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History Chinese American in Hawai‘i Judith M. Kirkendall

Judith M. Kirkendall, “Eating History: Chinese American Gas- fied hundreds of items within a system that includes the tronomy in Hawai‘i,” Chinese America: History & Perspec- five elements (wood, , earth, metal, ), the five organs tives – The Journal of the Chinese Historical Society of Amer- (gallbladder, small intestines, stomach, large intestines, blad- ica (San Francisco: Chinese Historical Society of America with der), the five viscera (, heart, spleen, lungs, kidneys), the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, 2010), pages 123–132. five emotions (anger, happiness, contemplation, worry, fear), the five seasons (spring, summer, long summer, autumn, raditional gastronomic behavior within a particular winter), and the five (sour, bitter, sweet, spicy hot, is subject to changes that can be internally or salty).1 Concepts of traditional Chinese medicine still per- Texternally generated. Some cultural groups lose major meate the food behavior of modern Chinese, whether with portions of their food customs through such changes, while regard to seeking medical treatment or to composing an other exhibit behaviors that resist change. Chinese appropriate for a feast. ethnogastronomy seems to prevail as a tradition wherever In addition to balancing with complementary and Chinese people live. Such has been the case in Hawai‘i. contrasting tastes, textures, and health-giving (or maintain- Evidence of archeological finds from recently excavated ing) properties, concern is shown for including seasonal or Han tombs reveals valuable details of ancient Chinese food regional specialties, exotic or expensive ingredients, and an customs. Murals of activities depict workers—men appropriate number of courses. in the majority—preparing , pounding and mashing, Perhaps no other in world history has encom- drawing water. Paintings of provide clues as to early passed the variety of ingredients; attained the degree of etiquette and information about food preparation, order of inventiveness; exhibited the breadth of interrelationship with service, table arrangement, and the service of and , other cultural practices, such as social organization, medical among many other behaviors associated with the prepara- theory, and religious observance; or been as integrally a part tion and consumption of foods. This visual information com- of the ethos of the culture as has the Chinese. Preoccupation bined with early Chinese literary references lends emphasis with food and eating is central to Chinese culture. to the persistence of Chinese gastronomic traditions. In a country as large as , the staple foods of the Preeminent among such traditions is the Chinese atti- numerous subcultures vary, yet the preferred food combina- tude toward food as the basis of promoting bodily health. tion, as evidenced by remains of foodstuffs in sites identified Harmony in the physical body relates to harmony in society as dating from the fourth or fifth millennium BCE, as and the universe and is based upon goals of stability and bal- as by contemporary food behavior, is a combination of car- ance. Just as principles of yin and yang must be balanced in bohydrate plus a of and/or . This every other aspect of life, so must they be balanced in typical fan/ts’ai combination is consistently evident in the the food one consumes. In folklore and in classical Chinese broad range of regional Chinese food, with distinctiveness medicine, “hot” (yang) and “cold” (yin) foods are important expressed through an emphasis on a particular ingredient or in the maintenance of good health as well as in the treatment the use of special flavoring agents. of ill health. Intersecting the hot/cold dichotomy is “dry” and Due to differing geographic and climatic conditions and “wet.” In the humoral concept of medicine, hot/wet diseases to the particular crops that will thrive in a given location, would be treated with the appropriate “balancing” foods. is generally divided into two broad areas, According to Lin Yutang, “The whole culinary of China northern and southern. The northern dishes are heavier and depends upon the art of mixture.” oilier and are based upon or other grains, while the Chia Ming, a fourteenth-century scholar, provided a liter- southern -based include a large variety of meat, ary explanation of the interrelationships of the elements con- fish, and dishes available due to the gentle climate. sidered vital for the maintenance of good health. With the A recent publication listing the famous culinary creations Chinese cultural predilection for the number five, he classi- (ts’ai) of modern China includes 614 entries, with the great

123 124 Judith M. Kirkendall

majority of these from southern China and only 15 percent tioned ingredients being matched to the size and shape of identified with the north.2 the serving container and to the use of chopsticks. Squid, Clearly, much of the variety evident in every aspect of the for example, is not merely cut into pieces for but is Chinese food tradition is linked with the adaptability inherent decoratively scored so that the process of produces in the culture itself. Viewed from a historical perspective, Chi- a “flowering” into delicate designs that please the eye. nese culture embodies traditions of many subgroups within a Color and texture are created by the , while large population dispersed over a broad geographic area. enhancement may frequently be left to the . Generally, The ability to adjust and adapt to the exigencies of cli- composed dishes are preseasoned; however, for certain foods, mate, population size, social upheaval, invasion, and poverty such as or dry-cooked meats or seafoods, the diner as the circumstances of history have demanded has left its will mix an individual seasoning dip to his or her own taste. indelible mark on Chinese cuisine. That food adaptability Food color, texture, and temperature are important. Hot still plays a very special role in contemporary Chinese life foods are expected to be served very hot. Frequently they are is illustrated in a 1981 epidemiological study conducted still or sizzling when served, characteristics thought in Nanjing. Among all mental health problems observed in to add to their gustatory appeal. children, the “partiality for a particular food” was the most In Chinese culture, there is much dining outside the commonly noted. Clearly, adaptability and acceptance with home. Even the humblest person, not able to pay for a res- regard to food are considered to be healthy attributes in a taurant , can buy inexpensive snacks, , modern Chinese child’s mental attitude.3 , and from street vendors, who supply bowl, In modern times there has been a general tendency to chopsticks, even a portable table and bench for the customer. classify the regional foods of China into distinctive “cui- Wherever Chinese have immigrated, the street hawker, often sines.” While these