Don't miss a local feast

            Most visitors to the island take advantage of attending a luau at a hotel. However, if you ever get the chance to attend a local feast don't even think about passing it up. There is nothing like a local affair for the ambiance and delicious food. We recently had the privilege to attend a wedding celebration and the experience couldn't have been better.

            First let me say the food was ono (delicious). For example, beside the usual delicious local food, the main course was a 400-pound pig prepared hulihuli style.  Hulihuli means to turn repeatedly, so that huge pig was roasted on a spit over an open fire. The result was absolutely ono.

            Prior to the main meal we had pupus (appetizers) of poke ( marinated raw fish) and opihi (a barnacle-like mollusk that attaches itself to cliffs in the wave zone). The opihi collector is a daring person who scrapes the opihi off the rocks while keeping an eye on the waves so as not to be washed into the ocean. Consequently, opihi is not cheap since the collection of it is life-threatening.  Needless to say it is delicious and immensely appreciated by those who consume it.

            Even better than the food is the welcoming nature of the people in attendance. If you are invited, you will be treated as a member of the family. We have never found a more congenial gathering than at a local get-together in Hawaiʻi.