Tako (octopus) poke or heʻe poke with sesame seed oil, crushed chili, and sea saltPoke bowl, Maui, HawaiiAhi poke made with tuna, green onions, chili peppers, sea salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, roasted kukui nut (candlenut), and limu, served on a bed of red cabbage
Poke/poʊˈkeɪ/ (Hawaiian for "to slice" or "cut crosswise into pieces";[3][4] sometimes anglicised as poké to aid pronunciation[5][6][7]) is diced raw fish served either as an appetizer or a main course and is a popular dish in Hawaii. Traditional forms are aku (skipjack tuna) and heʻe (octopus). Heʻe poke is sometimes called tako poke in places where the Hawaiian language is not spoken.[8] Poke differs from other raw fish dishes in that it does not use citrus fruits as a curing agent. For example, some Native Hawaiians add salt to preserve raw fish.[9]
History
Poke began with fishermen seasoning the cut-offs from their catch to serve as a snack.[10] According to the food historian Rachel Laudan, the present form of poke became popular around the 1970s. It used skinned, deboned, and filleted raw fish served with Hawaiian salt, seaweed, and roasted, ground candlenut meat. This form of poke is still common in the Hawaiian islands.[2]
Beginning around 2012, poke became increasingly popular in North America.[11][12][13][14][15][16] From 2014 to mid-2016, "the number of Hawaiian restaurants on Foursquare, which includes those that serve poke," doubled, going from 342 to 700.[11] These restaurants serve both traditional and modern versions of the dish. The modern version is sometimes called poké bowl and may have the ingredients arranged in a grouped way rather than mixed. Contemporary poke restaurants are mostly—but not exclusively—fast casual style restaurants where the dish is fully customizable from the base to the marinade on the fish.
There is a three-day "I Love Poke" festival held in San Diego yearly to celebrate the dish and its many variations.[17] There is also an annual poke festival in Kauai hosted by award-winning chef Sam Choy, where celebrity chefs judge poke recipes and select the best dish.[18]
Ingredients
The traditional Hawaiian poke consists of fish that has been gutted, skinned, and deboned.
Traditional Hawaiian poke may consist of cubed raw fish, maui onions, inamona (roasted, crushed and salted candlenut), green onions, and/or sesame oil.[19] It is served with traditional condiments such as Hawaiian sea salt and limu.[10]
Modern Hawaiian versions of traditional poke seasonings have been heavily influenced by Japanese and other Asian cuisines, such as soy sauce, furikake (mix of dried fish, sesame seeds, and dried seaweed), chopped dried or fresh chili pepper, fish eggs, and wasabi. Fish types may include cured heʻe (octopus), other types of raw tuna, raw salmon and various kinds of shellfish.[8]
A very similar dish is kinilaw, a dish indigenous to the Philippines.Kinilaw is usually raw diced fish marinated in citrus juice, sour fruits, or vinegar with extracts from mangrove bark or fruits (and sometimes coconut milk). This process can also be applied to other seafood and lightly blanched or grilled meat (the latter being generally differentiated as kilawin).[21][22][23] The dish was introduced to Guam during the Spanish colonial period, resulting in the derivative Chamorro dish of kelaguen.[24][25]
Raw fish dishes similar to poke that are often served in Europe are fish carpaccio and fish tartare. Also similar to poke are Korean hoe-deopbap, marinated raw tuna served over rice, and ceviche. Japanese sashimi also consists of raw seafood; other similar Japanese dishes are zuke don, a donburi dish topped with cured fish (usually tuna or salmon) along with avocado topped with furikake, and kaisendon, a more elaborate version served with additional non-fish toppings.
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