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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, May 19, 2002

HAWAI'I WAYS, HAWAI'I DAYS
Mom's meals combined imagination with thrift

By Kay Kiyoko Kauhini

Preparation of food played an important role in the plantation family's life when I was growing up on Maui in the 1930s.

Unlike the super-mom of today, who is equipped with the latest conveniences, my Okaasan (honorable Mom), as she was called, was a self-made chef, an expert agriculturist and economist who made intelligent use of her resources. This may sound like she was college bred, educated according to current culture. But it simply meant she used every penny of her laborer husband's meager earnings and whatever resources she had to feed her family of eight.

Her garden flourished with a variety of vegetables. Kabocha (pumpkin), seasoned with dry shrimps, shoyu and sugar, was a favorite. Eggplant in shoyu and sugar tasted great with hot rice. String beans mixed with egg was a simple but delicious meal. Green onions garnished the miso soup, eggs and other dishes.

The chickens she raised were cooked with vegetables on a hibachi for our Sunday meals. Fresh eggs, which were laid by our chickens, were stacked daily under the sink. They were fried or boiled and mixed with vegetables or rice.

Mom purchased shoyu by the tub and bottled it. Bottles of shoyu lined the kitchen floor. She bought rice in a 100-pound bag. Brown sugar came in a 100-pound bag from the plantation. A bagful of guavas Dad brought home made jelly that lasted for the longest time. Ume (pickled plums) imported from Japan were shipped in tubs; they were stored in jars on shelves and wherever there was space. Tea and rice with ume was Mom's remedy for a cold.

Tsukemono, or pickled vegetables, was a side dish on every family's table. A friend from Kula would bring a bag of cabbages. Mom salted them and placed a heavy stone over them to let the cabbage absorb the salt.

Mom made sure food was always available when we were hungry. Tea poured over rice with tsukemono or ume satisfied our stomachs. Avocado with brown sugar, and crackers with jelly or condensed milk, were our goodies. On special occasions, Mom made botamochi (some called this ohagi), which was mochi rice covered with a thick, sweetened bean paste. I remember melting brown sugar on the stove, and when it hardened, it tasted better than the hard candy I now buy from Longs.

Firewood was delivered free. We sawed and chopped the wood to heat the furo (Japanese bath) and fuel the wood stove for cooking. Rice was cooked in a kamado (pot) over the fire. It was the best rice I ever tasted.

Vendors came to the homes daily. The tofu man made deliveries, carrying the fresh curd in two big cans. The bread man made his rounds, yelling out that he had fresh bread for sale. Milk was delivered to the door. The candy man came with a big block of ame (Japanese candy) and chopped off pieces right on the veranda of our home. None of our friends and neighbors owned a car, except for the salesman from Ichiki Store.

Wakamatsu Fish Market was the only store selling fresh fish in Wailuku. A Chinese store sold pork. Ichiki Store was the biggest store on Market Street. A salesman who owned a Model T Ford came to take orders for food and other staples. Whenever he told my mom there might be a dock strike, she would buy cases of canned food and store them under the beds.

My mom was totally dedicated to her task of using her mind, time and energy to plan, buy and prepare the foods we enjoyed in the 1930s. Thank you, Okaasan.

Kay Kiyoko Kauhini lives in Liliha.

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