Ahi, Ahi Everywhere

Long before the poke bowl showed up in California and New York, people in Hawaii were eating scraps of fish tossed with limu (seaweed), crushed kukui nuts and sea salt. It’s available in your mom’s kitchen, at take-out food counters, grocery stores, gas stations, liquor stores, and at the mall food court. It is most certainly not considered fancy food. Today, there are myriad varieties of poke. Mostly made with ahi (yellowfin tuna), but also commonly made with tako (octopus), salmon, hamachi (yellowtail), and crab. The seasonings have been influenced by Japanese and Korean cuisines, so poke today often includes shoyu (soy sauce), sesame oil, onion, scallion, and chili pepper in addition to the traditional seaweed, kukui nuts and salt. It’s all delicious.

A couple months ago, I went to a newly opened poke bowl restaurant (with gluten and dairy free options!) in Tribeca with my friend and her daughter. Her daughter wanted to know how what we were eating was different from what we eat in Hawaii. I told her, “there is no kale involved with poke in Hawaii!”