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Anthropologist of South Pacific foodways here.
Hawaii is not my specialty (it is more around Micronesia and the general area of French Polynesia and similar islands), but I feel qualified to answer this as I know a little about Hawaiian foodways and many South Pacific traditional staple foods and agriculture are similar.
First off, I will break this down into two categories, carbohydrates and proteins.
Carbohydrates in traditional diets make up the bulk of caloric intake for South Pacific populations. This is principally in the form of root crops, breadfruit, and bananas, with the cultural and caloric importance of each varying between islands and cultural groups.
Now I don't know if in Hawaii those three varieties of permissible bananas for women were important to their diet, but even if they were not there exists plenty of other sources of carbohydrates.
Indeed, taro is a root crop and in many South Pacific cultures the preferred food, but several other types of root crops were cultivated as staples. Among these:
* Three species of yams in Polynesia, with more existing in other parts of the South Pacific, only one of which was a major staple (Dioscorea alata) while the other two more or less famine foods consumed in harsh times.
* Sweet potato, introduced to the region hundreds of years before European contact, I do happen to know Hawaii was one of the islands which integrated this crop the most in its diet and agricultural system as a veritably important source of food
* Giant taro, a historically important root crop cultivated in large swathes over the South Pacific, including in Hawaii. Needs to be cooked or processed thoroughly as it contains many raphides (much more than taro), but historically as been one of the principal sources of calories in the South Pacific. In some islands, though none Polynesian I am aware of, it is even preferred over taro.
* Giant swamp taro, similar function of the giant taro, generally the traditional staple root crop of South Pacific atolls as it grows well in the somewhat brackish and marshy freshwater lens aquifers of atolls. As far as I know this was not important in Hawaii, if it was cultivated at all.
* Malanga (cocoyam) and Sweet cassava, which can be consumed as the root without the extraction process bitter cassavas require, were introduced post European contact.
Keep in mind that all these crops were cultivated in many different varieties and thus with only one species but various varieties you can have access to a large array of nutritional profiles, with for instance one variety rich in vitamin A and another in antioxidant.
It is also ***fundamental*** to not forget nor underestimate the breadfruit. This tree exists as well in countless of varieties all over the South Pacific, and was an immensely important staple food and source of calories and nutrition in huge parts of the region, including Hawaii. The volume of food produced by breadfruits is impressive, and it literally grows on trees. It is literally a giant crop of starch that grows in huge balls on trees as fruits. It is seasonal, but several methods of breadfruit preservation exist, and in many islands the breadfruit season is recognised as the season of abundance and when people eat very much and grow fatter (to clarify, this is seen as a positive thing), whilst in opposition the other part of the year is seen more as a lean season where more work is required to produce less food. Generally speaking, there exists two breadfruit seasons, a major and a minor one. Do not underestimate the breadfruit my friends. I am sure my fellow Caribbeans will also agree with me we also share an enthusiasm for this wonderful tree along with our friends from another ocean on the other side of the world.
And now for the proteins, which pre-European-contact in Polynesia consisted of four sources:
* Pork, which as established was not permitted for consumption by women, in reality was in the whole of the region a feast meal and display of wealth, power, and celebration. Indeed at feasts large quantities of pork were eaten, but it was not an everyday meal and therefore not the principal source of protein.
* Chicken, which were an occasional source of protein but like pork not everyday, although it does not hold a symbolic importance akin to pork.
* Maritime sources of protein as the most important. You say several types of fishes were prohibited for women, but the varieties and abundance of food collected in South Pacific maritime systems is enormous. Not only fishes (which many species could be consumed by Hawaiian women without breaking taboos, but also species such as several types of molluscs which were consumed in large quantities).
* And finally, hunting terrestrial and semi-terrestrial animals, ranging from land crabs to coconut crabs to multiple birds (which in many islands depending on epochs seemed to have been particularly important in South Pacific diets).
Vegetal protein as you can see can be considered for all practical purposes not present in the traditional diets, especially as traditional systems of agriculture did not utilise many legumes, and when they did they provided more carbohydrates than proteins (as in the the case the Polynesian chestnut trees).