groupings are distinguishable by reliance with a characteristic call, bell, or wooden block advertising on certain staples or by the use of particular flavoring agents, his specialty, has become a familiar sight. the characteristic local dishes are more alike than different, Chinese dining is modeled on the customs of combining the bland fan with mixed-ingredient ts’ai. the imperial court, with the multicourse the ultimate Szechwan-Hunan food utilizes the pungent flavors of expression of festivity and hospitality. The drinking of spir- peppers, chilies, and , while Cantonese food, which its has always been a part of celebratory feasting, although until recently was the product of most American Chinese res- drinking to the point of drunkenness, except on clearly taurants, is characterized by sweet/sour flavor combinations, defined occasions, is not socially acceptable in Chinese cul- fermented and salted black , red-roasted , ture. Tea is commonly drunk while contracting business, varieties of foods, and dishes utilizing seafood, fresh, socializing, or settling disputes, and tea is automatically salted, or dried. The Fukien regional style features a large served in Chinese . Customary etiquette dictates number of soups, congees, and , with a Fukienese spe- the placement and usage of , with chopsticks and cialty being the use of coagulated blood from and chick- the flat-bowled spoon accommodating all varieties of precut ens stir-fried with and other ingredients. Mandarin, foods and soups. Shantung, and Yunnan are among a host of other local cui- Young children are taught proper behavior at the dining sines of China, each with distinguishing culinary treatments. table and learn to discriminate among different flavors and Cooking methods, like flavor preferences, may vary in foods. It is unusual in a restaurant to see a small infant seated different geographical areas. For example, over open on a parent’s lap being tempted with small bites from every flames is common in western China. However, a number dish. As a result of early and continuing inculcation in appro- of traditional cooking techniques are generally employed priate gastronomic behavior and appreciation, the Chinese among all Chinese groups. Cooking with water and cooking adult is generally highly perceptive with regard to food qual- with are basic treatments, with quick , poach- ity. Both men and women pride themselves on their knowl- ing, and stir-, all conserving of limited , common edge about food and foodlore. throughout Chinese subcultures. The steaming of meats, Among the Chinese, eating is a social occasion. The shar- , and vegetables over a rapidly is a single ing of rice, even though it may be eaten at different times operation that can produce two or more dishes. Chinese culi- by family members with varying schedules, is a communal nary technique is further characterized by the use of serial act. Food is enjoyed not only for its taste, appearance, rarity, cooking, an extended process involving several subsidiary cost, and complexity, but for the fact that its consumption processes. Other flavoring and texturing treatments call for can be discussed, evaluated, criticized, and enjoyed for its drying, , or curing in a special medium prior to expo- social meanings. sure to heat. As the formality of the meal increases, ritual behav- Chinese food is formally served in courses with a single iors increasingly come into prominence. The description dish occupying its own service plate. Great attention is given of an actual imperial , related in historical analects, to the presentation of foods, with sliced, chopped, or appor- reflected in culinary terms the formal structure of govern- Eating History 125 ment through an elaborate cataloguing of what foods were their own number to be the cook. He would prepare , served to what ranks. Similarly, the eight- or nine- then bring a hot dinner and tea to the fields, and was compen- meal served in a modern Chinese restaurant carries cul- sated in equal share by the other workers in the group. tural coding, equivalent messages relating to the host’s social Many of the workers immediately began the cultivation standing, the lavishness of his hospitality, his acknowledge- of small gardens where they could grow familiar vegetables; ment of the gastronomic acumen of his guests, and the ele- they also raised , ducks, and pigs. Captain John gance of his taste. Cass, who had brought the first group of Chinese laborers to Hawai‘i in 1852, also carried to the Islands plants from southern China and so introduced the mandarin , THE CHINESE IN HAWAI‘I kumquat, lichee, longan, pomelo, and other types of citrus , which soon grew on every island.8 In 1789 an American vessel with forty-five Chinese crewmen As succeeding groups of laborers arrived on the planta- stopped in Hawai‘i, and it is likely that some of these sailors tions, some men opened small shops that sold incense, stayed on after the ship’s departure. Subsequently, with the , and other imported Chinese items as well as fresh increased fur trade between China and Hawai‘i, numerous foodstuffs. The retail variety store very soon became identi- Chinese lived and worked in the harbor areas, with several fied with the Chinese, and such an establishment was to be 4 specializing in the service of food to the ships’ officers. found in the smallest plantation camp or town. These family An 1841 traveler to Honolulu noted that “a has businesses served many needs, as a storekeeper’s newspaper been established here by men from Canton, where , advertisement of 1897 indicates: cakes and pies are manufactured in every variety and of excel- lent quality.” A sign hung over the door of this establishment: Awana Dry Goods, Groceries, Hats, Good people all come and buy General Merchandise Of Sam and Mow good cake and pie Bread hard and soft, for land or sea Pork Meats Mutton 5 Celestial made; come buy of we. Poultry With the development of the commercial production of Island Produce , many Chinese in Hawai‘i took up jobs milling the cane, Blacksmith Shop and as sugar production burgeoned, the decision was made to Best Horse Shoeing in Maui Restaurants—Excellent Meals import contract workers. A work force of 293 laborers recruited Served on Short Notice9 from Amoy in southern China arrived in 1852, the first of many such groups to arrive until 1898, when U.S. exclusion With of fresh fish and garden produce slung from laws drastically restricted further Chinese . poles carried on their shoulders, many Chinese began inde- The laborers’ contracts brought them in steerage to Hawai‘i, pendent businesses. The peddler dispensing rice cakes and and conditions on board were difficult. A young immigrant dumplings from his peripatetic shop became a familiar sight. girl recalls in her memoirs that two meals a day were pro- Members of the Chun Hoon family, now owners of a major vided, with “cheap meat and for every meal.”6 corporate organization in Hawai‘i, recall that their fortune The president of