Okay, so...

[Jenise]

...who likes poi?

...who likes poi?

Not me, but I'm not into juggling or any other circus acts.

Jenise - funny you should ask. Just yesterday, Liz and I began, in earnest, planning a trip to Hawaii and the topic of poi came up. I remember having it in grade school and didn't like it. Maybe I’ll try the real thing on vacation and see it in a different light. There's a lot of stuff I didn't like when I was 10 that I love now.

If the rice crisis gets much worse, you might find a whole new generation of poi "lovers" emerging in Oceania and SE Asia.

Mark Lipton

...who likes poi?

Time to get my glasses checked. At first glace, I misread the last word in your question.

[Jenise]

Maybe I’ll try the real thing on vacation and see it in a different light. There's a lot of stuff I didn't like when I was 10 that I love now.

I'm sure most of us can attest to the latter. And we probably share a lot of the same culprits, like blue cheese. But I wouldn't bet on you liking poi now--I tasted it for the first time last week and can't imagine how one would acquire a taste for it--I found it fairly tasteless in fact, and would guess the attraction is the glue-y texture (if you're used to it--I'd NEVER get used to it).

Trust me, poi STILL looks and tastes like bland wallpaper paste.

Most definitely not me.
The stuff's disgusting - wallpaper paste is a perfect description.

Poi must be a food you grow up with because I found it disgusting......wallpaper paste it is....maybe even leftover wallpaper paste!

Maybe I’ll try the real thing on vacation and see it in a different light. There's a lot of stuff I didn't like when I was 10 that I love now.

I'm sure most of us can attest to the latter. And we probably share a lot of the same culprits, like blue cheese. But I wouldn't bet on you liking poi now--I tasted it for the first time last week and can't imagine how one would acquire a taste for it--I found it fairly tasteless in fact, and would guess the attraction is the glue-y texture (if you're used to it--I'd NEVER get used to it).

My reaction to the first and last time I tasted poi. Why would anyone bother?

I just looked up a Taro plant (Poi) and come to find out we have one in our yard... last year we had a record number of leaves -14! It dies back in our winters, but pops up again in the spring. Right now it has six leaves so I suspect we will have more than 14 leaves. It is a fun plant to watch and how it survives our hot summers is the question. It is under a Camphor Tree and is watered every day.....that helps.

Poi did have it's time and place - for hundreds of years, it served as the primary source of starch in the diet of Hawaiians, and possibly other Polynesian cultures too. It still tastes like crap, though.

I just looked up a Taro plant (Poi) and come to find out we have one in our yard... last year we had a record number of leaves -14! It dies back in our winters, but pops up again in the spring. Right now it has six leaves so I suspect we will have more than 14 leaves. It is a fun plant to watch and how it survives our hot summers is the question. It is under a Camphor Tree and is watered every day.....that helps.

Much better to look at it than to make poi out of it.

I used to have a housemate who was from Hawaii. She made it for us one time. I couldn't believe anyone ever ate it twice.

I wore a taro leaf on my shoulder for a year in Vietnam. The 25th Infantry Division was stationed in Hawaii when not at a war.

There were many Hawaiians in the division. I never met one that liked poi.

Poi did have it's time and place - for hundreds of years, it served as the primary source of starch in the diet of Hawaiians, and possibly other Polynesian cultures too. It still tastes like crap, though.

You know, Mr. 1K, you just can't argue with that logic.

rwj

[Jenise]

I just looked up a Taro plant (Poi) and come to find out we have one in our yard... last year we had a record number of leaves -14! It dies back in our winters, but pops up again in the spring. Right now it has six leaves so I suspect we will have more than 14 leaves. It is a fun plant to watch and how it survives our hot summers is the question. It is under a Camphor Tree and is watered every day.....that helps.

Cooked, the leaves are delicious. I loved the Hawaiian laulau--pork and a few other things wrapped and steamed in taro leaves, or with taro leaves inside a banana leaf. I had it both ways. They're like really serious spinach.

[Jenise]

There were many Hawaiians in the division. I never met one that liked poi.

My Hawaiian friend likes it. Or at least, she likes it when she can put lomi (marinated salmon and tomatoes) on top of it. I found it quite acceptable with sweet, pickled seaweed, but I liked the seaweed better by itself which, if I could get Annabelle to admit it, was probably how she feels about lomi.

Hell, you can make anything taste good if you pile lomi lomi on top of it.