Hawaiian cuisine is blazing its way into kitchens across America with exciting flavors and ingredients, but the most famous Hawaiian dish is the one that is most misunderstood.

I'’’m Ed Kenney, and today we'’’ll trace the roots of my favorite dish, poi, and the ingredient taro to Kaua'’’i.

There are so many reasons why I became a chef.

Every dish has a story.

Food brings people together and has the power to conjure up cherished memories.

I was born and raised in the Hawaiian Islands, one of the most diverse communities in the world.

In this show, we'’’ll meet a guest from Hawai'’’i, learn about their favorite dish, trace it back to its origins, and have some fun along the way.

Man: ♪ Higher so we can chase the moon ♪ Announcer: Major funding for "Family In Kenney: Kaimuki is this little, suburban neighborhood, was developed in the 1930s.

Waialae Avenue was the main thoroughfare.

Now much of the traffic is diverted on the freeway, so the main strip is like the land that kind of time forgot.

I grew up in Hawai'’’i in town, um, can'’’t imagine living anywhere else.

I love Honolulu and Kaimuki in particular.

To me, I'’’m not in the heart of this city.

I'’’m in a neighborhood where I raise my kids.

There'’’s friends.

There'’’s family.

I'’’m within minutes from where I'’’ve learned to surf.

I cook to bring people together, so I knew immediately I wanted to be in a neighborhood.

I wanted to provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner and see the same people day in and day out.

This guy is one of Hawai'’’i'’’s most famous entertainers.

This gorgeous woman is a legendary hula dancer.

Put them together, and you get me.

After college, I sold all of my belongings and traveled the globe with my best friend.

Lasting memories were made sharing meals with perfect strangers.

During this time abroad, the light bulb went off, and I realized what I wanted to do with my life.

Cooking and feeding people became the way I communicated with the world.

It became my career, my politics, my values, and my inspiration.

Man: Last one, lots of emotion.

Kenney: I was raised by a single mom.

She raised my brother and myself.

Oh, right.

Ha ha!

Cheers.

Cheers.

Cheers.

No, so I think back.

You know, you always cooked growing up-- breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

I remember, like, friends would come spend the night, and you'’’d cook us breakfast before school, and they would be like, "You mom does this every day?"

I'’’d say, "Yep."

I didn'’’t know anything other than that, so, you know, there'’’s so many food memories that I have growing up, is that sticky chicken, fried rice you would make every weekend, silver-dollar banana pancakes you would make when we were little kids.

Yeah.

There were all these-- You know, here we are, trying to kind of take a look at family food memories and then trace them back to where they came from, but the one that I think has really made the--the biggest impact for me is--is poi, and maybe it'’’s because it'’’s the first solid food I ever ate.

The time that you start giving real food... You start with poi.

we started with poi, and you loved it.

Couldn'’’t get it fast enough.

Yep.

Oh, exactly.

People talk about the low-carb diets.

This doesn'’’t count.

Uh, this is exempt.

As a kid watching you, I have vivid memory of you hands going through this motion in the bowl.

Kenney: I just remember watching her hands, the way she would add water and mix the poi.

I really believe that the person that prepares your food gives a little bit of themselves in it... so it'’’s only fitting that, on this first episode, we go on a kalo adventure.

Poi was pretty much always on our table.

It even made it to our family table at Thanksgiving amongst the mashed potatoes and the stuffing.

The Hawaiians had it at the center of their table, and everything else was an accompaniment to it.

Traditionally, Hawaiians created poi by mashing steamed taro on a board.

That creates pa'’’i '’’ai.

By adding water, you make poi.

Poi is one of those dishes that most visitors that come to Hawai'’’i, it just doesn'’’t do it for them.

It'’’s been equated to wallpaper paste, bland, goopy, slimy, but at the same time, it was the staple of the Hawaiian table.

We'’’ll travel throughout O'’’ahu and learn more about the main ingredient in poi--kalo.

Our journey will then take us to my family on Kaua'’’i to get a better understanding of this favorite Hawaiian dish.

Hand-pounded taro has opened up our exposure to more heirloom varieties of kalo.

I figured we'’’d start this adventure at Papahana Kuaola.

Papahana Kuaola--which is the nonprofit, '’’aina-based cultural learning center that brings in youth and grows native plants-- had the opportunity to reconnect with a--a friend-- Ka'’’ua Neumann.

Part of our focus of growing kalo is maintaining native Hawaiian varieties of kalo, so we plant them in this mala and try and procreate more of the varieties that are rare.

All kalos can grow both in mala style, which is dry, and lo'’’i.

Kenney: That was the point when I realized how many different varieties they are, how many varieties were close to being lost.

Neumann: When I first started out with learning different varieties of kalo, everything looked green.

Yeah.

