Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family (Moraceae) believed to be a domesticated descendant of Artocarpus camansi originating in New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Philippines. It was initially spread to Oceania via the Austronesian expansion. It was further spread to other tropical regions of the world during the Colonial Era. British and French navigators introduced a few Polynesian seedless varieties to Caribbean islands during the late 18th century. Today it is grown in some 90 countries throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, Central America and Africa. Its name is derived from the texture of the moderately ripe fruit when cooked, similar to freshly baked bread and having a potato-like flavor.
Colocasia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to southeastern Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Some species are widely cultivated and naturalized in other tropical and subtropical regions.
In the Hawaiian religion, Wākea, the Sky father weds Papahānaumoku, the earth mother. The two are considered the parent couple of the ruling chiefs of Hawaii.
A lūʻau is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast that is usually accompanied by entertainment. It often features Native Hawaiian cuisine with foods such as poi, kālua puaʻa, poke, lomi salmon, lomi oio, ʻopihi, and haupia, and accompanied with beer and entertainment such as traditional Hawaiian music, kanikapila, and hula. Among people from Hawaiʻi, the concepts of "lūʻau" and "party" are often blended, resulting in graduation lūʻau, wedding lūʻau, baby lūʻau, and birthday lūʻau.
Fufu is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African countries including Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Angola, and Gabon.
The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands.
Taro is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Oceanic, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cultures. Taro is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants.
Instant mashed potatoes are potatoes that have been through an industrial process of cooking, mashing and dehydrating to yield a packaged convenience food that can be reconstituted by adding hot water or milk, producing an approximation of mashed potatoes. They are available in many different flavors.
Pakhaḷa is an Odia cuisine, consisting of cooked rice washed or lightly fermented in water. The liquid part of the dish is known as Toraṇi. It is popular in the state of Odisha and its similar in the eastern regions like Jharkhand the northeastern states of Assam.
Kūlolo is a Hawaiian dish made with taro and coconut. Considered a pudding, kūlolo has a chewy and solid consistency like fudge or Southeast Asian dodol, with a flavor similar to caramel or Chinese nian gao. Because taro is widely cultivated on the island of Kauai, taro products such as kūlolo is often associated with the island. It is a well-beloved dish well documented by many non-Hawaiians since the late 1800s, sometimes found during festive occasions like at lūʻau.
Haitian cuisine consists of cooking traditions and practices from Haiti. It is a Creole cuisine that originates from a blend of several culinary styles that populated the western portion of the island of Hispaniola, namely African, French, indigenous Taíno, Spanish and Arab influences. Haitian cuisine has some similarities with "criollo" cooking and similar to the rest of the Caribbean, but differs in several ways from its regional counterparts. Flavors are bold and spicy demonstrating African and French influences, with notable derivatives coming from native Taíno and Spanish techniques.
Manipuri cuisine refers to the cuisine of Manipur, a state of northeastern India. Daily meals are based on rice, with a few side dishes of vegetables, fish and meat. A meal would usually have a vegetable stew called ensaang or athongba, flavored with dried or fried fish; stir-fried vegetables called kanghou; and a spicy item, which could be morok metpa, eromba, or singju. All piquant side dishes are accompanied by a choice of fresh herbs, collectively called maroi. The base and essence of Meitei cuisine is the fermented fish called ngari. Several dishes of meat, mostly chicken and pork, are cooked with unique recipes. As a result of religious taboos, however, the Meitei Pangals do not cook the latter.
Cyrtosperma merkusii or giant swamp taro, is a crop grown throughout Oceania and into South and Southeast Asia. It is a riverine and "swamp crop" similar to taro, but "with bigger leaves and larger, coarser roots." There are no demonstrably wild populations today, but it is believed to be native to Indonesia. It is known as puraka in Cook Islands, lak in Yap, babai in Kiribati, iaraj in the Marshall Islands, brak in Palau, babaʻ in the Marianas Islands, pula’a in Samoa, via kana, Pulaka in Lau, Lovo in Fiji, pulaka in Tokelau and Tuvalu, mwahng in Pohnpei, pasruk in Kosrae, simiden in Chuuk, swam taro in Papua New Guinea, navia in Vanuatu and palawan in the Philippines.
Lūʻau, Luʻau, Laulau, Lū, Rourou, Rukau, Fāfā, Hāhā, and Palusami are all related dishes found throughout Polynesia based on the use of taro leaves as a primary ingredient. While taro generally is known as a root vegetable for its starchy corms, the leaves are consumed as well. The base recipe is vegetarian. Most often, coconut milk was added, and later meat or seafood. The texture of the dish range from a thick soup to a dense cake.
Native Hawaiian cuisine refers to the traditional Hawaiian foods that predate contact with Europeans and immigration from East and Southeast Asia. The cuisine consisted of a mix of indigenous plants and animals as well as plants and animals introduced by Polynesian voyagers, who became the Native Hawaiians.
Ube halaya or halayang ube is a Philippine dessert made from boiled and mashed purple yam. Ube halaya is the main base in ube/purple yam flavored-pastries and ube ice cream. It can also be incorporated in other desserts such as halo-halo. It is also commonly anglicized as ube jam, or called by its original native name, nilupak na ube.
Nilupak is a class of traditional Filipino delicacies made from mashed or pounded starchy foods mixed with coconut milk and sugar. They are molded into various shapes and traditionally served on banana leaves with toppings of grated young coconut (buko), various nuts, cheese, butter, or margarine. It is also known as nilusak, linusak, niyubak, linupak, or lubi-lubi, among many other names, in the various languages of the Philippines. It is also known as minukmok in Quezon.
Burmese curry refers to a diverse array of dishes in Burmese cuisine that consist of protein or vegetables simmered or stewed in an aromatic curry base. Burmese curries generally differ from other Southeast Asian curries in that Burmese curries make use of dried spices in addition to fresh herbs and aromatics, and are often milder. Burmese curries are readily available in curry houses throughout the country. They are traditionally accompanied with rice and a variety of side dishes, soups, and Burmese salads called athoke. Burmese curries may also be paired with Indian breads like nanbya, palata, aloo puri, and toshay.
Kōʻelepālau, or pālau, is a Hawaiian pudding made primarily with cooked sweet potatoes mixed with coconut cream. It is similar to other Native Hawaiian puddings like kūlolo and piele.
