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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Savor production of I Heart Radio. I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vocal Bam and today we have an interview for you from our trip to Oahu. Yes, and this was a super fun one. We get to play with legos, uh and we're children, so so so Yeah, so that was a very perfect for for us. Yeah, this is our interview with Monica to Gucci Ryan Um and Uh, joined in parts by her husband, wrestle Ryan. Yes, he was kind of the peanut gallery. He was just sitting back there. And then every now and then we'd get a comment from Yeah, a really good, pithy, worthwhile comment. It was. It was. It was an unexpected addition to the interview and a very very good one. Yes, And this was when we were really happy to get because Monica provided such a great context too, the food scene in Hawaiian. She's um a third generation owner of restaurant called Highway In that has three locations now all around Oahu. And she she had like visual aids and just was so knowledgeable. Yeah, I mean we were expecting. I mean, you know, we we knew that she's the owner and this restaurant has been in her family for so long. But yeah, the food at Highway in um uh. They serve a lot of a lot of traditional Hawaiian dishes, um, like fresh poke a roast clue a pig um allow law, which is a dish of protein that's kind of steamed in tea leaves that's t I not t e a anyway. Um. Some stews and soups like squid luoo and chicken long rice. You can you can get these things ala carte or via the classic plate lunch with sides like poi or rice, um lomami, salmon mac salad, and Helpia which is his coconut pudding dessert which is also good anyway. Um. More modern dishes as well, like loco moco and casadillas and fried fish or chicken wings with house twists, all kinds of lovely things. Oh, I have such a craving, now, I know. Yeah. I was looking at their menus and everything and just kind of quietly freaking out. Um. It's like a really nostalgic craving for that brief beautiful window. Oh gosh. Um. And and yeah, we we met up with Monica near Highway in second location in the Salt development in kaca Ako, which is this area of Honolulu with a lot of history, and we talked some about that in the interview. Um, but they're Um. The reason that there were Legos is that we were meeting up in like this this this office area in that development, and they had this little Lego build out of the area. So and we immediately we were very We tried to put up a front for two seconds and then made a bee line for it. Yeah. Absolutely, come on, Legos, what do you want from us? Right? I mean, we're humans, adult humans, but human beings. Everyone likes Lego. I bet there's some amazing Lego projects happening right now. Leg I have I have a friend who has been live streaming some Legos and it has been amazing. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, it's a live streams are a great thing. Um uh speech speaking of of COVID nineteen, if you happen to be an a Wahu Highway in is open for takeout and delivery right now, please support your local restaurants when and if you can. Yes, absolutely, Oh so hungry, so jealous. But okay, I suppose we should. We should happen to our interview. Yes, yes, I will let former Annie, Lauren and Monica take it away. This used to be the sea wall, so this is kind of like all I want a boulevard of the water in the shore line came all the way up here, and they had judged it, I think sometimes either in the late eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds, they judged all of this area. So if you can take a look, their salt pans here. And that's that's the reason why Commitments Schools named this place salt at our cacaco um. The Hawaiian word for salt is paki, but they wanted to be more inclusive of other others and so they named it salt and that's the reason why we got that name. Yeah, that's kind of cool. Yeah, but these are all wide words, and everybody complains, like how do you get around if I'm trying to tell the cab driver where I'm not, how do I pronounce that word? That word? And then they end up in the wrong place, you know. So we've we've been struggling with it ourselves since we have been here. It's it's it's very um fanetic. I mean, it's like everywhere letters pronounced the way you typically see it. So it's not it's once you kind of get the basic role to to the language, it's not too hard. Yeah, I mean, I think that's I think what's different about So there are a couple of big land owners in this area called kakako um Commitment Schools. Bishop of State is one of them. Across all Muana Boulevard is OHA, which is Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which is part of the Hawaii State government. UM it's a little arm offshoot of the state government specifically to look after Native Hawaiians and their interests. And then we also have Howard Hughes Development that's kind of the more polished side of Cacaco. So you have east side and west side. We're on the west side of Cacacko. So but these three kind of land owners have over the past couple of years have really um gentrified this area. And and so now what you see is a lot of multimillion dollar condos, like many places around the country, a lot of the local people feeling a bit pushed out because they can't afford on the cost of living here in Hawaii. You know, our hospitality here in Hawaii is and the military is our main economic drivers here. In the state. And what that means is you don't really have other kinds of industries like high tech for example, Manufacturing is is kind of on the low side to rely on to generate a more diverse economy. Yeah, I imagine being literally positioned where Hawaii is, it makes it more difficult to attract, especially manufacturing, probably due to the cost of Yeah, I mean you kind of think that if you look on the map and you look on the globe, like what you really is isolated. It is like this little tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which is like the largest body of water on the planet, and we really you are this amazing piece of land. Um that's just the middle of nowhere. And they've always been talking about how strategically, um, we are positioned because we are positioned between the west and the east, and how that could be used in our interest for our interests. That has never really materialized outside of the military position and and tourism figured it out. We're still trying to figure it out, and we haven't done a very good job doing that well. I like to be fair Commertual air flight has only existed for what like seventy years now, So I think you're doing it just okay. Yeah, Because we live in the middle of the Pacific, everything has to be shipped in, and so what you find is you find even your basic food products for example, things that you need for construction, everything has to be shipped in. And there's a bit of a monopoly on shipping. And there's also some federal laws caught the Jones Act, which requires any shipping boats that comes to our ports needs to be US. It cannot be foreign. And so that also drives up the cost here. And so as residents and people that live here on this island, we pay extra oil also gets shipped in, so we have one of the highest energy costs, one of the highest cost of living. And also if you buy like a gallon of milk, it's probably like seven or eight bucks for a gallon of milk here in Hawaii. It's very expensive. As as a business owner, as a small business owner, is that prohibitive? I think people are struggling. You know that the local people here UM, both Hoians and both multigenerational families UM that have planted their roots here. So back in the mid eighteen hundreds we have our plantation history and so what had happened back then was a bunch of American business people had recognized that Hawaii's climate was excellent for sugarcane and for pineapple. And what you find during that time period from what I know, and I'm not a historian in any way, so I don't claim myself to be an expert. So you know, people can google this and then find out if I'm telling the truth. They're making this stuff up. But you know, around the same time, there was a gold rush that was happening as well, and so that spurred this demand for sugar. And because of our climate, a lot of American business people started plantation for sugar canes and pineapple. And so what you find in the eighteen fifties is you start seeing they call this called the Masters and Servants Act. It paid the way for a lot of importation of workers from other countries, and the California gold rest spur at the demand for Hawaiian sugar. So now we see in the eighteen fifties, the first labors that came to work on the plantations where Chinese labors, and they did not bring their wives with them. So today you see a lot of Chinese Hawaiian ethnic mixes. Then the civil war in eighteen six you and also continue you to increase the demand for sugar, and so now you have these business people that have this very profitable business. Then what you find is in the late eighteen hundreds, Um, queen look, Lenny gets overthrown by American business people because there's some American interest and so there's this you know, generational unfairness of the people's lands being taken and a sovereign monarchy being overthrown through the annexation of Hawaii. Uh So, queenly look, Leni is the last Rainy monarch and she was prisoned. I think can commitment the first Actually, if you take a look at the Hawaiian flag, the Hawaiian flag has a Union Jack on it. And my understanding, can commitment the first understood how the Western world was going to significantly impact the Hawaiian culture and you know, perhaps wanted to have relationships more with England. Then when in the from the United States and so adopted some of the parts of the British flag and the Union jack. And so you see in the Hawaiian fly the Union Jack, which is our state flag. Um. You then find um, in eighteen sixty eight, Japanese labors coming on board. The Japanese labors were perhaps the largest group of immigrants, about two hundred thousand Japanese immigrants came. I believe they all believed that at one time they would go back to Japan and they would make whatever money they could and then go back to Japan. But they found out very quickly when they worked on the plantation