Hawaiian poi (pounded taro paste)
Poi hawaiano (pasta de taro majado)
- Date
- c. century XIII · confidence low
- Place
- Hawaiʻi Island, Hawaii, United States
- Credited to
- Kānaka maoli (Native Hawaiian) people
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A paste made by pounding cooked taro with a stone pounder on a wooden board and adding water, which ferments and turns sour. It was the Hawaiian staple and an easy food for children and the elderly.
Poi is a Hawaiian-specific preparation; the date is inferred from the colonisation of the islands (between 1000 and 1200) and the development of taro fields.
What it led to
- pounded taro as Hawaii's main food energy, with hundreds of varieties
- light fermentation that improved keeping and digestibility
- the stone pounder (pōhaku kuʻi ʻai) as a cultural object