As you plant them and you get used to them, then you can start to tell the identifiers.

So this is a piko of your leaf, right?

Yeah, so the piko is the center of the leaf where the ha meets the leaf, and this mahae over here comes all the way down to the piko in most instances with the piko variety.

Kenny: If you break down the taro plant into its component parts, there'’’s the makua, which is the same word for parent.

Off that makua grow keiki, which are the children of the plant.

I'’’m willing to bet that these heirloom varieties are a lot more complex in flavor, richer, more satisfying.

After learning about the different varieties, I wanted to taste the differences.

Next, we had the opportunity to get together with my good friend Kealoha Domingo.

He is a caterer, and he is, in my opinion, probably one of the most knowledgeable practitioners of traditional food in Hawai'’’i.

Yeah.

I have, uh, 3 different kinds of taro.

What'’’s great about the Hawaiian varieties is that there'’’s so many, um, different colors, different-- different textures.

Kenney: No better place to start but then just actually have a side-by-side tasting of different types of kalo.

We had the opportunity of tasting ka'’’i kea, which was really kind of soft and starchy.

Had another kalo, entirely different shape.

The other ones were kind of round.

This one was kind of long.

It'’’s called mana laulao.

Lots of times, it'’’s grown for its leaf.

Oh, it'’’s totally different.

Kenney: This kalo was probably the most complex in flavor.

It was a little bit sweet.

It had this irony, kind of earthy flavor to it.

This one'’’s the moi.

Kenney: Moi, he explained to us, grows really well on this windward side of the island.

It'’’s super dense.

Last time I had it, the mana laulao was my favorite.

Right now, this moi is just, like-- I mean, it all depends on when it was harvested and, you know-- Yeah.

It'’’s not just the variety.

It'’’s not just the variety.

In Hawaiian, it'’’s called taro wa, Taro wa.

right?

Ha ha ha!

Taro--taro wa.

Ha ha ha!

There you-- I'’’ve been making this taro poke for a few years, and so traditionally made with raw fish.

Kenney: He proceeded from this cooked kalo to cube it and turn it into poke.

What he does is, he chops it up into nice, little cubes.

He added sesame oil.

He put 3 different kinds of limu in it.

When he added all 3 of these together, it really just brought in the spectrum of this ocean flavor.

He put ni oi, just two little, tiny Hawaiian chili pepper that packed a punch-- whoo, spicy-- green onion, Hanapepe salt, and just lomied it, massaged it.

It was delicious.

Mm!

I think I'’’m gonna-- I'’’m gonna double-dip.

Yeah.

Ha ha ha!

Kenney: We can'’’t talk about poi and kalo without visiting Daniel Anthony, good friend Daniel Anthony, who is known to be one of the most go-getter, firecracker, aggressive food activists of our age.

Daniel Anthony has really brought back the art of ku'’’i '’’ai, which is hand-pounding kalo into pa'’’i '’’ai and, in turn, poi.

One thing that my mom always taught me growing up is, you never go into someone'’’s home without food, so I grabbed a couple '’’opelu, which was little mackerel scad, fish oftentimes used for bait fish but small on the food chain, oily, really flavorful.

Anthony: OK. Well, I got a couple of different things for you.

I promised I would have something interesting.

Kenney: We got to try aged poi and pa'’’i '’’ai in 3 different ways.

The first one was a little, one-pound bundle of pa'’’i '’’ai.

So this one is particularly interesting.

I mailed this to Oregon, and the sender there, I guess, didn'’’t live there anymore, and it was sent back, and then I stuck it in my fridge for, like, about a month, so this is, like, at least 6 weeks old.

Speaking of food safety certified.

Well-- Ha ha ha!

Unwrapped it, just this aroma, seriously, of parmesan cheese.

It looked like some sort of fine, aged cheese you'’’d find in a cheese cave in--in Italy or--or France, so I proceeded to cut off the outside mold, and on the inside, it was just nice, kind of light brown piece of pa'’’i '’’ai.

Can I try this?

Yeah.

Please.

It'’’s actually almost bubbly.

Kenney: The second piece we had was a piece of aged pa'’’i '’’ai that wasn'’’t aged quite as long.

It was two weeks old.

It didn'’’t have any of the mold.

To me, it was actually more sour than the older pa'’’i '’’ai, but not as complex.

Jeez.

Kenney: He explained to us that that is the reason why pa'’’i '’’ai was one of the main staples of the Hawaiian people, because is was pretty much shelf-stable.

They could take it for long voyages at sea.

It would ferment, and it would develop flavors and sour, but it would not become unhealthful.

The third way we tried kalo was in the form of poi, and this is what really blew my mind.

Daniel'’’s had this '’’umeke, or bowl, of poi alive on his counter for 5 years.