the Royal Hawaiian Agricultural Soci- was founded by such a small businessman. Chun Hoon left ety noted in his annual address of 1852 that “the cost of the plantation in 1890 after fulfilling his three-year contract importing coolies is $50 per man, and it has been estimated and began calling from door to door in the neighborhood, by those who employ them, that their wages and support selling the wares he carried in baskets he swung from the amount to a under $7 per month. They are great eaters ends of a bamboo pole. but their food, chiefly composed of rice and a little meat is of By 1845 three Chinese-run stores had been established in the cheapest kind, and to make them profitable, they should Honolulu. In an 1847 register of 315 foreigners in Honolulu, never be stinted in their allowance.”7 five of the eight Chinese listed were proprietors of stores. Soon after the first group of Chinese immigrants arrived Seven years later, Chinese held seventy-three commercial in the plantation camps, they expressed major problems with licenses. By 1896 Chinese operated 118 general merchandise the food being provided for them. While Hawaiian laborers stores and 35 retail groceries in Honolulu.10 Seventy-two of had been content with a familiar diet of taro, sweet potatoes, these businesses were located in the Chinatown area. pork, and fish, this food was not accepted by the Chinese, These stores carried foods necessary to the everyday diet who demanded their own staple of rice. of the Chinese community, including fresh produce such Plantation managers realized that if they expected the Chi- as cabbage, yams, bean curd, bamboo shoots, pork, duck, nese laborers to work without complaint, their food prefer- chickens, and eggs. There were items imported from China: ences must be accommodated. Thus, rice was issued as an canned and salted fish, dried pork, noodles, dried oys- additional ration. In each camp the Chinese elected one of ters, and . In addition, the Chinese merchants 126 Judith M. Kirkendall

stocked items for banquets and feasts that were too expen- herself. She made this adjustment by changing what she sive for everyday consumption. Among these special foods had to change and retaining what she could not or would were dried duck, rice sparrows, sharks’ fin, birds’ nests, not change. The process was very much like that of learn- bêche-de-mer, sea moss, cuttlefish, , fish bladder, ing another language. To live in an unfamiliar environment, and . Incense and candles were always available she needed to adjust certain cognitive processes. She learned for religious practices, as were rice bowls, Chinese spoons, to substitute “wahine” for “woman,” taro for white potatoes chopsticks, teacups, and teapots.11 or rice, and and forks or chopsticks for fingers, as The production of rice came to be almost exclusively the occasion required. Only when there was a large enough managed by Chinese. There was a large and growing demand community of women in any one in a location for rice from Chinese populations both in Hawai‘i and on the where they could communicate with one another, thus rein- West Coast of the , and the migrants from Chi- forcing their behavior, was there a discern- na’s southern river deltas found their skills readily adaptable ible effort to revive and observe the full tradition of the par- to Hawai‘i’s climate and marshlands. Many different variet- ticular cuisine. ies of rice were brought from China and planted in Ethnogastronomic behavior constitutes complex cultural Hawai‘i, and the practicability of using artesian well water for habits that are adhered to for as long as possible because rice field resulted in additional land being devoted they are within the absolute control of the individual, who to rice cultivation. chooses what he puts into his or her mouth. Food consump- The rice was the most lucrative one for Chinese tion is a required daily activity, and as anthropologists have entrepreneurs, and by 1900 nearly six thousand workers noted, “the more generalized values are, the more persistent were engaged in the production of the grain, thus ensuring they seem to be.”13 that this would be available in abundance for all Still, absolute dietary uniformity among individuals of the Asian workers.12 Many rice farmers were successful in other same cultural group is an impossibility. Individual variation endeavors as well and expanded their operations to include and intragroup differences occur even within a single family, the milling, transportation, and wholesaling of rice, or and so ethnogastronomical change in Hawai‘i proceeded on engaged in trade. the basis of food choices made by individuals with regard to After European contact there was significant gender ecological, psychological, and metaphysical considerations. imbalance in the population, with a growing number of To the degree possible, all those brought together in inter- European and later Chinese males and a relatively decreasing cultural contact will attempt to continue the particular food number of ethnically pure Hawaiian females. Between 1895 behavior most familiar to them, yet the nutritional needs of and 1897, nine-tenths of the Chinese laborers were under the body must be met with what the circumstances dictate. thirty-five years of age, and there were frequent opportuni- It is at this initial contact stage that organoleptic and psycho- ties for the Chinese and the Hawaiian female workers in the logical factors are strongest, with even satiety being relative camps to associate. The result was a growing community of to the of the food consumed. half-Hawaiian/half-Chinese individuals who shared aspects Immigrants do not adopt new dietary habits wholeheart- of both heritages. edly in the early stage of their contact with the host culture. The importance of Hawaiian women in affecting social Like the initial Chinese in Hawai‘i who demanded rice, they change in Hawai‘i has been noted by historians, and their will try to obtain the staple foods that hold the deepest psy- role has been particularly relevant to developments in food chological and sensory meanings for them. behavior. As families composed of a Hawaiian mother, a non- Subsequent to the effort to maintain familiar habits, the Hawaiian father, and children of mixed heritage began to be second stage of ethnogastronomic acculturation develops as established in greater numbers, it was the influence of the the individual is able to substitute new behaviors for tradi- mother that shaped the earliest food habits of the children. tional ones. The arrival of the initial group of Chinese labor- The existence of numerous family groups whose Hawaiian ers in Hawai‘i immediately created the dynamic of three mothers trained their children in customary Hawaiian food- staple in the Islands—those based on taro (Hawai- ways would seem to account, in part, for the persistence of ian), wheat (Euro-American), and rice (Chinese)—a unique aspects of Hawaiian gastronomic behavior in modern Hawai‘i mix that