how hard life was on the plantation. And they were very much like indentured servants, and so it's really tough to get out of that life. And then in eighteen seventy eight you find the Portuguese. Now, the Portuguese, being at their fair skinned, were an ethnic group that were typically, if anything, promoted to what they call lunas or supervisors on the plantation. So now in Hawaii you also see a lot of Portuguese, Chinese, Hawaiian ethnic mixes because of all these different ethnic groups coming on board. Hawaiian history also has Puerto Ricans, and so we also have some food influences from from Puerto Ricans and green bananas, for example, hotel Stu. I'm not sure. I always get confused if it's Patel pastel I'm not really quite sure how you know, different people have different ways here pronouncing it. And then you also have like the Koreans coming on board in the early nineteen hundreds, um, and then also Filipinos arriving. And so what you find in hawaiis food culture now is you have this very diverse hodgepodge of foods on our table today. How do you create a menu based on that? That's a great question. Well, you know, I don't know if if your listeners out there know this, but Hawaii is actually the spam but all the world. Yeah, we had like a sam fest and I think there was just this spam jam festival not too long ago. A lot of the plantation workers were very poor, and as a result, what you find is the kind of foods that they ate were typically things I could they could probably grow on their own. There are a lot of people back then because of our warm climate, also grew a lot of things like mangos, avocados. Um. We have this thing called light chee. I don't know how you guys might pronounce it, but it's that that hard fruit with the white pitted fruit. And then, of course, because meat was expensive, typically what you find is a lot of canned meat. So one thing, for example, in our restaurant, we have corn beef and hash. Now to an outsider, you're thinking corn brisket. You're thinking something that's slow cooked, you know in Irish corn beef and in cabbage. Right. But here in Hawaiti, if you your cent our history is actually canned corn beef. So when somebody from the Milan comes over and they order a corn beef and hash, they have a very different they're kind of caught off guard because they're not thinking in the same way that local people experienced corn beef yea from the can right? Yeah? Yeah? Um, because you're you're the third generation owner owner, right and have you changed the menu? Are kept it more or less the same? Yeah? So you know Highway and started ninety seven by my grandparents. Um, they were very poor. They my grandfather only had a third great education. I believe my sister always does me keep making up stories because I'm never telling really the whole truth. But I just don't really know the truth. Second, great, they're great. You know the point of it is that he wasn't formally educated. And I met my grandmother. Uh, started Highway in nineteen seven and at that time, wine families made their own food typically um, but it wasn't really a mainstream thing, you know. And if you think about what eating out meant back in the forties, it was really a special occasion. I think, you know, um, not too many people in the forties had a lot of disposable income. So I'm you know, I'm going to assume that when you went out to eat, it was typically for a special occasion or or you know, something similar to that. My grandparents were actually of Japanese ancestry. But my grandfather was born here and grew up with Hawaiian food and loved to wine food and many Huaian friends. And what had happened was during World War Two, Pearl Harbor was bombed and we have now the Japanese American internment story, and my grandfather was interned um in Arkansas. So I have an uncle born Jerome, Arkansas, amazingly, and my father was born in an internment camp into La Lake, California. And anybody that is familiar with Japanese American history knows that Tooley Lake was was one of the worst internment camps you could have been sent to. So he went there and you know, he made lemonade out of lemons and met a lot of other Japanese American cooks from around the country and learned when you were into and you had to list a skill, like if you are a barber or your teacher. And my my grandfather being that he was always cooking and put cook and so he learned how to cook certain American dishes like sortline cutlets, hamburger, steak um in the mess hall with these other Japanese Americans, and so they became a part of the highway in menu. When the war ended in nineteen forty five, he was released in from the internment camp in January of nineteen fourty six. He tried a couple of things. He tried to grow pigs, but they got skinnier instead of fatter, and recognized pretty quickly he was in a pig farmer um. And by that time when he left, you know, when he was interned, they left with I think three kids and came back with five. And now eventually they ended up having seven children. But back then, you have you had a lot of children, and that was an unusual back then, and and so he decided to he really loved to wine food and really thought that it was something worth sharing. And at that time a lot of a lot of restaurants were more Japanese or Chinese. Um. I think even today there's probably more Mexican restaurants. There's not too many Hawaiian food restaurants, and for those that are around, a lot of them are family owned, have been around. Hiawaian is one of the older Hawaiian food restaurants. Things are very simple back then. You know, you you have your basic Hawaiian food staples Poi la la pipikla trips do now lomi salmon, which is a really interesting Hawaiian dish. This is this is where you start to see how the introduction of different peoples and different groups come into play. So here in Hawaii we have no salmon. I was noting that. Okay, I'm glad you wrote it. I'm glad you noted that. So you know, if you think pre if you think about pre contact, when Hawaiian's arrived, they had two mean migrations, the first one from the Marquesses and the second one from Tahiti. And this is all pre contact seventeen seventy and what they brought with them on their or their canoe where things like taro which we call calo in Hawaiian banana which is maya coconut new um. They also brought bread fruit ulu um, and they brought dog illegal chicken moa, and pigs poa, and they brought things like even like our root, which we call pia. So we do have a dessert at highway in or a lot of point restaurants have this is called how pia because originally it was made with our roots and out instead of pia, we we use corn starch to help me this dessert. But then you see what happens in seventeen seventy eight and the early eighteen hundreds is you start to see whalers and merchants starting to arrive here in Hawaii, and what they start bringing with them is salted fish. And they start seeing that also Hawaiians have salts that you know, around the world, salt is a very valuable commodity, of course, especially back then, right and I believe the root word of salary actually also derives from the words salt. Yeah, it's Latin. So we have our common commentator in the background here, the British commentator, the colonists and We have some more of our interview with Monica, but first we have a quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsored. Let's get back into the interview. The sound of would actually was at one time something that Hawaiian's actually treated as well sandal would before the pineapple and trigger cane industry came about. But you know in seventeen early eighteen hundreds, um now you see salted fish. So that's how you see um loammi salmon. We have this dish called pipecla. Captain George Vancouver actually gifted King Kamehameha the first cattle. This eventually created the Paniola history, which is the Hawaiian cowboy. They had a cock poo on it, which cop kind of means like forbidden. So can come in with the first you know, nobody could touch this animal that they've never came across, which is a cattle. And they had to bring the Mexican bakatos, which I believe means he us your commentator, because ye so, so they brought cattle and they didn't know what to do with it. They didn't know how to manage this animal. So they brought vocados and they taught Hawaiians how to ranch, and so now we have peepecola peepe meaning beef like strips or jerked beef. They would salted too, you know, they cut up the animal they could preserve as much needs by making it into like salted or jerky. And so you have this story of pepecola. Now in the Paniola Hawaiian cowboy history and different groups of people throughout you know, the decades um brought over different types of products. So like which you find is Don Francisco Marin Arizon, Honolulu, and he starts bringing tomatoes. So now we have the Hawaiian cevici, which is bumomy salmon. You get the salted fish, and now you get this tomato that's all dye stuff. And you have sam. And now it is a it's a food item that comes post Western world contact. But because it's been around since late seventeen hundreds, early in eighteen hundreds, people have now adopted it as part of the Hawaiian food culture. And so you see lemi san. And the other thing that you see in the Hawaiian food menu that is also influenced by another group of people is our chicken long rice and I'm looking at Dylan because he just ordered that yesterday. Okay, it was so good. It was It's a very simple it's a very simple dish. And and that's the thing, you know, one of the things at Highway and I did create this. What was most important for me when people who are not familiar with Hawaiian food come and they eat with us at Highway End, it really wanted them to understand what I'm explaining right now, which is part of that culture and that history. Because when you understand what has happened here in the islands, then you can have a great appreciation for why the food is the way that it is. Otherwise you just can't appreciate it as much because what you're doing is you're comparing native foods that are simple in both in preparation, but it takes a very long time. It's very laborious. Um. But you know, if you think about seasonings, what do they have popkey salt lemal like seaweed and they cook nuts just like a tree nut for seasoning, and um, we