Hawaiian food offers the best of ‘Pacific Rim’ and ‘New American’ cooking syles, influenced by Chinese, Mediterranean, Mexican and other Asian countries. Many dishes are based on chicken, pork, seafood and local fruit and vegetables cooked using traditional methods. Special condiments and spices are used (see below). Much of the food available on the islands is basically US with Asian influences brought in by the assortment of ethnicities that make up the population. The classic traditional Hawaiian feast is the luau based around a puaa kalua (whole pig) that has been shaved and rubbed with rock salt on the inside.

It is then placed on chicken wire, filled with hot stones from the fire, and cooked in an imu (pit) along with sweet potatoes, plantains and sometimes laulau (pork, butterfish and spinach-like taro shoots wrapped in leaves and steamed). The steam is prevented from escaping by encircling the pig with banana and coconut husks and taro leaves and covering the pit with wet burlap bags. The cooking process takes about six hours.

The kalua pig is eaten with fingers and is accompanied by the traditional Hawai’ian poi (thick paste made from ground taro), opihi (a salty, black, clam-like mollusc) and lomi lomi salmon (salmon rubbed with an onion and tomato marinade). Chicken luau comprises tender chicken pieces cooked with taro tops and coconut cream. Garnishes include limu (seaweed), paakai rock salt and chopped roasted kukui nuts. Local seafood includes moi (mullet) ulua, opakapaka (pink snapper), lobster and yellowfin tuna.

Hawaiian breakfast specialties are macadamia nuts and banana and coconut pancakes with coconut syrup. Fresh fruit and nut ice-creams or sorbets make excellent desserts. The minimum legal drinking age is 21 years of age. It is illegal to consume alcohol in parks and on beaches.