was to continue through the years to the present in the face of the accelerated weakening of virtually all other day. It was after the arrival of Chinese laborers that testings, aspects of the native culture. exchanges, and adoptions began to be characteristic of the As the carriers of the great body of ethnogastronomic cul- behavior of the general population in Hawai‘i. As the com- ture, women have borne the burden of change. From her first plexity of the society increased with the arrival of additional day in Hawai‘i, each immigrant woman, whether from Con- ethnic groups, the possibilities for the individual to expand necticut, Canton, or Saigon, had to make the gastronomic his or her own experience were increased. adjustment between her own cultural habits regarding food The work camps clustered around the plantation mills and the exigencies of the new situation in which she found had been originally established on ethnic grounds and to a Eating History 127 degree encouraged exclusivity and separation. Yet it is clear and eating places and through friends who had grown up in from participants’ recollections that there was interaction Hawai‘i. Residents of Hawai‘i enlisted in the ranks and per- among the camps’ residents, sparked by such activities as formed military service all over the world, and many of them trading at the camp stores, bartering for fresh produce, seek- were assigned to food service duties. Several favorite foods ing home remedies at times of illness or accident, and, most popular today among the local population, such as Spam, significantly from the point of view of ethnogastronomy, par- canned Vienna , and macaroni , had their origin ticipating in the various ethnic festivities and celebrations. in the military hall. Finally, advertising was a significant This kind of sharing among workers of different ethnic factor in strengthening and broadening Hawai‘i’s exposure to heritages was one aspect of exposure to new foods. A second Western foodways after World War II. major avenue for learning about unfamiliar foods was shop- In 1985, in an effort to describe the contemporary food ping at plantation stores. Through experimentation, workers habits of residents of Hawai‘i, I conducted a study that sur- and their families expanded their everyday diets to include veyed the food behavior of 168 individuals.14 The respondent canned goods of various sorts. Fish and fruits were quickly group has since been expanded to 589, with similar results. adopted because they were tasty and convenient as well as Adapted from a research developed by the Society for affordable. was another food innovation that was the North American Cultural Survey, Oklahoma State Univer- accepted, as were bread, , , and crackers. sity, Stillwater, Oklahoma, the “Foodways Questionnaire” that A third factor that served to introduce new foods and I used is a self-administered instrument containing 168 items food behavior to the people of Hawai‘i was the very strong dealing with food, as well as attitudes and practices relevant to influence of . A steadily increasing number total food behavior. The questions were presented in simple of persons from the mainland United States making their language, with nearly half requiring either a yes/no response homes in the Islands meant that Hawai‘i residents of all social or the selection of an item or items from a provided list. classes had increased exposure to Western foodways. The sample population can be characterized as a diverse This exposure followed many avenues, with the first being group of adult individuals of essentially middle-class back- the public school system, established in 1840, which made ground, representative of the major ethnic groups that con- attendance compulsory until the age of fourteen. Native stitute the general population of Hawai‘i. All respondents Hawaiians and part Hawaiians made up 92 percent of the either had been born in Hawai‘i or had been resident in student body of the public schools by 1880, and soon after, the Islands for some time. To encourage frank responses, Chinese, Japanese, and Portuguese students began to attend no name or other individual identifying information was public and private schools. There were few schools serving requested. However, information was sought on several char- the plantation work camps, but those camp children who did acteristics relevant to food behavior: ethnic classification, attend the public schools encountered foods they had never gender, and age. seen before. Nearly ninety-two completed questionnaires were A review of produced in Hawai‘i reveals the received from respondents who designated themselves as gradual generalized acceptance of foods prepared in the Chinese, with nearly equivalent numbers received from each manner of different ethnic groups. As might be expected, the of the six other ethnic groups studied: Hawaiian, Caucasian, earliest cookbooks in Hawai‘i were those written by Western- Japanese, Filipino, Indochinese, and Samoan. Many people ers. Among these was the Hawaiian Cook Book, compiled by in Hawai‘i pride themselves on multiple ethnic heritages. the Ladies Society of Central Union Church in 1882, which However, in this survey, individuals tended to identify with consisted almost entirely of from Euro-American a single ethnic background, although space was provided for backgrounds. The tendency to focus upon Euro-American additional or secondary self-designation. Only 27 of 589 per- recipes is evident in Hawai‘i-produced cookbooks until sons gave a multiple designation, i.e., “Chinese Hawaiian,” after World War II, and although some “Hawaiian” recipes an observation that may well relate to the deep psychological appeared, they were adapted to Western cooking styles. Chi- identification that individuals have regarding their own food nese and later Japanese preparations were the first Asian ones habits. These twenty-seven questionnaires were not utilized to be included in cookbooks in Hawai‘i and seem to have for the purposes of this study. been introduced through individuals on the domestic staffs Sex designation is a significant factor in this study in Euro-American homes. because so much food behavior as it relates to tradition is The advent of the Second World War brought additional the responsibility of women in the cultures surveyed. They exposure to mainland American foodways. The presence of are the major sources of information on preparation of food, hundreds of servicemen living in and passing through the etiquette, and ceremonial usage, and they occupy the pre- Islands was the catalyst for markets to foods that would eminent place in the training of infants. Indeed, many male be attractive and familiar to them, and thus many residents respondents were generally unobservant of details of food learned to try different foods. Conversely , the American mil- behavior in their own homes and were therefore not particu- itary was exposed to Asian and Hawaiian foods in local shops larly informative for the purposes of this study. Chinese men, 128 Judith M. Kirkendall