didn't have like cheeses and basil and spices. So you know, if you compare it to other types of world cuisines, you just don't have the layered flavors there. Um. But once you understand the story, for example, like poi. I don't know if anybody tried poi different currents okay, and different varieties of Yeah, we had we had one that was that was pretty for mented and one that was very lightly prevented. Um. And I really like the sour kind honestly, like it's it's it goes so well with the sweetness of a roast pork. Yeah, and actually it's better to eat it more sour. Sure it's health here for bacteria. Black is blacktopius, and it's good for your microbiome, Yeah, your microbiomem and and and so Hawaiians fundamentally understood this. And and they have the same a poop akeye cock cole, which means they would you know, pretty much put salts in the poi because I was so sour, you know, does scrape off all the furry stuff growing on it. But some something with the with the poi created really good bacteria for your gut and and colo for example, So when people eat Hawaian food, I always say that the most culturally significant dish is going to be the poi. But from any other p sspective, it's probably the most unappealing. I think. I think it's just I think it's just unexpected. Like, um, we have a friend who's who grew up on Hawaiian has only been in Atlanta for a few years, and when we asked her what it's like, like what to expect, she was like, you'll just find out. She's like, there's no way to really explain it, like, yeah, yeah, to experience it firsthand. Yeah, And it is like it's it's strange like as as a you know, like like I grew up in Ohio and and and the American South, Like you know, there's nothing that's um that's kind of sticky and and sour like that that like it's either sticky or it's sour and that. So the combination of that texture in the fire. Yeah. And and the thing about it is I think you know, within the Pacific and even Southeast Asia, taro is used throughout Southeast Asia and through the Pacific. What is really I think you need to Hawaiian culture is the fact that they pound the taro so we call i and then it turns into what we call put ei. So put ei is it's very use only enough water to be able to pound the poi or pound the tower. I'm sorry. And then you get it into this form called put e i and you wrap it in in tea leave to keep it fresh, and once you're ready to actually you know, eat it and share. Hawaiians is a culture, very generous, generous culture. You add the poi so you can stretch the colo, you can stretch the taro and share it with other people. But also, like we spoke about earlier, is that it it has a very healthy aspect to to the product where the fermentation process occurs um. And I don't think any other culture actually does this with tarot in this way. I certainly hadn't. I wanted to ask you about the about the tea leaves. That's a that's also part of the cooking process for like a Yeah, yeah, can you talk about what that adds to the us? Yeah, So tea leaf is a really phenomenal product. Also in Hawaiian culture, it's also used um. It's a special kind of tea leaf that cockus or spiritual leaders use for blessings. Oftentimes, when you hear like Pele the fire goddess upon Kilauea that is you know, for the lava. They tell you the folklore is put tea leaves around your house so that sh'll go the lava will floor around your house. So it's also um from a cultural and you know, perspective, like a divine protection. In food, it's used to wrap things. I saw this one restaurant actually, I think it's on Maui there they were actually using tea leaf to wrap their sandwiches so that it was zero waste. And I was like, oh geez, we're gonna drive up the cost for tea leaves now because now there's another use for tea leaf. But what we use it for is to wrap the law law in and then we steam it. Um. It helps to keep the laula. If you've ever had allaala, it's this wonderful bundle of joy of delicious pork. And we call it butterfish, but most people know this fish is black cod. It's a little tiny piece of black cod and and it it helps to keep the shape of the lau la and it also helps to keep it from burning from so it does have this element where it keeps the laala from being burnt. Look at like a moisturization keeps the moisture in there, keeps the lua leaves fresh. Um um. You need to steam the laula for quite some time because you need to break down the lua leaves. So it's it's called calcium oxalate. And basically if you don't cook the lua leaves long enough, it will make your mouth and your throat itchy. Oh yeah, that's I'm sure it's just a protein breakdown of something that like reacts that we react poorly to that this allows us to process. Yeah, and so the lu all leads really needs to be cooked and steamed a long time or you might feel a little bit itchy in your mouth. Yeah. Yeah, that's fascinating. But also to like what I said when you CoA and you palm boys also sometimes used to carry product, you know, to wrap product, food product and as a way to be able to transport it from one place to another. Sure, thank you so much for speaking to the to the history of the islands, and we absolutely agree that getting the history of where people are from in those food waves is critical to understanding Yeah, what you're doing here. I always like, you know, people always say, well, what's your favorite what's your favorite meal? And I like to say, I think was really healthy in the Hawaiian food menu is a bullet point because you have your complex car and it's fermented, right, so you also have your fermented food and la la which is you get your daily dose of greens, which is like spinach or kale. You know, it has like vitamin A, C, iron, calcium, you know, all that good stuff. And then you have your protein you know, which is your your pork, and you have your omega three witches for which is from the black plot. You know. So to me, I think like and and the funny thing here too, I don need blood and a really good you know. The girl said, well, you know, before you go and donate blood, beside drinking a lot of water, you should eat a lot of poke it and you shoot a lot of poi poi and poke it. And I was like, um, there's something about poke it which is you know, Hawaiian cubed fish. And you know from what I hear is that it's just like this this rage across the country. And for us it's like saying, well, well, spam musu be is the rage across the country which would probably never happened, but um, poke a We've been eating this for a long time and we don't we don't get fussy about it here. We just keep the fish, you know, put put throw some Hawaiian salt or you know, put put some soy sauce or sesame oil, and you know, eat it raw, eat it on its own, like as we call it poopoos. I'm not sure if you've ever heard that, so it's so again, it's one of those things that's really funny. It's kind of like, would you like some poopoos? And people are like, what, you know, like poopoos? That sounds like, you know, that just sounds like a really weird word, but it means appetizer or you know, or DERs for for people that don't know. But you know, we just eat it and we eat it with chopsticks or fork or whatever. And you go, you go on Instagram and they're just putting pineapple on it and they're doing some crazy stuff with it and and for people like here and when you're just like, yeah, we don't eat it with pineapple. Yeah. Down the street from my from my house, there is a poke chain restaurant um with a poke bar where you can get all kinds of different fish and different you can get it served on top of like right, or or kale or whatever it is. We don't, but you know, I mean it's it's it's open to interpretation, right, I mean that's basically food, food culture is it's open to interpretation. So that's that's what you know here. And know what we call people in the continental US Mainlanders, I don't know what you guys call us, like, you know, just like islanders in the middle of nowhere, um. But you know on the mainland, you know, they've taken something that we've grown up with and have interpreted in whatever culinary palette that suits them, whether that's New York or the Midwest or the West Coast and waiting for like poke bagels things. Yeah, we actually did this thing where there's a really great dessert. We get it once a week. It's called kololo. Basically it's made out of taro, sugar, honey. So we got some yesterday and it's a dessert that's very hard to find. And what we did is it's only good for like a day or two. So we took it and we we made it into like a ball and we put like polke in it and we just try to fright up and see how that turned out. And it was kind of really interesting because the consistency of of coololo is kind of like if you're familiar with um mochi, which is that very gelatin. I don't know is the word witness rice? Right? You look like you're still processing it, yeah, because it was the cheft did that, and I was like, it tastes good, but I don't know what to make of it because I've never had this combination of texture together. What was the was that you said poke and some inside inside and then we like deep fried it? So was so was the poke inside still like like raw? It was like semi was like kind of like a little bit steamed, a little seared. Yeah, I can't yea. So we do that with rice balls? Oh yeah, so you do that like here in Hawaii there's there's some places that will take like a rice ball and put poke in the middle and then so it's really crispy on the that side and then you've got this fresh polk in inside that's really pretty ummy. Um. But Hawaiian food is is you know how it has changed over the years is you know I think back then, like my grandparents time, things were very simple. You know, it's very straightforward. You know. People ask us, how do we get the name highway In. Well, my grandparents first store was on Farrington Highway, which is a stretch of road on the west side of o Wahoo. And back then in the forties there were a few popular restaurants Victoria in Colombia and with Terry and so all the people in their seventies and eighties will fondly remember these restaurants. Um and so he named it Highway In. And so we're like, well, yeah, that's very uncreative, but it works, you know. I mean it was I think our our grandparents generation was very straightforward and very practical. There was no such