Dine&wine 96 | Hrana» Food On their quest for flavours that will tickle the taste buds, the most adventurous gourmets are prepared to go to the ends of the Earth. However, the intensively connected times in which we live allow us to have even the most exotic of spreads at our fingertips – it’s usually enough to take a seat in one of the restaurants with a good reputation and wait for the latest culinary hit to come to you. That’s precisely what happened with the expansion of one traditional dish that has existed for hundreds of years: the Hawaiian speciality known as poke. Hidden behind this simple name is a complex combination of flavours that are deeply rooted in the history of the native Hawaiian people, and the fact that it’s a healthy and balanced meal has led to it being adopted far from its homeland. You might have already had an opportunity to see poke on social media or cable TV cooking shows, or while strolling throughworld capitals on your travels. Poke has simply become a trend that marks fast food in the 21st century - and restaurants offering this kind of cuisine are springing up around the world on an almost daily basis and are seemingly soon set to surpass even the popularity of burger bars. The proper pronunciation in Hawaiian is poh-kay (rhyming with okay) and represents the way the ingredients are cut (diced). Legend has it that poke was invented by Hawaiian fishermen who would prepare lunchby cutting smaller chunks of unprocessedfish and combining them with salt and limu (a type of brown algae). Poke later began to be colloquially used to refer to the actual dish in which it is served. Poke recipes first began appearing in cookbooks in the 1970s, while the dish’s popularity has been growing across the States since 2012. There’s an interesting anecdote about the first New York restaurant to include poke on its menu in 2015, which almost went bankrupt as a result – until a New York Times food critic originally from Honolulu showed up at the last minute, when the eatery was on the brink of closing down, and concluded confidently that its poke is the best they’ve ever tried. In contrast to these humble beginnings, the cult of serving poke is today growing stronger all over of the United States, and a Poke Festival has even been conceived, which runs for three days and sees exhibitors present their versions of the original recipe, but also new versions of the actual dishes in which poke is served. The pandemic has certainly served to increase the popularity of poke, because during lockdowns we’ve all placed a greater emphasis than ever before on including something high quality in our diet, something energising and enriched with vitamins. Foto:Depositphotos/Maridav L e t Hawa i i an cu i s i ne warm you Howpoke conquered the wholeworld Poke has simply become a trend that marks fast food in the 21st century - and restaurants offering this kind of cuisine are springing up around the world on an almost daily basis and are seemingly soon set to surpass even burger bars
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