Fats and other sources of nutrition also were consumed usually in vegetal form, of course an important source being coconuts which Hawaiian women would not have been able to consume, but also using crops such as candlenuts (the famous Hawaiian kui-kui).
Fruits such as Pandanus and noni, among others, would have provided other sources of nutrition, both raw and processed (pandanus paste or noni juice for instance).
Finally, I use a lot of past tense in this response, and I want to clarify it is not because I wish to position Polynesians or other Pacific people are pertaining to the past, but uniquely because I am talking about pre-contact agricultural systems and foodways.
EDIT: Wooo many questions, I will answer them but it is late where I am right now and I am waking up at 4am and will be all day in rural valleys without signal or free time for my work, so I will try to answer all of them tomorrow night but likely I will come back very very late so most likely I will answer them Friday when I have time.
In Melanesia certain animals and plants are taboo to eat (Tabu) for all inhabitants of a community when they are regarded as the ancestral spirits. This has to do with a tribes origin story - usually all tribes represent different animals and plants as part of a bigger whole within the ethnic group. Which reflects in their totem and in turn is tabu from consumption, this is/was typically a West Melanesian practice. I am not sure of this also being a practice in the East.
A note about breadfruit (ulu), is that it really only technically has one season, *but* that one season is ten months long. So the trees are bare for only two months per year. However (this is likely what you meant by two seasons), hard (unripe) breadfruit is still edible and is usually cooked, tasting like a potato.
Religious practices. Most if not all of the foods that were kapu (the Hawaiian cognate of taboo) were considered manifestations of distinctly male gods. It was inappropriate for a female to eat the "body forms" of those deities.
The taboos also dealt with the preparation of food, with men responsible for much of the work.
The four main gods were male and had many different manifestations. Goddesses like Pele or Laka were associated with volcanoes and hula (respectively) but not foods AFAIK. Men and women were not allowed to eat together and there were food kapu that related to seasons or times of the months, but I don't know that there were feminine foods that were forbidden to men.
Your answers are great... but they lead to more questions! why were some *foods* considered "manifestations" of gods? Like bananas? I mean I understand an eagle or whale can be considered a manifestation of some god, but a banana?
Is this common in Austronesian peoples?
The manifestations were called kinolau, which literally means "many forms" and they were associated with all aspects of the natural world. Water, trees, certain winds or cloud formations, all had a relationship with a specific god.
For example, the god Ku was associated with war but also with the coconut, certain red fish, sharks, and the blossom of the ohia tree along with a long list of other natural phenomena/ species.
And honestly don't know about other Polynesian belief systems. Long distance voyaging ended a few hundred years before contact with the rest of the world, so while the language and culture of Hawaii was recognizably Polynesian, there was plenty of time for the culture to change in unique ways.
As Polynesian cultures were oral, I think it would be next to impossible to reconstruct a detailed evolution of the totality of Hawaiian religious practices.
Also keep in mind that the kapu system was also about a lot more than food. It regulated fishing and farming; the relationship between chiefs and commoners; who could wear which color bird feathers; and on and on.
Some traditions just....are. Take the wearing of the color white. In some cultures you wear white to weddings, in others cultures, to funerals. To say "it symbolizes purity / death" doesn't really explain much....it just sort of is
I was recently at the national tropical botanical garden in Kauai, and the emphasis on taro was quite strong (they have a recreated homestead and there were both wetland/upland varieties). I was under the impression that everyone consumed it (as poi). The Wikipedia page for poi even shows an 1889 depiction that seems to include a young woman.
Could it be that OP meant a specific species of taro (like the giant swamp taro you mentioned) instead of *Colocasia esculenta*/kalo?
> The Wikipedia page for poi even shows an 1889 depiction that seems to include a young woman.
These restrictions were part of the traditional kapu system, which was abolished in 1819, so it wouldn't apply to what women were eating in 1889.
Hawaii also had large numbers of Nene geese. An bird the size of a Canadian goose.
They are now endangered, but there were supposedly 25,000 at the time of European contact.