thing as marketing gimmicks and trying to persuade you to buy their product on Instagram. And I mean they're very simple, you know. And and and now people create names in a way that they're much more thoughtful in terms of what that name communicates to to an audience, where whereas Highway In really just came with the practicality of where it was located and in that time period. And then interestingly enough, in we opened Highway In on all a Wanta Boulevard, which is also known as name Is Highway, so you know it works. But here in Cocaco it is a different group of not different and the same. Whereas we're very close to Waikiki, so we do get more tourists, um, we get more business people because we're also right next to downtown on Lulu, which is our business district, and we have our local families that come and eat with us, and so we have a very diverse group of people that come and eat with us here in Coca Acko. Alternatively, our Waipaca location which is kind of like our starbooks at Pike's Market. You know, it's the original, UM, but not in a famous place like Pike's Market. It's in a place called Waipahu, which means like gushing fresh water. We draw a lot of our customers from places like non Akuli and Way and I a lot of Native Hawaiian populations that are multigenerational. So our customers in Waipa, who they know what they want. They if we have specials, it doesn't matter to them. Whereas our customers they come in and they're like, well, you know, I'm vegan, what do you have And we're like pois a little bit of salt haw kai U. Yeah, but are but you know, joking aside, it is a little bit more diverse in menu offerings more than our white packet location. Because our customers here in Cocaco are are are far more diverse than those in White Papa. You know. I think we are really fortunate here in a way. And and one thing I think that's really great about the restaurant industry that I try to share with our staff because my friend who owns another restaurant, Tikis out in Waikiki, shared with me the restaurant industry is unique in the sense that it's one of those industries where, for the most part, not always, I mean, you get those customers that you really prefer not to have, but you know, it's it's to make people happy. You're You're we're in an industry that you can make people happy. You know. Unlike doctors and lawyers you know, E m t s right there, they're always in difficult situations that are not either people are fighting, where people are sick, or you know, there's it's an emergency situation. Um, there's a lot of pressure in the kitchen. But ultimately we are in in a position to be a positive experience in people's lives. And I think oftentimes restaurant people forget this because it is very there's a lot of pressure, and you know, our servers. I always like to share with our servers that it's kind of like having a hundred bosses every day. Get me this, I want this. This is not good, you know. And and it's stressful for our servers just as much as it's stressful for our kitchen staff try to get the food out. But the one thing here and what you think that makes us quite unique and quite fortunate is the sense of aloha. And and not to sound cliche about it, but we do have this overarching cultural value of aloha which anybody who is born and raised or moved to the islands would be very aware of. And like all o you know, like forward or presence ha meaning breath, you know, the presence of life. To be compassionate, to show kindness, to show grace. These are things that are just very much a part of the Hawaiian culture, the host culture, and and so it's much easier to try to train people because they fundamentally understand this idea of aloha. This like Southern hospitality, I guess would be a bit similar. They have very unique type of hospitality perspective. Yeah, we're just talking about that in the lift on the way over. Those two people like Southern hospitality, and you know, the Hawaiian hospitality is it's very much like that. And you know, I think several people, including you know, my favorite President Obama, you know, um, um, you know, I think it's I think it's cool that you know, they oftentimes recognize the place that they come from can be, you know, beacon of hope for for the world. Obviously in our own little microcosm. Even here in Hawaii, where life is cost of living is so high, it's very stressful for families here in Hawaii to make it work. And so a lot of families here in Hawaii they are very stressed out, you know, as a result of it. But we're fortunate enough to have this cultural value of aloha. Um, what are you looking forward to in the future? More help? I can only think like one day at a time, mom. And And you know, anybody who who runs a restaurant, who works in a restaurant, you know understands, Um. There's a lot of competition now I think I think there's a lot of people that talk about over saturation in the restaurant industry. Um, there's a lot of restaurants that are in need of kitchen help. You know, we're we're all very price sensitive in terms of you know, there's minimum wage issues going up. How is that going to affect menu prices? When you start increasing menu prices, you start to become concerned about consumer demand flattening or softening. Then you can't really give hours to your staff. You know. There's also the other layer of of technology and how technology comes into play in the Russian industry, and you know, you see McDonald's, for example, utilizing this in terms of having people go up to the kiosk and playing placing their own order. And so I think technology is also changing the industry. And um, you know, as cost increase, you know, people are trying to find ways to minimize cost it that it doesn't affect the menu prices in a way that will affect the demand. And so you know, everyone is just just really trying very hard right now. It's it's a very tough business to be in. And I give anybody in this this business and body who owns it anybody who manages it, anybody who works in it, deserves a lot of credit. Absolutely. Yeah, it's tough. Do you see some begins of hope out there? I think you know so what I share with you earlier, I'm losing some key people, which is common. You know, it's moving in the right direction. Just before this, I had a video interview with with Commitment School Salt about some of our artwork here in Cocackle, and right outside our restaurant there's a mural that says this is a good day or this was a good day. And it's a great mural to have right outside my restaurant because when you're having a really crappy day and you see this big, you know, street art that says this this is a good day, Um, kind of reminds you to appreciate all the good things that happened, because it could always be worse. We have a little bit more of this interview for you, but first we've got one more quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsor, and back to the interview. Every now and then we end up burning our law law and we can't use it. And unfortunately there's a nonprofit organization called a Local Harvest and I called him up and it's like, do you think you can, Like the leaves are not burnt, but it just kind of has that smell like it's burnt, but nothing is really burnt. And this is to feed the hungry, and so they were willing to take it. So at least forty six law law that has his burnt smell went to feed the hungry. So it's smith and all bad, but still that's great. It's great that organization thinks. Yeah, if anybody ever visits us here out at Highway in and you're not familiar with Hawaiian food, asked for a malahini guy. I have this guy that says smalahini eye to Hawaiian food. And my standing joke is that momyhini doesn't mean idiot, it means and he's a newcomer. So it's not the idiots guy to Hawaiian food. It's the newcomers guy to Hawaiian food. Just for clarification purposes. Um. But but it is a great piece because it has pictures and it talks about pepe Kala and it talks about the story of Lomi salmon and it talks about Poi, and it talks about Klope and La Lau and and so if you really want to experience culture through food, that's a great place to start. It truly is a universal language. When you sit down and you offer food or you make food for someone, it truly is an act of love. And and so you know, I tell all my staff that, and I'm sure every chef, every cook knows this. The secret ingredient is always going to be aloha. It's always going to be love. Because if you don't have the feeling of aloha when you're cooking, or the feeling of love, you know that that's the mana or the spiritual nous of that process is what makes you care about it. And that's why Grandma's food is always the best, right, I mean, anybody's grand fog boy in my case is my grandpa. But you know that's why grandma's and grandpa's you know, cook the best because when they cook for their children and their grandchildren is always infused with aloha. Oh I love that so much, right, Yes, that she was full of beautiful, beautiful things like that. That just made me appreciate so much the power of food in the connection that it it brings us absolutely. Oh, I want to I want to go back right now. I know. I was telling Dylan last night because we were talking about this producer Dylan, that spirit of Aloha and missing it so much, and I was was recounting the tail of when I was in seventh grade. I had a teacher, my social studies teacher who I loved, but he used one of those kind of gruff. Also a gym teacher, teacher okay, okay, yeah, And on the last day of seventh grade, we were joking with him because he was all decked out and like a straw hat, a Hawaiian shirt, all this stuff, and we were like, coach, why are you what are you going to way? And he said, in my mind, I'm already there. He said it so seriously, and I think about it all the time, so we can be there in our minds. It's not the same, Lauren, it's it's not the same. Certainly for my stomach, yes, but uh, but man, I need to go order some Loco moco from somewhere a solutely. That sounds amazing right now. So we hope you enjoyed that interview as much as we did. And we would really love to hear from you listeners. You can email us at hello at savor pod dot com. We're also on social media. You can find us on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook at savor pod, and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots more good things are coming your way
