This is entry #2 in my newly founded series on Hawaiian food. (Of course, you remember Entry #1 on Durian, don’t you?).

Most of our honeymoon was in pursuit of odd and wonderful nourishment, mostly because 3/4 of our vacation was a minor monsoon, closing several of the fine national parks, monuments, and hiking trails we had hoped to conquer. (Yes; we drove to the top of Waimea Canyon in Kauai, only to find fog. The top of Haleakala in Maui also had fog. Pearl Harbor was closed on our first attempt due to a national emergency. And so on…)

Not to complain. On the latter half of our trip, we were driving up the east coast of Oahu and we began to see hand-painted signs on the side of the road, claiming that “Fresh steaming laulau” was soon to be had. The informed tourists that we are, I opened up our copy of Oahu Revealed (the Revealed books are a must-have for any Hawaiian traveler):

Laulau: Pork, beef, or fish wrapped in taro and ti leaves, then steamed. (You don’t eat the ti leaf wrapping.)

OK – that certainly sounded like something we could handle! We pull off at the most interesting-looking laulau establishment – this nice trailer facility. (Then again, all the laulau was being sold in trailers.) We could tell that quality cuisine would soon be had because a large group of Hawaiian blue-collar workers were enjoying their lunch and some Budweisers that they had apparently stashed in their work vehicles.

So, we stand there examining the menu for a few minutes, quickily noticing that many of the dishes are plate lunches, that include, among other things, shrimp. Our goal, of course, was the Laulau – that had no other description other than “Laulau” – which, at this point, we thought could be just about anything wrapped up in a leaf. Because Oak is allergic to shrimp, we thought we’d ask what kind of laulau it was – after all, shrimp could be lurking inside.

Bad idea. The proprietor of the fine laulau establishment obviously did not have the best multilingual skills. To respond to our polite question of what kind of laulau it was he replied, “Laualau IS LAULAU!” Uuum, okay. So we decide to ask what is in the laulau. Again…. “Laulau IS LAULAU!”

So, we decide that we’ll just order the damn laulau and I will take the first bite to make sure that there isn’t any shrimp in it. So, we get to our seats, obviously the only tourists at this locals-only establishment, and dig in. I wish I had taken a picture of our laulau, but it seemed terribly embarassing considering the group of workers seemed to be wondering what these two tourists were doing at their hangout. It basically looked like this.

I dug in. Luckily, our laulau did not contain any fruits de mer, so Oak was able to partake. The Laulau itself was exactly as the guidebook described. A rolled up leaf was presented next to some steamed rice and clear rice noodles. I opened up the leaf to reveal pork. I was not particularly impressed; it was fairly bland. To someone who is used to the smoked pork of the Southeast US, steamed pork is disappointing. I did enjoy the steamed rice and clear noodly jobbers that came along for the ride. Oak took one for the team and consumed the majority of the pork.

We spent the remainder of the vacation screaming “Lauau IS LAULAU!” in a broken accent whenever the least bit frustrated.

Posted by Carrie on Wednesday, May 3, 2006
Categories: hawaii food · 1 Comment »