26 -0800

Just what accent does she have? Is it correct to call it "flat"? She's from Oklahoma. I'm not sure if it's typical for the area. Her voice became famous as Violet in The Incredibles

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:54:29 -0800

*drooling Thanks for the interesting post.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:39:23 -0800

So many of those look so good! The photography was lit really well, but are these pretty reasonable representations of the "average" plate lunch? Are short-cut beef ribs really that popular? Thanks for introducing the idea of plate lunchs to me, Artw! Never would have considered the white rice+macaroni salad combo, nor the spam+egg+gravy, salsbury steak+white rice, and I definitely need to make spicey fried tofu with candied anchovies tomorrow.

By: msbrauer

msbrauer — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 18:55:22 -0800

Just saw her read from the book last night!

By: annathea

annathea — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:05:53 -0800

After weeks of craving spam musubi, now I want lau-lau. Sheesh.

By: rtha

rtha — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:01:58 -0800

I miss plate lunches. There used to be a little stand at the Queen's Surf, and my mom would always give me money for a teriyaki beef plate lunch. Two scoops rice - I didn't like macaroni salad.

By: rtha

rtha — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:04:40 -0800

For those of you who don't know, that would be Poi on the top left, Haupia on the top right, Helena's AWESOME Pipikaula (dried and fried beef) on the bottom left, and Hawaiian Beef Stew on the bottom right. Goddamn. I literally just ate dinner and couldn't be less hungry, but this is making me salivate.

By: Artw

Artw — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:06:04 -0800

People actually crave poi?

By: padraigin

padraigin — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:34:37 -0800

Never would have considered the white rice+macaroni salad combo If that's not enough starch for you, there's also macaroni potato salad. ALL THE STARCHES ON ONE PLATE.

By: dw

dw — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 20:39:22 -0800

She's from Oklahoma. I'm not sure if it's typical for the area. Keep in mind she made stops in Bozeman and Chicago on the way to NYC, so that tweaked her accent a bit, but yes, she sounds exactly like what an Okie from Green Country sounds like. At least the ones from outside of Tulsa. She drags out "Braggs" like it has three a's, and that it exactly how you say it if you're from Northeastern Oklahoma. Keep in mind, though, that with Oklahoma's cultural drift away from the Midwest and towards the South the regional accent has begun to change ever so slightly. When I've flown between Oklahoma and Alabama the last few years I've noticed how the accents are starting to sound alike, where before you could always pick out an Okie -- they'd sound like a St Louis native who'd lived in Dallas for 10 years.

By: rtha

rtha — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 21:00:58 -0800

Oh god, yes, Artw.

By: nickthetourist

nickthetourist — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 21:25:19 -0800

Why can't all history lessons look so tasty?

By: twoleftfeet

twoleftfeet — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 21:50:12 -0800

How did plate lunch become the food historically related to the Sandwich Islands?

By: bardic

bardic — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 21:56:59 -0800

Gawd what an annoying voice. Here's hoping she sticks to books.

By: porpoise

porpoise — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 22:40:14 -0800

Interestingly (?) padraigin, I've experienced a wide and varied constellation of Cantonese potato-macaroni-mayonaise/miracle-whip-salad aplenty in my mother-was-a-square-dancer/Chinese-choir-time. Just never felt that white rice was needed a mac salad side, even when it was available. White rice and coleslaw? I've done that more than occasionally in college. Oh gawd; I seasoned a bunch of cut-up chicken breasts with my dry button rib recipe, with extra hoisin, and it looks like a spot stereotype of everything pictured - only in chicken; any suggestions on how to introduce this to a hawaiian pallet/conciousness?

By: nevercalm

nevercalm — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 05:51:22 -0800

People actually crave poi? My wife grew up eating poi with sugar and milk, like lots of people eat oatmeal. She loved it. And the mac salad thing, for me, was a total revelation. Now whenever we go to a party, I make a huge tinfoil tray of it, local style...macaroni, mayo, mustard, finely chopped onion, a dozen hard-boiled eggs, peas, a little garlic powder, salt and fresh cracked pepper. It's always the first thing to go, and if I make two trays, people have stolen them from the party throwers and took them home. Hilarious. Oh gawd; I seasoned a bunch of cut-up chicken breasts with my dry button rib recipe, with extra hoisin, and it looks like a spot stereotype of everything pictured - only in chicken; any suggestions on how to introduce this to a hawaiian pallet/conciousness? Do it with spam.

By: dragonplayer

dragonplayer — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:27:02 -0800

I miss Zippy's and the plate lunch places. The loco moco not so much, but it's quite an experience. Regarding Sarah Vowell's accent, I didn't recognize my neighbors in it. Some of them are more twangy than others, though. Still trying to figure out the Orange Julius teriyaki burger.