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Savor production of I Heart Radio. I'm Annie Reese and I'm Lauren Vocal Bam and today we have an interview for you from our trip to Oahu. Yes, and this was a super fun one. We get to play with legos, uh and we're children, so so so Yeah, so that was a very perfect for for us. Yeah, this is our interview with Monica to Gucci Ryan Um and Uh, joined in parts by her husband, wrestle Ryan. Yes, he was kind of the peanut gallery. He was just sitting back there. And then every now and then we'd get a comment from Yeah, a really good, pithy, worthwhile comment. It was. It was. It was an unexpected addition to the interview and a very very good one. Yes, And this was when we were really happy to get because Monica provided such a great context too, the food scene in Hawaiian. She's um a third generation owner of restaurant called Highway In that has three locations now all around Oahu. And she she had like visual aids and just was so knowledgeable. Yeah, I mean we were expecting. I mean, you know, we we knew that she's the owner and this restaurant has been in her family for so long. But yeah, the food at Highway in um uh. They serve a lot of a lot of traditional Hawaiian dishes, um, like fresh poke a roast clue a pig um allow law, which is a dish of protein that's kind of steamed in tea leaves that's t I not t e a anyway. Um. Some stews and soups like squid luoo and chicken long rice. You can you can get these things ala carte or via the classic plate lunch with sides like poi or rice, um lomami, salmon mac salad, and Helpia which is his coconut pudding dessert which is also good anyway. Um. More modern dishes as well, like loco moco and casadillas and fried fish or chicken wings with house twists, all kinds of lovely things. Oh, I have such a craving, now, I know. Yeah. I was looking at their menus and everything and just kind of quietly freaking out. Um. It's like a really nostalgic craving for that brief beautiful window. Oh gosh. Um. And and yeah, we we met up with Monica near Highway in second location in the Salt development in kaca Ako, which is this area of Honolulu with a lot of history, and we talked some about that in the interview. Um, but they're Um. The reason that there were Legos is that we were meeting up in like this this this office area in that development, and they had this little Lego build out of the area. So and we immediately we were very We tried to put up a front for two seconds and then made a bee line for it. Yeah. Absolutely, come on, Legos, what do you want from us? Right? I mean, we're humans, adult humans, but human beings. Everyone likes Lego. I bet there's some amazing Lego projects happening right now. Leg I have I have a friend who has been live streaming some Legos and it has been amazing. That's awesome. Yeah, yeah, it's a live streams are a great thing. Um uh speech speaking of of COVID nineteen, if you happen to be an a Wahu Highway in is open for takeout and delivery right now, please support your local restaurants when and if you can. Yes, absolutely, Oh so hungry, so jealous. But okay, I suppose we should. We should happen to our interview. Yes, yes, I will let former Annie, Lauren and Monica take it away. This used to be the sea wall, so this is kind of like all I want a boulevard of the water in the shore line came all the way up here, and they had judged it, I think sometimes either in the late eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds, they judged all of this area. So if you can take a look, their salt pans here. And that's that's the reason why Commitments Schools named this place salt at our cacaco um. The Hawaiian word for salt is paki, but they wanted to be more inclusive of other others and so they named it salt and that's the reason why we got that name. Yeah, that's kind of cool. Yeah, but these are all wide words, and everybody complains, like how do you get around if I'm trying to tell the cab driver where I'm not, how do I pronounce that word? That word? And then they end up in the wrong place, you know. So we've we've been struggling with it ourselves since we have been here. It's it's it's very um fanetic. I mean, it's like everywhere letters pronounced the way you typically see it. So it's not it's once you kind of get the basic role to to the language, it's not too hard. Yeah, I mean, I think that's I think what's different about So there are a couple of big land owners in this area called kakako um Commitment Schools. Bishop of State is one of them. Across all Muana Boulevard is OHA, which is Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which is part of the Hawaii State government. UM it's a little arm offshoot of the state government specifically to look after Native Hawaiians and their interests. And then we also have Howard Hughes Development that's kind of the more polished side of Cacaco. So you have east side and west side. We're on the west side of Cacacko. So but these three kind of land owners have over the past couple of years have really um gentrified this area. And and so now what you see is a lot of multimillion dollar condos, like many places around the country, a lot of the local people feeling a bit pushed out because they can't afford on the cost of living here in Hawaii. You know, our hospitality here in Hawaii is and the military is our main economic drivers here. In the state. And what that means is you don't really have other kinds of industries like high tech for example, Manufacturing is is kind of on the low side to rely on to generate a more diverse economy. Yeah, I imagine being literally positioned where Hawaii is, it makes it more difficult to attract, especially manufacturing, probably due to the cost of Yeah, I mean you kind of think that if you look on the map and you look on the globe, like what you really is isolated. It is like this little tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which is like the largest body of water on the planet, and we really you are this amazing piece of land. Um that's just the middle of nowhere. And they've always been talking about how strategically, um, we are positioned because we are positioned between the west and the east, and how that could be used in our interest for our interests. That has never really materialized outside of the military position and and tourism figured it out. We're still trying to figure it out, and we haven't done a very good job doing that well. I like to be fair Commertual air flight has only existed for what like seventy years now, So I think you're doing it just okay. Yeah, Because we live in the middle of the Pacific, everything has to be shipped in, and so what you find is you find even your basic food products for example, things that you need for construction, everything has to be shipped in. And there's a bit of a monopoly on shipping. And there's also some federal laws caught the Jones Act, which requires any shipping boats that comes to our ports needs to be US. It cannot be foreign. And so that also drives up the cost here. And so as residents and people that live here on this island, we pay extra oil also gets shipped in, so we have one of the highest energy costs, one of the highest cost of living. And also if you buy like a gallon of milk, it's probably like seven or eight bucks for a gallon of milk here in Hawaii. It's very expensive. As as a business owner, as a small business owner, is that prohibitive? I think people are struggling. You know that the local people here UM, both Hoians and both multigenerational families UM that have planted their roots here. So back in the mid eighteen hundreds we have our plantation history and so what had happened back then was a bunch of American business people had recognized that Hawaii's climate was excellent for sugarcane and for pineapple. And what you find during that time period from what I know, and I'm not a historian in any way, so I don't claim myself to be an expert. So you know, people can google this and then find out if I'm telling the truth. They're making this stuff up. But you know, around the same time, there was a gold rush that was happening as well, and so that spurred this demand for sugar. And because of our climate, a lot of American business people started plantation for sugar canes and pineapple. And so what you find in the eighteen fifties is you start seeing they call this called the Masters and Servants Act. It paid the way for a lot of importation of workers from other countries, and the California gold rest spur at the demand for Hawaiian sugar. So now we see in the eighteen fifties, the first labors that came to work on the plantations where Chinese labors, and they did not bring their wives with them. So today you see a lot of Chinese Hawaiian ethnic mixes. Then the civil war in eighteen six you and also continue you to increase the demand for sugar, and so now you have these business people that have this very profitable business. Then what you find is in the late eighteen hundreds, Um, queen look, Lenny gets overthrown by American business people because there's some American interest and so there's this you know, generational unfairness of the people's lands being taken and a sovereign monarchy being overthrown through the annexation of Hawaii. Uh So, queenly look, Leni is the last Rainy monarch and she was prisoned. I think can commitment the first Actually, if you take a look at the Hawaiian flag, the Hawaiian flag has a Union Jack on it. And my understanding, can commitment the first understood how the Western world was going to significantly impact the Hawaiian culture and you know, perhaps wanted to have relationships more with England. Then when in the from the United States and so adopted some of the parts of the British flag and the Union jack. And so you see in the Hawaiian fly the Union Jack, which is our state flag. Um. You then find um, in eighteen sixty eight, Japanese labors coming on board. The Japanese labors were perhaps the largest group of immigrants, about two hundred thousand Japanese immigrants came. I believe they all believed that at one time they would go back to Japan and they would make whatever money they could and then go back to Japan. But they found out very quickly when they worked on the plantation how hard life was on the plantation. And they