He regarded it like a baker would regard his sourdough starter-- monitoring the acidity, balancing it out as he added fresh poi in every once in a while.

When he opened the lid, the smell that came out, everyone in the room, even the crew, was like, "Whoo!"

You could see the edges of it were just bubbling.

The middle of it, you could tell, was where he most recently added the fresh poi, and what he did is, he allowed me to taste the sour edge first.

Ho!

Kenney: It was lemon sour, it was that fermented.

It made you pucker up.

The middle, you could see it was still fresh.

I mean, it was slightly sour poi, but it was still fresh.

Oh... OK. Now wait.

Here'’’s the interesting thing, OK?

You take those two together.

Kenney: He mixed the two together, and it was a poi that I had never had before.

I could really picture it going incredibly well with, like, a fatty pork dish.

What we'’’ve had the luxury of doing in present day is taking these ancient food stuffs and applying heat, applying salt and pepper, turning them into actual culinary creations that taste delicious.

Our journey to learn about poi and kalo takes us to the beautiful island of Kaua'’’i.

Known as the Garden Isle, Kaua'’’i is located 105 miles northwest of O'’’ahu.

It'’’s a great opportunity for my kids to visit their grandfather.

Kristen: Whoo!

Kenney: There is something about Kaua'’’i that was just tugging me back.

I spent a lot of time there as a child.

My family roots are on Kaua'’’i and spent summers in Hanalei growing up, and, obviously, taro seems to be the bread basket, or the taro basket, of Hawai'’’i.

You gazed down from the lookout above Hanalei Valley, there'’’s taro lo'’’i as far as the eye can see.

It'’’s always great to return to the culinary school.

We frequently travel from island to island and give little workshops, either whole hog or farm to table.

Great to come back to Kaua'’’i Community College, Mark Oyama, well-known and respected chef in the community.

We asked him if there was someone that he could recommend, a student within his class that is really, really smart, or akamai, about taro, and he instantly came up with a quite large, young boy-- Ryan Taniguchi.

Come to find out his family goes way back on this island.

They were cattle ranchers.

They'’’ve been farming fruits and vegetables forever.

Tanigushi: Every time I have some taro, this is usually what I do with it.

Right.

Put me to work, boss.

Kenney: I was really excited to spend some time with a student because usually, I'’’m the one that'’’s teaching them.

He had it down.

He made two incredible dishes for us using taro.

First was a taro hummus.

The hummus was so simple.

He put steamed taro, some garlic, tahini, lemon juice, some olive oil, and the secret ingredient was ni oi, and it gave it just the right amount of heat.

How do you differentiate taro hummus, or poi hummus, from poi?

Because you know you just grind it up, it'’’s just basically gonna turn into poi, right?

This is, uh, just a little bit of a rougher-- I don'’’t know.

It'’’s a little bit more coarse.

Poi is real smooth.

Yeah, yeah.

Kenney: It was delicious.

You wouldn'’’t even know it was taro.

Ooh, yeah.

Ha ha ha!

Kenney: The second dish he made was a taro chocolate chiffon pie.

So what'’’s the recipe, another pound of taro?

Yeah, another pound or so of taro.

We have our creme de cacao.

We have our melted chocolate and cream, just Tahitian vanilla, and that'’’s how you want it.

You want--you want the little lumps in there of--of taro.

That'’’s how you know it'’’s taro.

If not--ha ha!-- if not for those, you wouldn'’’t even know it'’’s taro.

It'’’s like pudding.

That'’’s so ono.

Ha ha!

Mm, it is good.

I didn'’’t see you ad any sugar, right?

No sugar.

No sugar.

That'’’s just chocolate and taro.

Oh, yeah.

That'’’s perfect.

Kenney: Most of the time when we use taro or kalo in a dish, we think of it as a starch just like it is, a--a tuber that grows underground like, say, potato.

We'’’ll oftentimes take a regular dish that usually has potato, and we'’’ll just sub in taro.

This kid took two dishes and substituted what normally isn'’’t a starch, so it was really, really creative and delicious use of kalo.

Waipa--which is a nonprofit, 1,200-acre ahupau'’’a that was currently under, uh, management of a group called the Waipa Foundation-- is run by a good friend of mine--Stacy Sproat.

It'’’s about an hour drive to Hanalei.

Went through Kapaa, Kilauea, finally made it to Hanalei, and I remember driving down and pointing and said, "See that house right there?

I used to spend time in that house growing up as a kid," and as I looked closer, there was a big banner sign on the front that said, "Waipa," so we passed it, made a U-turn, came back, walked into that house, and all these memories came flooding back.

I used to come to this house in the summers with my dad, stay with a couple that I knew as, um, Uncle Kaipo and Auntie Lina.

