By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

I couldn't help but marvel the other day at how the lu'au has evolved in Our Honolulu as I looked out over a sea of about 1,000 heads at a Sales & Marketing Executives awards luncheon in the Sheraton Waikiki ballroom.

The basic ingredients remain the same, of course. You have to have somebody or something to celebrate. In the old days it was a son born to the ruling chief or the approach of the makahiki god. Today it's a new Salesman of the Year or the winner of the Charles Reed Bishop Medal or the person who's done the most for historic preservation.

Another similarity is the importance of preparation. Everybody knows that digging the imu and preparing the lu'au is a lot of work. But that's what makes the feast a success. It's the backbone of the feast. Sitting down to eat is just frosting on the cake. Today, that means you need a food committee. If they don't pick a good menu, you're dead in the water.

In old Hawai'i, the kumu hula composed chants to glorify the chief at the lu'au. Today, kumu hula have been replaced by program committees. Shall we try for Amy Gilliom, or would a comedy act go over better?

There's one exception, the Friends of Iolani Palace benefits. Kalakaua would feel right at home.

Guest lists are an example of how some things never change. The ancient chiefs surrounded themselves with people who presented the grandest ho'okupu, gifts. So what's new? Today, to sit at a head table at a top benefit dinner, you'd better be ready to shell out $25,000.

Yet a lot is different about The Feast, and I don't just mean that malo have gone out of style. Take the United Chinese Society dinner for the Chinese Citizen of the Year. Kamehameha never heard of chop sticks at a lu'au. Or firecrackers and dragon dances with the main course.

Still, a Chinese dinner and a lu'au are almost identical in the length of speeches. We can all learn from our Chinese about sociability. That's why Chinese restaurants are so loud. You have to raise your voice to be heard.

It seems to me the way the Japanese Consulate celebrates 100 years of diplomatic relations with Japan is rather more sedate and formal, like the tea ceremony. You balance a little paper plate of sushi unless you fill up on the soup.

Everybody stands around as if they are attending a class reunion. But people are a more friendly, not trying to one-up each other. I'll say this for a Japanese pupu party: The speeches are short and to the point. A few rousing "Banzai!" and you can get back to the pupu table.

One thing that's unique about a haole benefit dinner is that you seldom have to suffer through a receiving line. Instead, us haoles put on a silent auction, evidence of our material culture.

There's no such word as polite at a haole dinner. To make sure your bid holds up at the silent auction, you get up while everybody's eating, say you're going to the bathroom, and write in a new bid just before the auction closes.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.