were very much like indentured servants, and so it's really tough to get out of that life. And then in eighteen seventy eight you find the Portuguese. Now, the Portuguese, being at their fair skinned, were an ethnic group that were typically, if anything, promoted to what they call lunas or supervisors on the plantation. So now in Hawaii you also see a lot of Portuguese, Chinese, Hawaiian ethnic mixes because of all these different ethnic groups coming on board. Hawaiian history also has Puerto Ricans, and so we also have some food influences from from Puerto Ricans and green bananas, for example, hotel Stu. I'm not sure. I always get confused if it's Patel pastel I'm not really quite sure how you know, different people have different ways here pronouncing it. And then you also have like the Koreans coming on board in the early nineteen hundreds, um, and then also Filipinos arriving. And so what you find in hawaiis food culture now is you have this very diverse hodgepodge of foods on our table today. How do you create a menu based on that? That's a great question. Well, you know, I don't know if if your listeners out there know this, but Hawaii is actually the spam but all the world. Yeah, we had like a sam fest and I think there was just this spam jam festival not too long ago. A lot of the plantation workers were very poor, and as a result, what you find is the kind of foods that they ate were typically things I could they could probably grow on their own. There are a lot of people back then because of our warm climate, also grew a lot of things like mangos, avocados. Um. We have this thing called light chee. I don't know how you guys might pronounce it, but it's that that hard fruit with the white pitted fruit. And then, of course, because meat was expensive, typically what you find is a lot of canned meat. So one thing, for example, in our restaurant, we have corn beef and hash. Now to an outsider, you're thinking corn brisket. You're thinking something that's slow cooked, you know in Irish corn beef and in cabbage. Right. But here in Hawaiti, if you your cent our history is actually canned corn beef. So when somebody from the Milan comes over and they order a corn beef and hash, they have a very different they're kind of caught off guard because they're not thinking in the same way that local people experienced corn beef yea from the can right? Yeah? Yeah? Um, because you're you're the third generation owner owner, right and have you changed the menu? Are kept it more or less the same? Yeah? So you know Highway and started ninety seven by my grandparents. Um, they were very poor. They my grandfather only had a third great education. I believe my sister always does me keep making up stories because I'm never telling really the whole truth. But I just don't really know the truth. Second, great, they're great. You know the point of it is that he wasn't formally educated. And I met my grandmother. Uh, started Highway in nineteen seven and at that time, wine families made their own food typically um, but it wasn't really a mainstream thing, you know. And if you think about what eating out meant back in the forties, it was really a special occasion. I think, you know, um, not too many people in the forties had a lot of disposable income. So I'm you know, I'm going to assume that when you went out to eat, it was typically for a special occasion or or you know, something similar to that. My grandparents were actually of Japanese ancestry. But my grandfather was born here and grew up with Hawaiian food and loved to wine food and many Huaian friends. And what had happened was during World War Two, Pearl Harbor was bombed and we have now the Japanese American internment story, and my grandfather was interned um in Arkansas. So I have an uncle born Jerome, Arkansas, amazingly, and my father was born in an internment camp into La Lake, California. And anybody that is familiar with Japanese American history knows that Tooley Lake was was one of the worst internment camps you could have been sent to. So he went there and you know, he made lemonade out of lemons and met a lot of other Japanese American cooks from around the country and learned when you were into and you had to list a skill, like if you are a barber or your teacher. And my my grandfather being that he was always cooking and put cook and so he learned how to cook certain American dishes like sortline cutlets, hamburger, steak um in the mess hall with these other Japanese Americans, and so they became a part of the highway in menu. When the war ended in nineteen forty five, he was released in from the internment camp in January of nineteen fourty six. He tried a couple of things. He tried to grow pigs, but they got skinnier instead of fatter, and recognized pretty quickly he was in a pig farmer um. And by that time when he left, you know, when he was interned, they left with I think three kids and came back with five. And now eventually they ended up having seven children. But back then, you have you had a lot of children, and that was an unusual back then, and and so he decided to he really loved to wine food and really thought that it was something worth sharing. And at that time a lot of a lot of restaurants were more Japanese or Chinese. Um. I think even today there's probably more Mexican restaurants. There's not too many Hawaiian food restaurants, and for those that are around, a lot of them are family owned, have been around. Hiawaian is one of the older Hawaiian food restaurants. Things are very simple back then. You know, you you have your basic Hawaiian food staples Poi la la pipikla trips do now lomi salmon, which is a really interesting Hawaiian dish. This is this is where you start to see how the introduction of different peoples and different groups come into play. So here in Hawaii we have no salmon. I was noting that. Okay, I'm glad you wrote it. I'm glad you noted that. So you know, if you think pre if you think about pre contact, when Hawaiian's arrived, they had two mean migrations, the first one from the Marquesses and the second one from Tahiti. And this is all pre contact seventeen seventy and what they brought with them on their or their canoe where things like taro which we call calo in Hawaiian banana which is maya coconut new um. They also brought bread fruit ulu um, and they brought dog illegal chicken moa, and pigs poa, and they brought things like even like our root, which we call pia. So we do have a dessert at highway in or a lot of point restaurants have this is called how pia because originally it was made with our roots and out instead of pia, we we use corn starch to help me this dessert. But then you see what happens in seventeen seventy eight and the early eighteen hundreds is you start to see whalers and merchants starting to arrive here in Hawaii, and what they start bringing with them is salted fish. And they start seeing that also Hawaiians have salts that you know, around the world, salt is a very valuable commodity, of course, especially back then, right and I believe the root word of salary actually also derives from the words salt. Yeah, it's Latin. So we have our common commentator in the background here, the British commentator, the colonists and We have some more of our interview with Monica, but first we have a quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsored. Let's get back into the interview. The sound of would actually was at one time something that Hawaiian's actually treated as well sandal would before the pineapple and trigger cane industry came about. But you know in seventeen early eighteen hundreds, um now you see salted fish. So that's how you see um loammi salmon. We have this dish called pipecla. Captain George Vancouver actually gifted King Kamehameha the first cattle. This eventually created the Paniola history, which is the Hawaiian cowboy. They had a cock poo on it, which cop kind of means like forbidden. So can come in with the first you know, nobody could touch this animal that they've never came across, which is a cattle. And they had to bring the Mexican bakatos, which I believe means he us your commentator, because ye so, so they brought cattle and they didn't know what to do with it. They didn't know how to manage this animal. So they brought vocados and they taught Hawaiians how to ranch, and so now we have peepecola peepe meaning beef like strips or jerked beef. They would salted too, you know, they cut up the animal they could preserve as much needs by making it into like salted or jerky. And so you have this story of pepecola. Now in the Paniola Hawaiian cowboy history and different groups of people throughout you know, the decades um brought over different types of products. So like which you find is Don Francisco Marin Arizon, Honolulu, and he starts bringing tomatoes. So now we have the Hawaiian cevici, which is bumomy salmon. You get the salted fish, and now you get this tomato that's all dye stuff. And you have sam. And now it is a it's a food item that comes post Western world contact. But because it's been around since late seventeen hundreds, early in eighteen hundreds, people have now adopted it as part of the Hawaiian food culture. And so you see lemi san. And the other thing that you see in the Hawaiian food menu that is also influenced by another group of people is our chicken long rice and I'm looking at Dylan because he just ordered that yesterday. Okay, it was so good. It was It's a very simple it's a very simple dish. And and that's the thing, you know, one of the things at Highway and I did create this. What was most important for me when people who are not familiar with Hawaiian food come and they eat with us at Highway End, it really wanted them to understand what I'm explaining right now, which is part of that culture and that history. Because when you understand what has happened here in the islands, then you can have a great appreciation for why the food is the way that it is. Otherwise you just can't appreciate it as much because what you're doing is you're comparing native foods that are simple in both in preparation, but it takes a very long time. It's very laborious. Um. But you know, if you think about seasonings, what do they have popkey salt lemal like seaweed and they cook nuts just like a tree nut for seasoning, and um, we didn't have like cheeses and basil and spices. So you