Growing up in Lahaina, Maui right out of the plantations of the sugar industry, I had friends who's parents or grandparents migrated from Japan to work in the sugar fields. Whenever I'd play with them as kids, their moms would make food for us, and because here in Hawaii we were exposed to many different styles of cooking, nothing really fazed us that much. After all, each ethnic dish had an aroma, no questions asked, it had an aroma.
Japanese foods. Many of the dishes I ate in the homes of my local Japanese friends were flavored by rice vinegar, soy sauce, dried tuna flakes, miso paste, scallions, ginger, salt, MSG, and they used lots of lean meats, lots of seafood, some poultry, but lots of veggies thinly sliced and raw.
Pickled radish was popular as a side to the entree, daikon was the Japanese radish, and when pickled, it gave a pretty whopping aroma, that the uninitiated would find offensive. But we were exposed to the aromas of the Japanese home, the food smells would be embedded in the sofas, the curtains, the air around us, but that was alright, it was part of their home. Like I said, the aroma of foods, was always present back in the day before everyone was into spraying Lysol or Glade in the air.
Fried mackerel was another such dish we would consume, fried crisp with soy sauce and vinegar with white rice. Or a stew or braise called nishime, consisting of tofu, mixed vegetables, and a sweet soy sauce gravy, some cooks would add seaweed, some would add bamboo shoots, some mushrooms. Also tempuras was popular, shrimp, veggies, fish, all battered and deep fried. Udon noodles, stirred around in a pan with some ham, and fish cake, topped with soy sauce, and sometimes a scrambled egg. And the maki and cone sushi was always part of a meal.
When there were picnics, my Japanese friends would bring rice balls, hand crafted sticky white rice, with a ume salted plum stuck in the center, it was like licking a lollipop and trying to get the prized tootsie roll chocolate in the center. Some would bring a fried chicken that was soaked in teri sauce, it was battered and fried to a crisp, that was great. I remember one of my friends would bring a teri beef sandwich for the rest of our little league team, his mom would make it, stuck in between white bread with a piece of lettuce and mayonnaise, it was sort of France meets Japan, way before sushi joints concocted California rolls, or Dynamite.
Now if you got to a plate lunch dig here in the islands, this is where we got the shrimp tempura, the miso soup, the sushi, the udon bowls. And we can't rule out guri guri, a Japanese concocted sorbet. My friend Karl Yamada's parents ran a local Okazu Ya on Front Street in Lahaina, and I remember them having some of that there.
And shaved ice, we were introduced to shaved ice from a little Japanese man Mr. Yamamoto, Yamamoto's was a small store that sold hamburgers, good ones too, I bet he'd kick In N Out's ass today if he were alive. But he sold fishing gear on a small scale, bamboo poles, small sinkers, led, and any pound of test line you needed. Whenever we needed to go get hooks and fishing supplies we went to Yamamoto's and we got a shaved ice too while there. I liked the strawberry syrup, and if I had enough cash, I'd get the vanilla ice cream stuck in the center of the cup, you know those Coke cups? Yeah that's the ones man.
Well that's it for my short history on Japanese influencing the plate lunch. :))
Japanese foods. Many of the dishes I ate in the homes of my local Japanese friends were flavored by rice vinegar, soy sauce, dried tuna flakes, miso paste, scallions, ginger, salt, MSG, and they used lots of lean meats, lots of seafood, some poultry, but lots of veggies thinly sliced and raw.
Pickled radish was popular as a side to the entree, daikon was the Japanese radish, and when pickled, it gave a pretty whopping aroma, that the uninitiated would find offensive. But we were exposed to the aromas of the Japanese home, the food smells would be embedded in the sofas, the curtains, the air around us, but that was alright, it was part of their home. Like I said, the aroma of foods, was always present back in the day before everyone was into spraying Lysol or Glade in the air.
Fried mackerel was another such dish we would consume, fried crisp with soy sauce and vinegar with white rice. Or a stew or braise called nishime, consisting of tofu, mixed vegetables, and a sweet soy sauce gravy, some cooks would add seaweed, some would add bamboo shoots, some mushrooms. Also tempuras was popular, shrimp, veggies, fish, all battered and deep fried. Udon noodles, stirred around in a pan with some ham, and fish cake, topped with soy sauce, and sometimes a scrambled egg. And the maki and cone sushi was always part of a meal.
When there were picnics, my Japanese friends would bring rice balls, hand crafted sticky white rice, with a ume salted plum stuck in the center, it was like licking a lollipop and trying to get the prized tootsie roll chocolate in the center. Some would bring a fried chicken that was soaked in teri sauce, it was battered and fried to a crisp, that was great. I remember one of my friends would bring a teri beef sandwich for the rest of our little league team, his mom would make it, stuck in between white bread with a piece of lettuce and mayonnaise, it was sort of France meets Japan, way before sushi joints concocted California rolls, or Dynamite.
Now if you got to a plate lunch dig here in the islands, this is where we got the shrimp tempura, the miso soup, the sushi, the udon bowls. And we can't rule out guri guri, a Japanese concocted sorbet. My friend Karl Yamada's parents ran a local Okazu Ya on Front Street in Lahaina, and I remember them having some of that there.
And shaved ice, we were introduced to shaved ice from a little Japanese man Mr. Yamamoto, Yamamoto's was a small store that sold hamburgers, good ones too, I bet he'd kick In N Out's ass today if he were alive. But he sold fishing gear on a small scale, bamboo poles, small sinkers, led, and any pound of test line you needed. Whenever we needed to go get hooks and fishing supplies we went to Yamamoto's and we got a shaved ice too while there. I liked the strawberry syrup, and if I had enough cash, I'd get the vanilla ice cream stuck in the center of the cup, you know those Coke cups? Yeah that's the ones man.
Well that's it for my short history on Japanese influencing the plate lunch. :))
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