Oh no! Own oh! Ono!

Hawai'i has two official state languages ...english... it is a US state... and Hawai'ian. Sadly, in a year 2000 census the state population of native Hawai'ian speakers was under 0.1% of the statewide population. Hawai'ian is not to be confused with a more widely spoken form of english technically called "Hawaiian Creole English" which developed from pidgin English and is often called simply "pidgin" (or Hawaiian Pidgin).

A handy guide to Pidgin and local terms appears in the fantatic/essential Wizard Publishing books. The word that the books use the most is probably the most essential: Ono. Note that Ono is another name for the scombrid fish, wahoo - a prize game fish that should appear on a menu before your Hawaiian visit is over. [ You can watch some Hawaiian fishermen reel in and club a monstorous 89.5 lb Ono. ]

An adjective meaing delicious, tastes good (as in good tasting food), Ono is a word that you just may be using so frequently you'll find that you're speaking another language.

malassadas (Portuguese sweet bread)

Why two Portuguese items in a row?

Right before the turn of the last century (around 1878) an influx of Portuguese laborers were solicited by the island (more probably the sugar cane empire). With them came Portuguese food and pão doce, sweet bread malasadas (now malassadas).

A curious resource for malassadas is the personal/commerical page on comcast called "All about Malassadas." It pushes OSO-ONO fried desert dough in a way that makes the worlds tastes seem pretty unified under the unassailable banner of fried dough + sugar.

...do they eat fried dough for dessert on Mars? Let's ask guest columnist Sue Gorge - his reply:

Quando as coisas do coraá§á£o
Ná£o consegue compreender
O que a mente ná£o faz questá£o
E nem tem forá§as para obedecer
Quantos sonhos já¡ destruá­
E deixei escapar das má£os
E se o futuro assim permitir
Ná£o pretendo viver em vá£o
Meu amor ná£o estamos sós
Tem um mundo a esperar por nós
Do infinito do céu azul
Pode ter vida em marte
Entao vem cá¡
Me dá¡ a sua lá­ngua
Entá£o vem
Eu quero abraá§ar vocá«
Seu poder vem do sol
Minha medida
Entao vem
Vamos viver a vida
Entá£o vem
Se ná£o eu vou perder quem sou
Vou querer me mudar
Para uma Life on Mars?

Portuguese Bean Soup

Another luau staple... sopa de feijão.

This island comfort food gets its smoky strong pork flavor from
the pork hock stock (hocks being the lower part of the leg) and a goodly dose of portuguese sausage (a little fattier and saltier than normal). The sauce is otherwise tomato based and is fleshed out with some combination of potatoes, beans, carrots, onions and a little cilantro on top.

Being a staple of the home across a wide geographic region of the world (Portugal to Hawai'i) recipes vary widely:

Here's one from the fantastic Tasty Island Blog (Honolulu) which is based on a recipe at the Hawai'ian food blog OnoKineGrindz. I would like to offer a third recipe at epicurious.com that appeared in Bon Appetit in Dec. '92 - it skrimps on the hock stock (calling for shicken stock) and opts for Spanish Chorizo. The chefs seem to hope this smoked sausage will provide enough smoke to the broth...