however, were notably more responsive to the questionnaire, family, many Chinese and members of other ethnic groups in both in the type of information given and in the amount of Hawai‘i celebrate the New Year of the Gregorian calendar and detail provided. This observation is significant and relates to the Chinese New Year as well. general attitudes toward food in Chinese culture. On New Year’s morning, in a typical Chinese home an Respondents were asked to indicate their age within the offering of cooked rice is made along with five or ten bowls ranges of 15–25, 26–40, 41–60, and over 60. Age can be rel- of different vegetable dishes, ten cups of tea, ten cups of evant to food behavior with regard to resistance to change wine, two large red candles, and incense. A bowl filled with and to the role of the older person in the family as the com- loose-skinned oranges or other citrus fruits is placed with the municator of traditional ways. offerings. After the family gives thanks for past blessings and Length of residence in Hawai‘i was subcategorized as prays for future protection, firecrackers are exploded and/or “since birth,” “over twenty-five years,” and “less than ten sham paper money is burnt.15 years.” This information is relevant to determining length of Youngsters honor grandparents and aunts, and adult exposure to the variety of food behaviors of the many cul- males make social calls on friends and relatives, who receive tures represented in Hawai‘i. However, individuals will have visitors with snacks of salted watermelon seeds, tea, and can- differing patterns of acceptance/rejection of the environment. died fruits. Many families do not eat meat on New Year’s Day Some newcomers will be open to trying new foods; others but prepare chai, a special “monks’ food” of vegetables and will avoid the unfamiliar. Length of residence therefore is , which is eaten at home. Some families still spend hours a difficult measure to evaluate in a study of acculturation, preparing the sweet rice cake gao, made from glutinous rice although it is central to the findings. The results of this study steamed on -leaf mats, and Chinese shops suggest that there is a direct relationship between length of this holiday delicacy along with candied lotus seeds, , residence in Hawai‘i and evidenced change in food habits. squash, , , , and special pastries. In addition to individual preferences, the food-obtaining Following Pearl Harbor, the Chinese went without their mechanisms of individuals are important to consider. There- New Year’s delicacies. Imports to Hawai‘i had ceased, and fore, an effort was made to include respondents who were even the “required” seeds were unavailable, so pine living in dormitory or student housing situations. With a nuts brought in from the mainland were substituted.16 high incidence of eating in school and at low-cost Present-day observation of the lunar New Year has food service establishments, this population would have expanded to include the general public in the merrymaking. a different food intake pattern than respondents living at For an evening, the streets of Chinatown in Honolulu are home, who would have greater control over food selection. closed off to permit vendors of foods and knickknacks to set The researcher is aware of the problems posed by elicit- up small stalls to merchandise their wares. Practitioners of ing information by means of a questionnaire. Individuals martial and colorful “dragon” dancers perform outdoors obviously vary greatly in their ability to convey information before enthusiastic crowds. Chinese restaurants feature mul- through this means. Even in direct conversation with an inves- ticourse that include expensive and exotic delicacies tigator, an informant may, for many reasons, not be totally reli- of the season, and the royal court of the Narcissus Queen able as a source of behavioral data about himself or herself. and princesses, garbed in brilliant silk gowns, parades Effort was made in carrying out this study to balance the among the onlookers. data obtained from the questionnaire with materials from During the holiday season, food markets, including the archival records, from evidence of material culture, and from major mainland chain outlets, feature displays of special Chi- the investigator’s personal investigation and experience. This nese ingredients, dispense free recipes to shoppers, and sell multiplicity of data-gathering methods serves to strengthen brightly colored pictures of Chinese deities, including the the conclusions derived. God of the Kitchen, who watches over the household during In Chinese culture, food and its celebratory and ritual the year.17 Community programs present Chinese cooking use are closely related. Particular foods and dishes have instruction and daily newspapers include appropriate recipes age-old associations with specific observances. Festivals in their food sections. and rituals having food components have been and are still Ching Ming, an annual ceremony held in the third lunar observed in Hawai‘i. month in early April, has been an occasion for Chinese in In plantation days, on the Chinese lunar New Year, Chi- Hawai‘i to honor departed ancestors. Families still take food nese laborers were given two or three days’ holiday with to the cemetery for offering on grave altars, and paper money, pay. As late as 1910 Chinese children were excused from folded by family members into required shapes, is burned. their public-school classes for the New Year, although Char Whole cooked pigs, portions of roast pork, , fish, reports that several parents sent their children to school on salted eggs, tofu, and rice are offered. Whiskey and tea in the holiday with the admonition, “You are now .” tiny cups are placed on the altar after some is poured Although customs associated with the observance of the over the stone. Participants, standing before the graves with lunar New Year in present-day Hawai‘i vary from family to clasped hands, bow three times to honor the deceased. Fire- Eating History 129 crackers, exploded to chase away evil spirits, are used by a the millennia of habits and traditions which prevailed in Kwang- number of celebrants, who must now apply for special use tung. That they did might indicate the “credibility” which the permits to use fireworks in religious observances.18 population vested in these missionary men and women, and it perhaps also points out the importance of making something as The Moon Festival occurs on the fifteenth day of local and indigenous as possible.22 the eighth lunar month. Shops sell sweet “moon cakes” impressed with semblances of animals, trees, or gods. An A Chinese observer in the 1930s noted: “The second offering of rice and other dishes is made to the moon along and third generations are losing taste for Chinese food and with seasonal fruits and taro, which is said to have been the use American productions more and