Thursday, October 06, 2022

Hawaiisch food

When I think of authentic Hawaiian food, I think of shrimp truck plate lunches, crack seed stores, shave ice, and -- above all -- poke.

As one might expect, though, Wiesbaden's not really the place for authentic Hawaiian food. At best, it has "Hawaiisch."

What's Hawaiisch? Best example: "poké bowls." Poke is cubed, marinated raw fish or seafood (tako, mussel, etc). "It is most definitely not served in a bowl in the Aloha State." Source: What is Poke And Why You Won't Find Poke Bowls in Hawaii

The reason is that each kind of poke has its own sauce or seasoning (shoyu ahi, pipkaula, kim chi tako, etc), so putting it in a rice bowl would either dilute or mask the flavor, defeating the whole purpose.
Plus, the whole paradigm is different. While a rice bowl is an entire meal in a single bowl for a single person, poke is typically eaten as an accompaniment to a central bowl of rice, or is the kind of thing you typically share with others.

In that respect, it is similar to Korean banchan (반찬), Japanese okazu (おかず), or even Spanish tapas. Poke is *not* merely a word anyone can slap on a thing that they've reimagined, just to fit their desire to serve something exotic. Does a "tapas bowl" make any sense? No. Neither does "poké bowl."
If folks want to have a cup of soup without clams, fine, but you can't call it clam chowder. If people want to eat a bowl of rice with some vegetables, that's great, but that doesn’t make it bibimbap (비빔밥). In the same way, calling something a "poke bowl" is misleading to people who know what poke actually is, and vegan poke is just plain silly -- like sugar-free sugar.
If people want to make a new thing, OK -- just give it a new word. Poke's taken.

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