The Best Poi Ever!

I have never liked poi – at least, not until I tried real hand-made poi.  This is my story about how I finally had the BEST POI EVER!

I’m very willing to try new things…I grew up considering curried goat to be my favorite food. I’ve had all sorts of sushi. I’ve tried almost all of the options from the menu in Chinatown!....Well, ok, there are some things that are really hard for me to try…but I do know from experience that you NEVER know if you will like something unless you try it. So, I’m always willing to at least attempt to try new things….especially if I’m around others who say that they like it, or say that it’s “not bad”, or say that this is a “signature food” of some sort. So, when my wife and mother-in-law encouraged me to try poi for the very first time, I had to at least try it!

This took a little bit of encouraging because, unlike many other foods that I’ve tried, there had been a lot of negative impressions about the taste of poi from people that I know that have had it before….including some people from Hawaii!  I believe that the first time I tried poi may have been at my wife’s grandmother’s house in Kailua, where they made some Hawaiian food, including poi from the store.  I forget exactly how I had it (…probably by itself), but I do remember that I wasn’t impressed.  I may have had a second taste, but it clearly wasn’t going to grow on me.

I tried again at a festival on the mainland.  This time, I clearly remember my impression!  It tasted like a slightly salty sweat or saliva in a gooey purple blob!  “Oh…..yum! can I have some more of that salty saliva please?!” Yeah….I’m being a little sarcastic!  …but I can’t help it!  It was really disgusting to me!  …and I even tried it mixed with other things, like Kahlua pork….and I’ve heard that you have to add sugar to it for it to taste good.  I was thinking: “OK…if you have to mix it with something or put a bunch of sugar in it for it taste good, why should I bother?”  I even tried poi several other times when I went back to Hawaii, thinking that it must taste better when eaten where it was originated than when eaten anywhere else. I was right!  I didn’t have an instant gag reflex to hold back, like I did at that festival….but I certainly didn’t like it.  It was just too much like a tasteless goo!

Even with all of those bad experiences, I kept trying!  Am I a glutton for punishment?  Maybe.  However, I kept thinking of all those people that I know that really like poi, and I thought that I must be missing something.

My most recent trip back to Hawaii has completely changed my perception and opinion about this “tasteless goo”.  I had attended the Merrie Monarch Festival to meet with some potential suppliers and help to promote our new company.  We were set up in the Prince Kuhio Mall in Hilo, where we had the good fortune to be positioned next to some very nice people who sold some excellent koa products.  Later in the day, they put on a demonstration using one of their koa boards to make some homemade poi.  Naturally, they were giving out free samples of the poi that they made, and they ended up giving me one as well.  Well, of course I tried the poi, and I was fully prepared to “take it with a smile” and give my fake “not bad”, just so I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings, especially after they went to all that hard work.  (…and yes, it was tiring just watching them make this stuff!).  However, after I had put it in my mouth, I found myself saying “not bad”, but in a more meaningful and surprising way!

The taste of the poi was still not…flavorful!  However, I realized that it was more in the same way that potatoes aren’t really flavorful.  It’s meant to be accompanied by something....either to enhance the body of something else (like you might do in a soup or bangers and mash), or it is something that can be enhanced itself (like when you add butter, salt, chives, etc.).  In the case of poi, it really reminded me of a homemade mashed sweet potato salad (if you were to make such a thing), but without anything added to it, of course.  So, I could definitely see myself eating it with some kind of pork or fish instead of rice.  I could even see eating it sweetened with sugar, although I’m sure that this wouldn’t be my favorite way….but I won’t knock it until I try it!

So, here’s my new impression and outlook on this Hawaiian staple.  I think that industrialization has really done it a disservice.  After tasting the difference between handmade poi and the poi that you get in the store, I can tell what the problem is.  The poi that I had in the mall, made on the koa board, using a lava rock pestle, had a texture and a taste that was more like when I make my mashed potatoes or potato salad completely by hand at home (no electric equipment used).  It was still quite tasty, and I could definitely taste the potential.  The poi that they make from the machines just mash the taste and texture right out of the taro root so that all that you’re left with is a tasteless goo!   …On the other hand, I can fully see why advocates of poi will get the tasteless goo from the store.  Making the stuff by hand is a workout in itself!  In today’s modern world, not many people have the time or energy for that!  …and I don’t blame them!  Like I said earlier, it was tiring just watching  them make it. So, unfortunately, we may have a piece of Hawaii that is lost to the world, not because it isn’t any good or because it isn’t worthwhile for the world to embrace, but because industrialization and our modern busy world has literally beat what’s good out of this Hawaiian staple.  …but there is hope, because there are some that continue the traditional practices and make this staple by hand. (Mahalo to those of you that do!)

The next time that you’re in Hawaii, I truly encourage you to try poi, keeping my experiences in mind.  If you don’t like it….it’s probably not the poi’s fault! ….and if you have the chance to try poi made by hand, like I have, you definitely should try it!  It just may completely change your perceptions of poi forever.

Steve Lee
President