Food - News
The Hawaiian Dish That's A Full Lunch Served On A Single Plate
By VEDRAN MASLOVARA
The most authentic Hawaiian dish is the plate lunch, a meal representing the melting pot of Hawaiian cultures on a single plate. This inexpensive and filling meal is served in restaurants and street food vendors across the state — and although its components keep changing, the macaroni salad and two scoops of white rice remain constant.
With the ever-changing proteins, you can expect authentic Hawaiian dishes — like loco moco, Spam musubi (consisting of Spam slices, rice, and nori sheets), and kalua pork (made by slow-cooking pork shoulder) — to accompany your mayonnaise-based mac salad and rice. You can also find chicken or pork katsu breaded cutlets or the juicy salmon teriyaki.
The plate lunch dates back to the 1880s when fruit and sugar companies served food to their workers, who came over from places like China, Japan, and Portugal. The workers initially ate from bento boxes, but those were replaced by plates or plastic foam containers with small compartments — hence the name of the meal.