Hawai‘i’s Community Cookbook
has over 600 delicious recipes
from the islands’ most treasured
community cookbooks.
Back in the day, most cooks
did not keep written recipes.
The community cookbook
became a way to preserve
culinary and cultural traditions
from generation to generation.
As more people arrived in the
islands from other countries,
they became neighbors and
generously shared their food
with each other. The cookbooks
they compiled reflected Hawai‘i’s
diverse communities and how
different cuisines were melded.
Some cookbooks were a
proud statement of heritage.
Some spread the mission for
organizations of every type—
schools, business groups, civic
groups, churches, quilting guilds,
choirs, hospitals, and more.
This anthology of recipes,
selected from fifty community
cookbooks, invites the home
cook to a statewide potluck with
an abundance of personality.
There are “old-fashioned” recipes
that are popular again, like
popovers and made-from-scratch
breads and biscuits, chutneys and
jams. There are neighborhood
favorites like Chicken Hekka,
Coconut Fish, and Pulehu Ribs
and recipes for quick, easy-to-
make meals like Beef Tomato,
Mochiko Chicken, and Saimin.
Salads, vegetable dishes,
pūpū, and desserts use island
ingredients like ‘ulu (breadfruit),
taro, ‘ōhelo berries, liliko‘i, and more.
has over 600 delicious recipes
from the islands’ most treasured
community cookbooks.
Back in the day, most cooks
did not keep written recipes.
The community cookbook
became a way to preserve
culinary and cultural traditions
from generation to generation.
As more people arrived in the
islands from other countries,
they became neighbors and
generously shared their food
with each other. The cookbooks
they compiled reflected Hawai‘i’s
diverse communities and how
different cuisines were melded.
Some cookbooks were a
proud statement of heritage.
Some spread the mission for
organizations of every type—
schools, business groups, civic
groups, churches, quilting guilds,
choirs, hospitals, and more.
This anthology of recipes,
selected from fifty community
cookbooks, invites the home
cook to a statewide potluck with
an abundance of personality.
There are “old-fashioned” recipes
that are popular again, like
popovers and made-from-scratch
breads and biscuits, chutneys and
jams. There are neighborhood
favorites like Chicken Hekka,
Coconut Fish, and Pulehu Ribs
and recipes for quick, easy-to-
make meals like Beef Tomato,
Mochiko Chicken, and Saimin.
Salads, vegetable dishes,
pūpū, and desserts use island
ingredients like ‘ulu (breadfruit),
taro, ‘ōhelo berries, liliko‘i, and more.