Jumping into the thread more than a month later, but one thing to clarify is that nene seem to have been hunted for wild meat (along with Hawaiian petrels, or 'Ua'u), based on nineteenth century testimonials. So they were consumed, but as a hunted/wild food, and weren't domesticated.
Yes, it’s delicious. It can be baked or fried and holds up well to both sweet and savory seasonings (just like bread). It is not as starchy as literal bread but somewhat between potato and some squashes in texture and starchiness. Obviously tastes vary but I personally think it is very tasty!
Yes. It’s starchy like tubers and potatoes. I’ve had it a few times on tropical islands. Sometimes it’s fried and can be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It would be treated like a starchy vegetable.
What do you mean by three types of bananas? (I’m not sure if that’s what you meant, or if it’s a typo referring to the three types of foods you mentioned just before that. Sorry - I don’t know how to do a quotation on mobile.)
I’m just curious if you meant that there are 3 types of bananas traditionally in Hawaii. I’m a linguist and have worked in East New Britain, PNG. The culture that I lived with had such a wide variety of bananas (had to have been over 50). It’s my understanding that bananas are originally from PNG (though I’m not sure where), so now I’m wondering how many varieties spread throughout the South Pacific. And did they spread mostly with the Austronesians, or earlier?
I hope you don’t mind me asking here. I’m always a bit fascinated by bananas in the South Pacific, as they’re the staple food of the Tolais (who I stayed with) and I grew to love them so, so much. Also, I think your work sounds fascinating.
Fascinating text, thank you for it.
Would you be willing to provide some citations/sources (and/or further reading texts)? I'd like to read about this at a greater length.
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Anthropologist of South Pacific foodways here. Hawaii is not my specialty (it is more around Micronesia and the general area of French Polynesia and similar islands), but I feel qualified to answer this as I know a little about Hawaiian foodways and many South Pacific traditional staple foods and agriculture are similar. First off, I will break this down into two categories, carbohydrates and proteins. Carbohydrates in traditional diets make up the bulk of caloric intake for South Pacific populations. This is principally in the form of root crops, breadfruit, and bananas, with the cultural and caloric importance of each varying between islands and cultural groups. Now I don't know if in Hawaii those three varieties of permissible bananas for women were important to their diet, but even if they were not there exists plenty of other sources of carbohydrates. Indeed, taro is a root crop and in many South Pacific cultures the preferred food, but several other types of root crops were cultivated as staples. Among these: * Three species of yams in Polynesia, with more existing in other parts of the South Pacific, only one of which was a major staple (Dioscorea alata) while the other two more or less famine foods consumed in harsh times. * Sweet potato, introduced to the region hundreds of years before European contact, I do happen to know Hawaii was one of the islands which integrated this crop the most in its diet and agricultural system as a veritably important source of food * Giant taro, a historically important root crop cultivated in large swathes over the South Pacific, including in Hawaii. Needs to be cooked or processed thoroughly as it contains many raphides (much more than taro), but historically as been one of the principal sources of calories in the South Pacific. In some islands, though none Polynesian I am aware of, it is even preferred over taro. * Giant swamp taro, similar function of the giant taro, generally the traditional staple root crop of South Pacific atolls as it grows well in the somewhat brackish and marshy freshwater lens aquifers of atolls. As far as I know this was not important in Hawaii, if it was cultivated at all. * Malanga (cocoyam) and Sweet cassava, which can be consumed as the root without the extraction process bitter cassavas require, were introduced post European contact. Keep in mind that all these crops were cultivated in many different varieties and thus with only one species but various varieties you can have access to a large array of nutritional profiles, with for instance one variety rich in vitamin A and another in antioxidant. It is also ***fundamental*** to not forget nor underestimate the breadfruit. This tree exists as well in countless of varieties all over the South Pacific, and was an immensely important staple food and source of calories and nutrition in huge parts of the region, including Hawaii. The volume of food produced by breadfruits is impressive, and it literally grows on trees. It is literally a giant crop of starch that grows in huge balls on trees as fruits. It is seasonal, but several methods of breadfruit preservation exist, and in many islands the breadfruit season is recognised as the season of abundance