more. They enjoy the first food found with the aid of the moon’s light.19 , cereals and milk, chocolate or in place of Chi- In the early days of immigration, Chinese holidays nese sausage.”23 required the making of appropriate food offerings in the Still, Chinese customs associated with birth, marriage, temples. Thirteen such occasions were noted by a reporter in and death have persisted to varying extents in contempo- 1937, including the twelfth day of the New Year, the fifth day rary society. of the fifth month, and birthdays and death days of fathers Many new Chinese mothers are still fed a special dish and ancestors. of pigs’ feet, ginger, and , a traditional broth that is Only six years later, in 1943, another informant notes: shared with visiting friends and family. When the newborn child is one month old, a special offering is made in the It is not unusual to find a woman being reprimanded by her husband or Americanized children for wasting her money on temple. “Slices of roast pork garnished with pickled ginger, such [food] offerings. Even today, however, in the face of short- dyed eggs and stuffed buns” are given to friends who have ages of incense, Chinese candles and mock money, the devout earlier given gifts to the child—usually jewelry, clothing, continue to pray and make offerings, but with substitutes. In and money.24 the past only the best perfumed incense was used. Today they A writer in 1943 noted that because of “embarrassment, use mosquito punk. In place of red painted candles are ordinary American candles. For “ghost money” they burn wrapping paper especially when their foreign friends looked on,” couples cut in squares.20 took part in Chinese wedding ceremonies “none too will- ingly.” The writer believed that “only reverence and obedi- While there are still many worshippers who visit the Chi- ence to their parents made them conform.” Further changes nese temples, they are for the most part older people. Like were brought about during the war years, when wedding religious leaders everywhere, the Chinese lament the disin- festivities, which had sometimes lasted several days in the terest in traditional religious practices evident among young past, were required to be over before curfew.25 people. Many of Hawai‘i’s Asian temples are revivified by the Char, in 1975, noted that “the custom of the bride’s retir- constant flow of new immigrants to the Islands, however, ing and changing into a new dress to serve tea and candied and many still offer services in languages other than English. fruits to friends and relatives still holds,” although in the Chinese stores in Hawai‘i stock the mock money, incense, Kirkendall study, no respondent describes this custom. Vari- and candles requisite for ceremonial presentations, and vir- ous factors may account for this and other departures from tually every Chinese restaurant has a small shrine in some traditional ways, including the fact that a large percentage inconspicuous place, glowing with an electric “candle” to of the Chinese population is Christian or at least does not comply with modern fire safety laws. observe the traditional Chinese customs. In addition, there is Although the 1840 Constitution declared Hawai‘i a Chris- a high rate of intermarriage among the various ethnic, racial, tian nation, Buddhist, Taoist, and Shinto temples continued and cultural groups in Hawai‘i, which would have an effect undisturbed in their religious and social activities. Many on the nature of the wedding celebration. immigrants were Christians before leaving their homelands The post-wedding feast is common to many cultures, and many converted after their arrival in Hawai‘i to join active and the multicourse banquet once associated with wedding congregations. The first lighted Christmas tree in Hawai‘i was observances and Chinese celebrations of all kinds is com- 21 that in the Fort Street Chinese Christian Church in 1841. monly replaced with a meal, frequently served style in When the Chinese Christian congregation gathered to a hotel meeting room, that includes foods representative of observe Christmas services in Kohala on the island of Hawai‘i many ethnic traditions. Roast suckling is often presented in the 1880s, they prepared festive foods as part of the cel- at such a meal. ebration. Ruth Lyman Rath recalled in 1972 that: Char reports that prior to the wedding ceremony, there is All of the Chinese pastries using yeast were from recipes which a celebratory meal during which the bride alone dines with the missionary wives had taught them. The Chinese did not friends and relatives. This custom was not reported by any know of yeast before the coming of the Europeans, and since the informant in the Kirkendall study. However, all respondents German ladies were accustomed to yeast in Europe, this was the yeast used in Kohala. . . . Also many recipes from Europe reported that the Western wedding cake, decorated with min- were adapted to utilize available Chinese ingredients. . . . These iature bride and groom, was a necessary part of the marriage items became culturally quite acceptable quite readily despite celebration, and some 20 percent mentioned the distribution 130 Judith M. Kirkendall to guests of a wrapped piece of dark “groom’s cake” as being The author notes that her generation was taught that the customary in their own families. passing of food must be done with both hands and that “only Chinese funeral customs have undergone great change in the unmannerly or unversed” raise their rice bowls to mouth Hawai‘i. Many of the elaborate ceremonies practiced before level while eating. Children were taught that both hands immigration were not transferred to the Islands at all, and should be in view while eating and that to eat with only one many others have been reduced to nominal observances. hand visible would cause the death of one or both parents. For example, the traditional three-day, three-night vigil Chopsticks had to be handled with care since it was believed kept by the family and friends of the deceased has been tele- a spirit resided in each which could be annoyed or harmed if scoped into a single ceremonial observance at the funeral the chopsticks were ill-treated. home. , a practice introduced during World War This daughter of immigrants notes with some nostal- II,26 was unthinkable to early sojourners, who planned to gia, “Although the Chinese living in still cling to be buried in the clan cemetery in China, but it is now as their conceptions of the traditional etiquette of China, they common among Chinese as it is among other ethnic groups have been forced to make many modifications in response in Hawai‘i. to Hawaiian conditions of life. The subsequent generations Age is still venerated in Chinese families in Hawai‘i, as is have come to accept the western forms of etiquette more and evident in the following description of a contemporary birth- more. Emily Post supplants Li Ki as the arbiter of the social day celebration: proprieties for most of the Chinese