Turns out, Auntie Lina is actually my grandmother'’’s sister.

I went into one room off the main living room which was now a library, but it still smelled the same.

Mwah!

Beautiful morning.

Welcome to Waipa, finally.

Jeez, I know.

It'’’s been-- it'’’s been too long.

We have an entire watershed, and in the early Eighties, was gonna be developed into a resort community, and so the Hawaiian community and family came out and petitioned to save this space for the practice and perpetuation of Hawaiian culture, values, language, traditions, practices, food.

Kenney: We were there specifically on a Thursday because on Thursdays, Waipa hosts their community poi day.

Sproat-Beck: And right now, we'’’re doing about 24 80-pound bags of kalo, um-- Every--every Thursday.

every Thursday, so we'’’re producing about 1,200 pounds today of poi that gets distributed out to homes, directly to families, basically.

The process of turning kalo into poi really is a community activity, and there'’’s really no quick way to do it.

People are given designated jobs, so the first job I had was to help with emptying the 55-gallon drums of kalo.

After that, they were rinsed and moved over to the peelers.

They'’’ve got it down to kind of an assembly-line process, so if you'’’re a peeler, all you'’’re doing is peeling, and that'’’s where I sat down next to Pastor Bob, and we just sat there, talked story while we peeled kalo.

The next phase was where you actually scrape the taro corm, and you take out all the rotten or the overripe portions that don'’’t make for good poi, and then at that point, it'’’s ready to go through the poi mill.

The poi mill is actually a meat grinder.

It'’’s got two separate sets of dies.

the first one comes out like a--a rough, still-textured poi.

It goes straight from that into another hopper that drains into the second set of dies, which is much a finer, and then at that point, it comes out poi.

From there, it goes to the bagging phase, and this was really cool because there were two young girls that were digging into the big vat of poi, squeezing them into these bags, and almost every time, they know if they'’’re going for a one-pound, two-pound, or 5-pound bag.

They hit it almost on the nose.

Those bags slide down this table.

You twist it up, and you do this quick, little flipty-do, and it makes these bags.

Fresh out of the machine.

Mm!

Mm, that is so good.

When I was scraping, I was paired up with Auntie Honey Girl Ho'’’omanawanui.

She was welcoming, teaching, warm, and I think it didn'’’t hurt that she knew my dad.

They used to perform together, it turns out, at Tahiti Nui, which is a restaurant and bar in Hanalei.

They would play music, kanikapila together, and, because of that, um, she really opened up to me.

Auntie Honey Girl reminded me of an '’’olelo no'’’eau, basically says, "When your hands are turned to the soil, "you will be full.

When your hands are turned up, you will be hungry."

We'’’re there.

We'’’re making poi, but the conversations that happened in between all of it are really what I take away from it as being impactful.

As a kid, I spent lots of time on Kaua'’’i.

It was long weekends, vacation, spring break, summer, so it was really, really important to me to be able to share those experiences with my kids.

We also got to work in the lo'’’i, harvest kalo, trim the kalo, and then plant huli, which is the top.

The lo'’’i itself is this little ecosystem of life, and it'’’s providing food for ourselves, but it'’’s also providing food for other species and an environment to thrive.

You know, this series was based on what I do daily as a chef, and that'’’s telling stories through food, namely telling other people'’’s stories through food, and I never realized that it would have this sort of impact on me.

It started out as kind of a culinary adventure, you know, to reflect on this dish that I ate at home with my family.

One thing that I never realized I would actually come across was this more of a-- a spiritual, cultural connection to kalo and poi.

I'’’m a mutt.

I'’’m a multiethnic poi dog-- Irish, Swedish, Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino.

In many ways, I--I think I suffer what many American kids suffer, is that you'’’ve been raised in an American culture, and you'’’ve kind of lost touch with who you are, where your family and people came from.

A food memory is an emotional experience that you have in your life.

It is the smell of the barbecue.

It is the Sunday dinners and holiday gatherings with your family.

It is the memories conjured by a simple bowl of poi that helped shape my life.

Looking back on this journey, it wasn'’’t just about the revelatory 40-day-aged pa'’’i '’’ai or kalo hummus.

What I will never forget are the lessons learned and stories told.

It is these new memories that were created as we shared this humble dish, so as I look back, I now look forward.

Um...

I don'’’t have to fake it, it'’’s so good.

Kenney: Every dish has a story, and every family has a dish.

Join us this season on "Family Ingredients" as I travel with friends to trace their favorite dishes back to their origins.

1, 2, 3.

1, 2, 3.

That'’’s scientific.

I did it!

Man: ♪ Going down, down, down ♪ ♪ But I want to go harder ♪ ♪ Harder so we can chase the sun ♪ ♪ Higher, higher ♪ ♪ So we can chase the moon ♪