know, if you compare it to other types of world cuisines, you just don't have the layered flavors there. Um. But once you understand the story, for example, like poi. I don't know if anybody tried poi different currents okay, and different varieties of Yeah, we had we had one that was that was pretty for mented and one that was very lightly prevented. Um. And I really like the sour kind honestly, like it's it's it goes so well with the sweetness of a roast pork. Yeah, and actually it's better to eat it more sour. Sure it's health here for bacteria. Black is blacktopius, and it's good for your microbiome, Yeah, your microbiomem and and and so Hawaiians fundamentally understood this. And and they have the same a poop akeye cock cole, which means they would you know, pretty much put salts in the poi because I was so sour, you know, does scrape off all the furry stuff growing on it. But some something with the with the poi created really good bacteria for your gut and and colo for example, So when people eat Hawaian food, I always say that the most culturally significant dish is going to be the poi. But from any other p sspective, it's probably the most unappealing. I think. I think it's just I think it's just unexpected. Like, um, we have a friend who's who grew up on Hawaiian has only been in Atlanta for a few years, and when we asked her what it's like, like what to expect, she was like, you'll just find out. She's like, there's no way to really explain it, like, yeah, yeah, to experience it firsthand. Yeah, And it is like it's it's strange like as as a you know, like like I grew up in Ohio and and and the American South, Like you know, there's nothing that's um that's kind of sticky and and sour like that that like it's either sticky or it's sour and that. So the combination of that texture in the fire. Yeah. And and the thing about it is I think you know, within the Pacific and even Southeast Asia, taro is used throughout Southeast Asia and through the Pacific. What is really I think you need to Hawaiian culture is the fact that they pound the taro so we call i and then it turns into what we call put ei. So put ei is it's very use only enough water to be able to pound the poi or pound the tower. I'm sorry. And then you get it into this form called put e i and you wrap it in in tea leave to keep it fresh, and once you're ready to actually you know, eat it and share. Hawaiians is a culture, very generous, generous culture. You add the poi so you can stretch the colo, you can stretch the taro and share it with other people. But also, like we spoke about earlier, is that it it has a very healthy aspect to to the product where the fermentation process occurs um. And I don't think any other culture actually does this with tarot in this way. I certainly hadn't. I wanted to ask you about the about the tea leaves. That's a that's also part of the cooking process for like a Yeah, yeah, can you talk about what that adds to the us? Yeah, So tea leaf is a really phenomenal product. Also in Hawaiian culture, it's also used um. It's a special kind of tea leaf that cockus or spiritual leaders use for blessings. Oftentimes, when you hear like Pele the fire goddess upon Kilauea that is you know, for the lava. They tell you the folklore is put tea leaves around your house so that sh'll go the lava will floor around your house. So it's also um from a cultural and you know, perspective, like a divine protection. In food, it's used to wrap things. I saw this one restaurant actually, I think it's on Maui there they were actually using tea leaf to wrap their sandwiches so that it was zero waste. And I was like, oh geez, we're gonna drive up the cost for tea leaves now because now there's another use for tea leaf. But what we use it for is to wrap the law law in and then we steam it. Um. It helps to keep the laula. If you've ever had allaala, it's this wonderful bundle of joy of delicious pork. And we call it butterfish, but most people know this fish is black cod. It's a little tiny piece of black cod and and it it helps to keep the shape of the lau la and it also helps to keep it from burning from so it does have this element where it keeps the laala from being burnt. Look at like a moisturization keeps the moisture in there, keeps the lua leaves fresh. Um um. You need to steam the laula for quite some time because you need to break down the lua leaves. So it's it's called calcium oxalate. And basically if you don't cook the lua leaves long enough, it will make your mouth and your throat itchy. Oh yeah, that's I'm sure it's just a protein breakdown of something that like reacts that we react poorly to that this allows us to process. Yeah, and so the lu all leads really needs to be cooked and steamed a long time or you might feel a little bit itchy in your mouth. Yeah. Yeah, that's fascinating. But also to like what I said when you CoA and you palm boys also sometimes used to carry product, you know, to wrap product, food product and as a way to be able to transport it from one place to another. Sure, thank you so much for speaking to the to the history of the islands, and we absolutely agree that getting the history of where people are from in those food waves is critical to understanding Yeah, what you're doing here. I always like, you know, people always say, well, what's your favorite what's your favorite meal? And I like to say, I think was really healthy in the Hawaiian food menu is a bullet point because you have your complex car and it's fermented, right, so you also have your fermented food and la la which is you get your daily dose of greens, which is like spinach or kale. You know, it has like vitamin A, C, iron, calcium, you know, all that good stuff. And then you have your protein you know, which is your your pork, and you have your omega three witches for which is from the black plot. You know. So to me, I think like and and the funny thing here too, I don need blood and a really good you know. The girl said, well, you know, before you go and donate blood, beside drinking a lot of water, you should eat a lot of poke it and you shoot a lot of poi poi and poke it. And I was like, um, there's something about poke it which is you know, Hawaiian cubed fish. And you know from what I hear is that it's just like this this rage across the country. And for us it's like saying, well, well, spam musu be is the rage across the country which would probably never happened, but um, poke a We've been eating this for a long time and we don't we don't get fussy about it here. We just keep the fish, you know, put put throw some Hawaiian salt or you know, put put some soy sauce or sesame oil, and you know, eat it raw, eat it on its own, like as we call it poopoos. I'm not sure if you've ever heard that, so it's so again, it's one of those things that's really funny. It's kind of like, would you like some poopoos? And people are like, what, you know, like poopoos? That sounds like, you know, that just sounds like a really weird word, but it means appetizer or you know, or DERs for for people that don't know. But you know, we just eat it and we eat it with chopsticks or fork or whatever. And you go, you go on Instagram and they're just putting pineapple on it and they're doing some crazy stuff with it and and for people like here and when you're just like, yeah, we don't eat it with pineapple. Yeah. Down the street from my from my house, there is a poke chain restaurant um with a poke bar where you can get all kinds of different fish and different you can get it served on top of like right, or or kale or whatever it is. We don't, but you know, I mean it's it's it's open to interpretation, right, I mean that's basically food, food culture is it's open to interpretation. So that's that's what you know here. And know what we call people in the continental US Mainlanders, I don't know what you guys call us, like, you know, just like islanders in the middle of nowhere, um. But you know on the mainland, you know, they've taken something that we've grown up with and have interpreted in whatever culinary palette that suits them, whether that's New York or the Midwest or the West Coast and waiting for like poke bagels things. Yeah, we actually did this thing where there's a really great dessert. We get it once a week. It's called kololo. Basically it's made out of taro, sugar, honey. So we got some yesterday and it's a dessert that's very hard to find. And what we did is it's only good for like a day or two. So we took it and we we made it into like a ball and we put like polke in it and we just try to fright up and see how that turned out. And it was kind of really interesting because the consistency of of coololo is kind of like if you're familiar with um mochi, which is that very gelatin. I don't know is the word witness rice? Right? You look like you're still processing it, yeah, because it was the cheft did that, and I was like, it tastes good, but I don't know what to make of it because I've never had this combination of texture together. What was the was that you said poke and some inside inside and then we like deep fried it? So was so was the poke inside still like like raw? It was like semi was like kind of like a little bit steamed, a little seared. Yeah, I can't yea. So we do that with rice balls? Oh yeah, so you do that like here in Hawaii there's there's some places that will take like a rice ball and put poke in the middle and then so it's really crispy on the that side and then you've got this fresh polk in inside that's really pretty ummy. Um. But Hawaiian food is is you know how it has changed over the years is you know I think back then, like my grandparents time, things were very simple. You know, it's very straightforward. You know. People ask us, how do we get the name highway In. Well, my grandparents first store was on Farrington Highway, which is a stretch of road on the west side of o Wahoo. And back then in the forties there were a few popular restaurants Victoria in Colombia and with Terry and so all the people in their seventies and eighties will fondly remember these restaurants. Um and so he named it Highway In. And so we're like, well, yeah, that's very uncreative, but it works, you know. I mean it was I think our our grandparents generation was very straightforward and very practical. There was no such thing as marketing gimmicks and trying to persuade