born in Hawaii.”29 Chang, in his introduction to Food in Chinese Culture, Fifty-one, sixty-one, seventy-one, and ninety-one [are important birthdays]. Ninety-one supposed to be the last, see. Of course, holds that food in Chinese society amounts to a “preoccu- the old custom, people go to the temple and ask God whether I pation” and cites Lin Yutang’s observation, “No food is really supposed to celebrate say, my seventy-first birthday. They say— enjoyed unless it is keenly anticipated, discussed, eaten and good. Then you can celebrate. If they say don’t mention, then then commented upon. . . . Long before we have any spe- you just forget about it and then you wait till eighty-one. . . . I cial food, we think about it, rotate it in our minds, anticipate celebrated my eighty-first birthday. That day I had 470 people [attending my birthday party]. it as a secret pleasure to be shared with some of our closest friends, and write notes about it in our invitation letters.”30 It’s up to me to prepare the decorations [for my party]. My This interest in and concern for food is evident in con- cousin gave me the Chinese gau (pudding). This gau weighs almost thirty-five pounds. It takes all day and all night to temporary Hawai‘i. A former Honolulu woman, author of cook it. When you display the gau, you have it in a red con- a recently published book on Chinese cooking, recalls her tainer. Then you put paper money and two oranges for good mother’s careful training to enable her to discern subtle varia- luck. The [ceramic] was given to me by the Yong Sing tions of taste and combinations of flavoring agents: Restaurant. . . . There was Chinese noodles for long life. . . . I had Chinese candy which we call tong-gwor—couple of boxes At every meal, as soon as we tasted the food, my mother asked and bouquets of flowers people gave to me; jin diu [Chinese us to tell her if each dish was good and if so, why. Or if it wasn’t ]—a friend gave that . . . there are also good luck good, why not. She knew the answer, of course, but she wanted buns [filled] with either black sugar or . I had — us to learn. She’d say, ‘Can’t you tell that the chicken isn’t fresh? peaches means good luck. There are also a lot of peach leaves to Can’t you tell it is one-day-old or two-day-old chicken?’ She decorate on the table. I must have about fifteen cases of peaches made us tell her what kinds of spices and seasoning we tasted which I gave [to guests]. in each dish. When we didn’t know them all, she’d say, “Didn’t you taste it out?” That’s how she taught us. As a result, we could All the pomelos from my own yard. It means good luck.27 go to restaurants, taste and analyze everything and go home and duplicate the dishes.31 In 1935 a sociology student at the University of Hawai‘i detailed the changes in traditional etiquette that had taken This ability to discern seasonings in food is one that place amongst the Chinese. She notes that although the many Chinese informants in my own study have described custom was fast disappearing, it was still usual for men and as having acquired as children. This ability and the concern women to eat separately except within the family circle. She with subtle variations in flavor are expressed in adult years describes the tenets of proper behavior at a meal: by individuals who frequent a particular restaurant based upon their opinion of the . It is common for customers It is the duty of the host to escort all his guests to their seats to follow a particularly skilled chef as he moves from restau- and to pour wine for them. When they have toasted one another, he takes up his chopsticks and makes a sweeping motion to rant to restaurant. include everybody and asks his guests to begin. Whereupon the Eating outside the home is a frequent and important rec- guests respond and dip into the food. When all have done so, reational activity for Chinese people wherever they may live. the host may begin. Rice is not served until the is Hawai‘i is no exception, and Chinese I surveyed indicated completed. . . . It is considered polite for one to eat everything that their families ate outside the home an average of eight offered to him by the host, and especially to clean his bowl of every grain of rice. As children we have been taught that as a times per month, more than any other group in the study. penalty for failing to clear up the bowl, we would marry a pock- Restaurant service in Chinese culture has acted as the res- faced man or woman when we grew up.28 ervoir of ancient food behaviors associated with the impe- Eating History 131 rial court, and the early establishment of restaurants by an vided longer answers to questions posed, both in writing immigrant community has been a characteristic of Chinese on the questionnaire and during interviews. Interestingly, population groups all over the world. The preeminent cul- responses to “What would be the meal of your dreams?” did tural concern for maintenance of traditional foodways and not include only names of dishes; most respondents qualified the restaurant’s function as a for transmission of those the dishes with descriptions of foodstuffs and directions for behaviors have provided mutual reinforcement. their preparation. Most “dream meals” were so specifically It is notable, for example, that chopsticks are offered first described that they almost constituted lists of recipes. While to all customers in Hawai‘i’s Chinese restaurants; forks may this finding was unanticipated, it is understandable in retro- be made available, but it is the assumption of the proprietors spect, given the interest that Chinese commonly display in that Chinese food should properly be eaten with chopsticks. the subject of food. This assumption extends to drive-in restaurants and roadside Cuisine preferences, in descending order, for the Chinese stands where Chinese food is available. The “chopstick cul- participants were as follows: tures” (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) have preserved the use 1. Chinese (including Cantonese [in the majority], Huna- of this utensil as an integral aspect of traditional food behavior. nese, Pekingese, Shanghainese, and Szechwanese) Establishments in Hawai‘i that serve Chinese food to the 2. Euro-American public have also maintained the option of the diner to sea- 3. Japanese son food to his or her own taste. and pepper, soy sauce, 4. Hawaiian mustard, vinegar, and chili sauce are available at even the 5. Korean simplest roadside food stands in Hawai‘i. The great major- ity of Chinese respondents in the Kirkendall study indicated All Chinese respondents without exception indicated that that soy sauce was always on the table at home—sometimes they consumed rice at least once during the day, and many alongside shakers. An investigation made had two rice meals. Potatoes were also popular, however, by the author in forty-one Chinese restaurants in Honolulu with the preference being mashed potatoes. Chinese also revealed that 100 percent of the establishments