One of the more peculiar customs here on Maui (and in the rest of Hawai`i) is the tradition of going to a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant, getting a big pile of food in a styrofoam container and then eating it with plastic utensils or bamboo chopsticks (for the more e-minded). In a way, it’s Hawai`i’s answer to fast food even though it’s really somewhere between McD and a sit-down place. Fast food isn’t in your face here either; I don’t recall seeing a stand-alone McD’s or BK, but I can get you to Jack in the Box. The food comes out pretty quick – especially if you get it to go – and the packaging causes a significant waste problem. I haven’t seen a plate lunch joint with a drive through… yet.
The tasty meal below is Kalua Pork with Cabbage. Local pig and upcountry greens. It was enough to feed the whole family. I ate it all by myself. With chopsticks. I’ve forgone metal utensils – except for breakfast; Cheerios are difficult to master with the wooden wands.
Yummy Kalua Pork Plate Lunch
For whatever reason, I had pictured Maui being a bit more progressive in terms of generating (or not generating) and disposing of waste. As it turns out blatant, unsustainable consumerism is as rampant here as anywhere. The difference lies in the amount of resources available (land) for cache-ing the effluvia of our consumer society.
Hawai`i doesn’t have any innovative solutions to the problem. In fact, few of the people I have met even compost food scraps (one of our favorite hobbies on the mainland). Looking into the trash problem, I came across some interesting information. Check it out.
There’s no doubt that there are a few plate lunches floating around out there. We should all be a bit more careful about how much we use, re-use and toss away.
squnell
