Sweet Potatoes.
FRUIT.
| Bananas. | Oranges. | Guavas. |
| Mangoes. | Apples. | Hawaiian Tea. |
Kono Coffee.
LIQUOR.
Ookulian (pronounced O-ku-le-on).
Hawaiian Pipe of Friendship.
Among the Kanakas, the food eaten for breakfast, luncheon, and dinner is about the same, and consists chiefly of the native dish called “POI,” which is eaten whenever they (the Kanakas) are hungry.
“POI” is made from a root called “Taro,” and in shape and size resembles a raw beet, it has a dark skin, and the vegetable itself has a variety of colors—pink, gray, purple, and white.
The “Taro” is cooked in the ground, after the manner of a “New England clam-bake;” after obtaining the softness of a cooked potato it is peeled, and beaten with a large stone or iron, made for that purpose, into a pulp. It is then mixed with water until it forms the thickness of paste (and which makes very good paste, as it is often used for sticking bills, etc., when a theatrical company arrives), and after standing for a few days, to allow it to ferment, it is ready to be eaten.
The “Poi” is always eaten out of a “Calabash” (a large gourd about the size of a pumpkin), the natives always eating with their fingers, this being done by sticking the two fore-fingers into the “Calabash,” giving it one or two twists, and dexterously turning it around in front of their faces, until it looks like a ball of “taffy on a stick” (no pun intended).