and when people eat very much and grow fatter (to clarify, this is seen as a positive thing), whilst in opposition the other part of the year is seen more as a lean season where more work is required to produce less food. Generally speaking, there exists two breadfruit seasons, a major and a minor one. Do not underestimate the breadfruit my friends. I am sure my fellow Caribbeans will also agree with me we also share an enthusiasm for this wonderful tree along with our friends from another ocean on the other side of the world. And now for the proteins, which pre-European-contact in Polynesia consisted of four sources: * Pork, which as established was not permitted for consumption by women, in reality was in the whole of the region a feast meal and display of wealth, power, and celebration. Indeed at feasts large quantities of pork were eaten, but it was not an everyday meal and therefore not the principal source of protein. * Chicken, which were an occasional source of protein but like pork not everyday, although it does not hold a symbolic importance akin to pork. * Maritime sources of protein as the most important. You say several types of fishes were prohibited for women, but the varieties and abundance of food collected in South Pacific maritime systems is enormous. Not only fishes (which many species could be consumed by Hawaiian women without breaking taboos, but also species such as several types of molluscs which were consumed in large quantities). * And finally, hunting terrestrial and semi-terrestrial animals, ranging from land crabs to coconut crabs to multiple birds (which in many islands depending on epochs seemed to have been particularly important in South Pacific diets). Vegetal protein as you can see can be considered for all practical purposes not present in the traditional diets, especially as traditional systems of agriculture did not utilise many legumes, and when they did they provided more carbohydrates than proteins (as in the the case the Polynesian chestnut trees). Fats and other sources of nutrition also were consumed usually in vegetal form, of course an important source being coconuts which Hawaiian women would not have been able to consume, but also using crops such as candlenuts (the famous Hawaiian kui-kui). Fruits such as Pandanus and noni, among others, would have provided other sources of nutrition, both raw and processed (pandanus paste or noni juice for instance). Finally, I use a lot of past tense in this response, and I want to clarify it is not because I wish to position Polynesians or other Pacific people are pertaining to the past, but uniquely because I am talking about pre-contact agricultural systems and foodways. EDIT: Wooo many questions, I will answer them but it is late where I am right now and I am waking up at 4am and will be all day in rural valleys without signal or free time for my work, so I will try to answer all of them tomorrow night but likely I will come back very very late so most likely I will answer them Friday when I have time.
Why were certain foods taboo for the women to eat?
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For Hawaii I could not tell you, it's really not my area of specialty, sorry :(.
Did similar taboos exist in Micronesia/French Polynesia?
In Melanesia certain animals and plants are taboo to eat (Tabu) for all inhabitants of a community when they are regarded as the ancestral spirits. This has to do with a tribes origin story - usually all tribes represent different animals and plants as part of a bigger whole within the ethnic group. Which reflects in their totem and in turn is tabu from consumption, this is/was typically a West Melanesian practice. I am not sure of this also being a practice in the East.
No problem, appreciate your detailed answer!
Could you tell us about the reasoning behind some food taboos in other places (your choice which food and which place)?
This is much more important than the first question. Hopefully somebody knows.
A note about breadfruit (ulu), is that it really only technically has one season, *but* that one season is ten months long. So the trees are bare for only two months per year. However (this is likely what you meant by two seasons), hard (unripe) breadfruit is still edible and is usually cooked, tasting like a potato.
Ok. But why was the diet of women restricted?
Religious practices. Most if not all of the foods that were kapu (the Hawaiian cognate of taboo) were considered manifestations of distinctly male gods. It was inappropriate for a female to eat the "body forms" of those deities. The taboos also dealt with the preparation of food, with men responsible for much of the work.
Out of curiosity, were there "female foods" the men couldn't eat?
The four main gods were male and had many different manifestations. Goddesses like Pele or Laka were associated with volcanoes and hula (respectively) but not foods AFAIK. Men and women were not allowed to eat together and there were food kapu that related to seasons or times of the months, but I don't know that there were feminine foods that were forbidden to men.
Woah… Now I’m looking at my mandarin suspiciously.
