Poke

The location:

Hawaii, United States of America

The genre of story:

Inspiration

The story:

For Ancient Hawaiians people, sea was an important part of their life. Sea surrounded the islands and came with seafood resources. So people were dependent on food based seafood. The dish started as a snack and was not called “poke” until around 1960s in which it started to enter the local markets and restaurants. The meaning of “poke” is to cut crosswise into pieces. Its inspiration came from Japanese cuisine, sashimi. The main difference is in the cutting process. Sashimi is cut into slices while poke is cut into cubes. The fish used at the beginning was found at local reefs such as bonefish. These days tuna is a popular ingredient for poke. The taste and appearance of tuna’s meat attracts more attention than other fishes.