you to buy their product on Instagram. And I mean they're very simple, you know. And and and now people create names in a way that they're much more thoughtful in terms of what that name communicates to to an audience, where whereas Highway In really just came with the practicality of where it was located and in that time period. And then interestingly enough, in we opened Highway In on all a Wanta Boulevard, which is also known as name Is Highway, so you know it works. But here in Cocaco it is a different group of not different and the same. Whereas we're very close to Waikiki, so we do get more tourists, um, we get more business people because we're also right next to downtown on Lulu, which is our business district, and we have our local families that come and eat with us, and so we have a very diverse group of people that come and eat with us here in Coca Acko. Alternatively, our Waipaca location which is kind of like our starbooks at Pike's Market. You know, it's the original, UM, but not in a famous place like Pike's Market. It's in a place called Waipahu, which means like gushing fresh water. We draw a lot of our customers from places like non Akuli and Way and I a lot of Native Hawaiian populations that are multigenerational. So our customers in Waipa, who they know what they want. They if we have specials, it doesn't matter to them. Whereas our customers they come in and they're like, well, you know, I'm vegan, what do you have And we're like pois a little bit of salt haw kai U. Yeah, but are but you know, joking aside, it is a little bit more diverse in menu offerings more than our white packet location. Because our customers here in Cocaco are are are far more diverse than those in White Papa. You know. I think we are really fortunate here in a way. And and one thing I think that's really great about the restaurant industry that I try to share with our staff because my friend who owns another restaurant, Tikis out in Waikiki, shared with me the restaurant industry is unique in the sense that it's one of those industries where, for the most part, not always, I mean, you get those customers that you really prefer not to have, but you know, it's it's to make people happy. You're You're we're in an industry that you can make people happy. You know. Unlike doctors and lawyers you know, E m t s right there, they're always in difficult situations that are not either people are fighting, where people are sick, or you know, there's it's an emergency situation. Um, there's a lot of pressure in the kitchen. But ultimately we are in in a position to be a positive experience in people's lives. And I think oftentimes restaurant people forget this because it is very there's a lot of pressure, and you know, our servers. I always like to share with our servers that it's kind of like having a hundred bosses every day. Get me this, I want this. This is not good, you know. And and it's stressful for our servers just as much as it's stressful for our kitchen staff try to get the food out. But the one thing here and what you think that makes us quite unique and quite fortunate is the sense of aloha. And and not to sound cliche about it, but we do have this overarching cultural value of aloha which anybody who is born and raised or moved to the islands would be very aware of. And like all o you know, like forward or presence ha meaning breath, you know, the presence of life. To be compassionate, to show kindness, to show grace. These are things that are just very much a part of the Hawaiian culture, the host culture, and and so it's much easier to try to train people because they fundamentally understand this idea of aloha. This like Southern hospitality, I guess would be a bit similar. They have very unique type of hospitality perspective. Yeah, we're just talking about that in the lift on the way over. Those two people like Southern hospitality, and you know, the Hawaiian hospitality is it's very much like that. And you know, I think several people, including you know, my favorite President Obama, you know, um, um, you know, I think it's I think it's cool that you know, they oftentimes recognize the place that they come from can be, you know, beacon of hope for for the world. Obviously in our own little microcosm. Even here in Hawaii, where life is cost of living is so high, it's very stressful for families here in Hawaii to make it work. And so a lot of families here in Hawaii they are very stressed out, you know, as a result of it. But we're fortunate enough to have this cultural value of aloha. Um, what are you looking forward to in the future? More help? I can only think like one day at a time, mom. And And you know, anybody who who runs a restaurant, who works in a restaurant, you know understands, Um. There's a lot of competition now I think I think there's a lot of people that talk about over saturation in the restaurant industry. Um, there's a lot of restaurants that are in need of kitchen help. You know, we're we're all very price sensitive in terms of you know, there's minimum wage issues going up. How is that going to affect menu prices? When you start increasing menu prices, you start to become concerned about consumer demand flattening or softening. Then you can't really give hours to your staff. You know. There's also the other layer of of technology and how technology comes into play in the Russian industry, and you know, you see McDonald's, for example, utilizing this in terms of having people go up to the kiosk and playing placing their own order. And so I think technology is also changing the industry. And um, you know, as cost increase, you know, people are trying to find ways to minimize cost it that it doesn't affect the menu prices in a way that will affect the demand. And so you know, everyone is just just really trying very hard right now. It's it's a very tough business to be in. And I give anybody in this this business and body who owns it anybody who manages it, anybody who works in it, deserves a lot of credit. Absolutely. Yeah, it's tough. Do you see some begins of hope out there? I think you know so what I share with you earlier, I'm losing some key people, which is common. You know, it's moving in the right direction. Just before this, I had a video interview with with Commitment School Salt about some of our artwork here in Cocackle, and right outside our restaurant there's a mural that says this is a good day or this was a good day. And it's a great mural to have right outside my restaurant because when you're having a really crappy day and you see this big, you know, street art that says this this is a good day, Um, kind of reminds you to appreciate all the good things that happened, because it could always be worse. We have a little bit more of this interview for you, but first we've got one more quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsor, and back to the interview. Every now and then we end up burning our law law and we can't use it. And unfortunately there's a nonprofit organization called a Local Harvest and I called him up and it's like, do you think you can, Like the leaves are not burnt, but it just kind of has that smell like it's burnt, but nothing is really burnt. And this is to feed the hungry, and so they were willing to take it. So at least forty six law law that has his burnt smell went to feed the hungry. So it's smith and all bad, but still that's great. It's great that organization thinks. Yeah, if anybody ever visits us here out at Highway in and you're not familiar with Hawaiian food, asked for a malahini guy. I have this guy that says smalahini eye to Hawaiian food. And my standing joke is that momyhini doesn't mean idiot, it means and he's a newcomer. So it's not the idiots guy to Hawaiian food. It's the newcomers guy to Hawaiian food. Just for clarification purposes. Um. But but it is a great piece because it has pictures and it talks about pepe Kala and it talks about the story of Lomi salmon and it talks about Poi, and it talks about Klope and La Lau and and so if you really want to experience culture through food, that's a great place to start. It truly is a universal language. When you sit down and you offer food or you make food for someone, it truly is an act of love. And and so you know, I tell all my staff that, and I'm sure every chef, every cook knows this. The secret ingredient is always going to be aloha. It's always going to be love. Because if you don't have the feeling of aloha when you're cooking, or the feeling of love, you know that that's the mana or the spiritual nous of that process is what makes you care about it. And that's why Grandma's food is always the best, right, I mean, anybody's grand fog boy in my case is my grandpa. But you know that's why grandma's and grandpa's you know, cook the best because when they cook for their children and their grandchildren is always infused with aloha. Oh I love that so much, right, Yes, that she was full of beautiful, beautiful things like that. That just made me appreciate so much the power of food in the connection that it it brings us absolutely. Oh, I want to I want to go back right now. I know. I was telling Dylan last night because we were talking about this producer Dylan, that spirit of Aloha and missing it so much, and I was was recounting the tail of when I was in seventh grade. I had a teacher, my social studies teacher who I loved, but he used one of those kind of gruff. Also a gym teacher, teacher okay, okay, yeah, And on the last day of seventh grade, we were joking with him because he was all decked out and like a straw hat, a Hawaiian shirt, all this stuff, and we were like, coach, why are you what are you going to way? And he said, in my mind, I'm already there. He said it so seriously, and I think about it all the time, so we can be there in our minds. It's not the same, Lauren, it's it's not the same. Certainly for my stomach, yes, but uh, but man, I need to go order some Loco moco from somewhere a solutely. That sounds amazing right now. So we hope you enjoyed that interview as much as we did. And we would really love to hear from you listeners. You can email us at hello at savor pod dot com. We're also on social media. You can find us on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook at savor pod, and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots more good things are coming your way