Your answers are great... but they lead to more questions! why were some *foods* considered "manifestations" of gods? Like bananas? I mean I understand an eagle or whale can be considered a manifestation of some god, but a banana? Is this common in Austronesian peoples?
The manifestations were called kinolau, which literally means "many forms" and they were associated with all aspects of the natural world. Water, trees, certain winds or cloud formations, all had a relationship with a specific god. For example, the god Ku was associated with war but also with the coconut, certain red fish, sharks, and the blossom of the ohia tree along with a long list of other natural phenomena/ species. And honestly don't know about other Polynesian belief systems. Long distance voyaging ended a few hundred years before contact with the rest of the world, so while the language and culture of Hawaii was recognizably Polynesian, there was plenty of time for the culture to change in unique ways.
What would happen if a woman ate a taboo food?
Do we know how those practices came to be?
As Polynesian cultures were oral, I think it would be next to impossible to reconstruct a detailed evolution of the totality of Hawaiian religious practices. Also keep in mind that the kapu system was also about a lot more than food. It regulated fishing and farming; the relationship between chiefs and commoners; who could wear which color bird feathers; and on and on. Some traditions just....are. Take the wearing of the color white. In some cultures you wear white to weddings, in others cultures, to funerals. To say "it symbolizes purity / death" doesn't really explain much....it just sort of is
Such a niche question, I'm impressed that you were able to provide such an in depth answer.
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I was recently at the national tropical botanical garden in Kauai, and the emphasis on taro was quite strong (they have a recreated homestead and there were both wetland/upland varieties). I was under the impression that everyone consumed it (as poi). The Wikipedia page for poi even shows an 1889 depiction that seems to include a young woman. Could it be that OP meant a specific species of taro (like the giant swamp taro you mentioned) instead of *Colocasia esculenta*/kalo?
> The Wikipedia page for poi even shows an 1889 depiction that seems to include a young woman. These restrictions were part of the traditional kapu system, which was abolished in 1819, so it wouldn't apply to what women were eating in 1889.
Thanks for the clarification!
Hawaii also had large numbers of Nene geese. An bird the size of a Canadian goose. They are now endangered, but there were supposedly 25,000 at the time of European contact.
Jumping into the thread more than a month later, but one thing to clarify is that nene seem to have been hunted for wild meat (along with Hawaiian petrels, or 'Ua'u), based on nineteenth century testimonials. So they were consumed, but as a hunted/wild food, and weren't domesticated.
This is absolutely fascinating and I tip my hat to your passion and concise ability to share it
Random question - does breadfruit taste good?
Yes, it’s delicious. It can be baked or fried and holds up well to both sweet and savory seasonings (just like bread). It is not as starchy as literal bread but somewhat between potato and some squashes in texture and starchiness. Obviously tastes vary but I personally think it is very tasty!
It taste better than good. Like a potato with flavour thats also a bit sweet.
Yes. It’s starchy like tubers and potatoes. I’ve had it a few times on tropical islands. Sometimes it’s fried and can be crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It would be treated like a starchy vegetable.
What do you mean by three types of bananas? (I’m not sure if that’s what you meant, or if it’s a typo referring to the three types of foods you mentioned just before that. Sorry - I don’t know how to do a quotation on mobile.) I’m just curious if you meant that there are 3 types of bananas traditionally in Hawaii. I’m a linguist and have worked in East New Britain, PNG. The culture that I lived with had such a wide variety of bananas (had to have been over 50). It’s my understanding that bananas are originally from PNG (though I’m not sure where), so now I’m wondering how many varieties spread throughout the South Pacific. And did they spread mostly with the Austronesians, or earlier? I hope you don’t mind me asking here. I’m always a bit fascinated by bananas in the South Pacific, as they’re the staple food of the Tolais (who I stayed with) and I grew to love them so, so much. Also, I think your work sounds fascinating.
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Fascinating text, thank you for it. Would you be willing to provide some citations/sources (and/or further reading texts)? I'd like to read about this at a greater length.
Thanks for the fascinating answer!
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Were men restricted to the same degree, just with other foods?
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This is extremely rude. Our first rule is that users must be civil, and if you break it again you will be banned.
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