provided soy indicated a fondness for milk as a , in ice , and sauce as an optional condiment. as on baked potatoes, a clear adaptation to Euro- Chinese snack food has gained a secure place in Hawai‘i American cuisine, since milk and milk products are not gen- among residents of all cultural backgrounds. A common erally utilized in traditional Chinese cuisine. Favorite dishes sight at beaches is the wagon (often Chinese or Japa- among Chinese respondents included food from all cuisines, nese operated), which serves plate (a combination of not only Chinese. These respondents reported very little Asian and Western foods) and manapua (a steamed, meat- drinking of alcoholic beverages; favorite indicated filled bun) and sells packages of crack seeds (preserved ) were sweetened soft drinks and coffee. as well as Western fast and snack foods. A building on the Table settings in slightly over half of Chinese homes were University of Hawai‘i campus in Honolulu has on one out- reported to include both chopsticks and fork//spoon, side wall a large, full-color mural of glass jars containing a with under 50 percent putting chopsticks alone on the table. variety of Chinese crack seeds. The mural was created by stu- Like most Asian respondents, Chinese indicated no spe- dents in an undergraduate art class in 1981. cial celebration of , the Fourth of July, or St. Val- Of the several major geographical cuisines of China, the entine’s Day with special foods. However, without exception, southern style as represented by the “Cantonese” (Hakka and all indicated they celebrated Chinese New Year with Chinese Punti) immigrant group was the first and is still the most evi- foods and Thanksgiving with , very often prepared dent restaurant cuisine in Hawai‘i. However, since the late Chinese style. More than half reported preparing special sixties, other Chinese subcuisines have become popular. Fol- Christmas foods (Western sweets predominated), and many lowing on the wave of popularity of ethnic cooking in the celebrated the solar New Year with both Chinese foods and mainland United States, restaurants featuring “northern”- Western foods such as champagne and caviar. More than half style preparation techniques have been established and have the Chinese respondents indicated celebrating first-year and found enthusiastic fans in Hawai‘i. The first of these restau- sixtieth- or sixty-first-birthday celebrations with a feast. rants was a five-table establishment operated by the wife of As noted, a major strength of Chinese food tradition has a University of Hawai‘i professor. During the seventies, this been its degree of adaptability in substituting, adding, or small shop served pungently spiced dishes to crowds of adapting forms and habits from other cultures. This ability to Honolulu , who happily stood in line waiting for an adjust has been evident within subgroups in China, among available table. Since then, the number of such specialty Chi- people of border areas and distant areas where there is a sig- nese restaurants has dramatically grown. nificant ethnically Chinese population, and among Overseas Chinese respondents in my study showed a strong pref- Chinese. The Nonya style of cooking on the Malay Peninsula erence for their own cuisine above any other ethnic cuisine. illustrates this ability to adapt to local behaviors, with the Persons who identified themselves as Chinese generally pro- result being the development of a distinctive cuisine. 132 Judith M. Kirkendall

Chinese gastronomy has had an important and lasting 11. Clarence E. Glick, Sojourners and Settlers: Chinese Migrants in influence on other national cuisines. In Hawai‘i, the Japa- Hawaii (Honolulu: University Press of Hawai‘i, 1980), 58. nese, the Korean, the Filipino, and the Indochinese cuisines, 12. Ibid. 13. Jere D. Hass and Gail G. Harrison, “Nutritional Anthropology which have been dramatically affected by very early Chi- and Biological Adaptation,” Annual Review of Anthropology, 6 nese historical influences, have also been strengthened in (1977), 92. their own particular traditions by the model of early Chinese 14. Judith M. Kirkendall, Hawaiian Ethnogastronomy: The Develop- immigrants to Hawai‘i, who retained a great number of their ment of a Pidgin-Creole Cuisine (PhD dissertation, University of traditional ethnogastronomic practices. Hawai‘i, Honolulu, 1985). 15. Char, 120–48. This study supports the thesis that in its many aspects, 16. Winifred Tom, “The Impact of the War on Chinese Culture,” Chinese gastronomy is both adaptive and persistent. In Social Process in Hawaii, Vol. VIII, 1943. Hawai‘i some food-related traditions have been lost under 17. A 1975 survey completed in Hong Kong, the area where the constant pressure of Euro-American models of behavior. Hawai‘i’s initial Hakka Chinese immigrants originated, However, in response to the same cultural influences, Chi- revealed that 44 percent of the Chinese sample group studied kept kitchen gods in their homes (Pedro P. T. Ng, “The People nese in Hawai‘i have adopted and accepted new foods, vary- of Kwin Tong Survey,” Data Book, an Occasional Paper of the ing styles of food preparation, and once-alien customs. Social Research Center, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1975). Notes 18. Laurel Loo, “Ching Ming for Honoring Ancestors,” Honolulu Advertiser, April 5, 1984. 1. Chia Ming, Yin-shin hsu-chin. In Yin-chuan p’u-lu, compiled by 19. Char. Yang Chia-lo (Taipei: 1968). 20. Tom. 2. K. C. Chang, ed., Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and 21. Ruth Lyman Rath, “Nineteenth Century Chinese Christian Mis- Historical Perspectives (New Haven, London: Yale University sionaries in Hawaii,” Social Process in Hawaii, Vol. XII, 1978. Press, 1977). 22. Ibid., 46. 3. Yu Leng, “A Survey of Mental Health Problems among Elemen- 23. Bung Lee Chong, 37. tary School Students in Nanjing,” Chinese Culture and Mental 24. Char, 133. Health: An Overview, unpublished ms., 1983. 25. Ibid., 46. 4. John Papa Ii, Fragments of Hawaiian History, 1818–1932, trans. 26. Tom, 48. Mary E. Pukui (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1963), 94. 27. William You Mook Mau, Kalihi, Place of Transition, Ethnic Stud- 5. Francis A. Olmstea, Incidents of a Whaling Voyage, 1841 (New ies Oral History Project (Honolulu: Social Science Research York: Tuttle Company, 1969), 213. Institute, University of Hawai‘i, 1984). 6. Tin-Yuke Char, The Sandalwood Mountain (Honolulu: Univer- 28. Alice K. Y. Lee, “Some Forms of Chinese Etiquette in Hawaii,” sity of Hawai‘i Press, 1975), 31. Social Process in Hawaii, May 1935. 7. Ibid., 26. 29. Ibid. 8. Hawaiian Annual, 1909. 30. Lin Yutang, My Country and My People (: John Day, 9. Husted’s Dictionary of the Hawaiian Islands, 1896–1897, 404. 1935), 338. 10. Bung Chong Lee, “The Chinese Store as a Social Institution,” 31. Mary Cooke, “A Career Was Born in Two Chinese on Social Process in Hawaii, Vol. II, May 1936, 35–38. Honolulu, ” Honolulu Advertiser, Sept. 1, 1982.