Category Archives: Food

Our Thanksgiving turned out fine

3 Replies

No turkey here.

In it’s place, a pair of Cornish game hens from our local Times Supermarket, thawed, butterflied, marinated in fresh lemon from a tree in our front yard, olive oil, garlic, dried rosemary, salt and pepper. When the grill was hot, two red potatoes went on first, rubbed with olive oil and salt, along with two beautiful apple bananas from the yard of friends in Kaaawa. The bananas were in foil, the potatoes on baking rods for uniform cooking. Then the game hens went on the grill for about 25 minutes.

The result was a feast, although we split one of the game hens and have the other for a second meal. Butter available for the potato and banana, canned cranberry sauce, leftover stuffing from an earlier night, along with leftover wine that proved to be insufficient and another bottle was required.

No extra charge for the cat. That’s Ms. Kiko, hoping for a feline friendly Thanksgiving.

Foods in 19th Century Hawaii: Waialua, Oahu, July 1832

3 Replies

Here is another interesting excerpt, this from “Pioneer Days in Hawaii,” by Oliver Pomeroy Emerson (1928).

It is an account drawn from the journals kept by Emerson’s parents.

This post is from notes typed by my mother back around 1968-69 to assist the nutrition research of Carey D. Miller, who had retired from the University of Hawaii a decade before. The book is now considered in the public domain, and the link above is to a version available for free reading.

Emerson’s parent arrived in Honolulu as missionaries on May, 1832, and soon moved to Waialua, on Oahu’s North Shore.

I apologize in advance for my mother’s typos as she copied this section.

Hint: Click on the image to read a larger version.

Food for thought

Leave a reply

And as they say, “Now for something completely different.”

My mother attended the University of Hawaii from 1931-1935. She studied with Professor Carey D. Miller in the Home Economics program, and the two became lifelong friends. After Miller’s retirement in 1958, she continued her interest in the history of food and nutrition in Hawaii.

My mother, Helen Yonge Lind, began working at the Hawaiian Historical Society library in the late 1960s, and assisted Miller’s research by transcribing sections of journals and books in the library that dealt with food and nutrition.

In the letter below, Miller asked for help from Lela Goodell, librarian for the Hawaii Mission Children’s Society for three decades.

I’ll start posting bits and pieces lifted from my mom’s notes, which provide some fascinating glipses into 19th century life in Hawaii.

Hopefully I’ll be able to share these once or twice a week, at least until I exhaust this stash of historical materials.

Memo to Lela Goodell, Hawai… by Ian Lind