Coaching Cooking

There are many things to love about Hawaii. It is beautiful in a way that is almost indescribable. The people are so friendly and I feel almost at home. As an Chinese-American, Hawaii feels like a second home (and a place where I don’t automatically feel like a minority). But I digress…the air in Hawaii often smells like fragrant flowers and then there’s the food: there are culinary delights around nearly every corner from ahi poke to the best shaved ice (here’s an aerial pic) ever to fresh seafood and juicy fresh fruit.

On the Big Island, one of my favorite treats is the local Korean barbeque joint called Kal-Bi’s. The island lunch plate at this restaurant (and many others) includes a scoop of steamed, white rice along with barbeque steak, sesame oil-slicked greens, and saimin noodles with shredded carrot and green onion.

One island treat that I have not yet sampled on the Big Island is the spam musubi. Spam is a big seller in Hawaii. It’s history is long and, like many other treats, disputed in terms of whether it is sushi or a Japanese snack unrelated to sushi. My first spam musubi actually occurred in California, but I’m hoping Hawaiians will forgive me the transgression. It was so delicious that I wished I had ordered another. We were dining at Lukoki in Mountain View and the spam musubi was made to order. It arrived with the rice still warm and the salty slices of spam complemented the nori (seaweed strips) and rice to make a lasting impression on me.

I found this great history of the spam musubi in addition to recipes and a history of spam right here.
I know it might be hard to get used to the idea (or the reality) of eating Spam. Trust me, spam musubi is the perfect combination of salty meat (it’s better if you don’t think about exactly WHAT type of meat…) plus soft, white rice and nori. Once you get past that, spam musubi is the really the ideal combination of sweet, salty and soft (plus the alliteration make s it so much catchier, non?).

Since I am an undisputed Bay Area girl, here are a few places where a local foodie who hungers for a taste of the spam musubi can feed their curiosity:

Lukoki: a great lunch or dinner place located in Mountain View
Hukilau: This restaurant, located in downtown Palo Alto, has a great selection of tropical drinks in addition to excellent spam musubi and generous platters of Hawaiian fare.