Going Veggie-Aloha Style

Vegetarian Journal, Nov, 2000 by Ruth Heidrich

Ah, the land of grass shacks and hula girls, swaying palms and tradewinds, native Hawaiians strumming ukuleles, with poi, pineapple, and papaya for everyone. If this is your image of Hawaii, wow, have we got news for you! How about freeways and highrises, cell phones and the Internet, and one of the largest vegetarian organizations in North America? Yes, the Vegetarian Society of Hawaii (VSH), with more than 800 members, is making waves in the local Hawaiian cuisine.

Thanks to John McDougall, MD, who got his vegetarian start here in the late 70's, Hawaii boasts a number of vegans who trace their dietary roots to him. When he left to practice in California, a group of vegans and vegetarians got together to support each other and the rest of Hawaii in a movement to eat more healthfully.

Throughout the 80's, it was a challenge to eat out in restaurants if you wanted lowfat vegan food. Only a small number of restaurants would even know what you were talking about. "What? No oil in a stir-fry?" "Brown rice? That's only for animals--or prisoners!" "No chicken? Not even fish? My friend is a vegetarian, and he eats chicken and fish!" Or, as I was told one day in a Vietnamese restaurant, "Chicken is okay because it doesn't bleed." I still haven't figured that one out.

But things are changing. In the VSH's Oahu Dining Guide, there are 60 restaurants, each of which offers a minimum of three vegetarian dishes. As might be surmised, most of these are ethnic restaurants--logical when you consider that people in many ethnic groups are, or were, vegetarian by necessity.

The largest ethnic restaurant group is Thai, with a total of 14 restaurants. Some of these also offer brown rice as a standard substitution so you don't have to call ahead to request it. There are seven Chinese veg-friendly eating spots, two Vietnamese, six Mexican, and a smattering of Indian, Japanese, Korean, Italian, Egyptian, and Moroccan restaurants which cater to vegetarian customers.

Because of the large vegetarian presence, Hawaii, as a travel destination, has become quite veg-friendly. Hawaiians have always been health conscious, and now more people than ever are making the connection between good health and a plant-based diet. As the media covers health, nutrition, fitness, and sports stories, they invariably confront vegetarianism. One especially visible vegan news anchor, Dick Allgire, with the ABC news affiliate, does a daily health report and doesn't hesitate to draw the audience's attention to the disease-diet connection.

Olelo, the community-access TV channel on Oahu, runs the weekly Vegetarian Hour. This program features vegetarian videos from such notables as John Robbins (Diet for a New America) and Michael Klaper, MD (A Diet For All Reasons), and Marc Sorensen's National Institute of Fitness series on cancer, diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis. In addition, there are local video productions such as The Scientific Basis of Vegetarianism, Hawaii's Veggie Jox, and my own A Race For Life, plus cooking demos. Finally, there is a weekly radio talk show, Nutrition & You, on KWAI every Sunday evening with yours truly, Terry Shintani, MD, and John Westerdahl, RD.

All this media coverage helps to mainstream vegetarianism, even to the extent that hopeless carnivores will order vegetarian dishes because it's so well-known that they taste good. Even a fast-food chain, ZIPPY'S, purveying some of the fattiest of local fare, now boasts vegetarian lowfat chili, and several other vegan options.

Most visitors to Oahu find their way to the Ala Moana Shopping Center and then find themselves across the street from the SIAM ORCHID on Kapiolani Street. Whether for lunch or dinner, there is a varied vegetarian menu. The decor is attractive and modern, the food delicious, but as is the case at most restaurants, there is too much oil for my taste. Prices are low to moderate.

For something a little different, try a Mongolian barbeque. Up in Kaimuki, there's an area of neighborhood ethnic restaurants. At 3569 Waialae Avenue, the main drag, there is the MONGOLIAN BAR-B-QUE. There's Mongolian Vegetarian on the menu that consists of cabbage, onions, celery, carrots, tofu, and tomatoes. Delicious, but again, a little too much oil. Prices are low.

Looking for a taste of the sublime? Visit the elegant Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel out in Kahala. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful setting. THE PLUMERIA BEACH CAFE sits beside the ocean, with a view of a little island with a coconut tree just offshore. To your left, you see Koko Head, the remains of a volcanic crater and the backside of a popular tourist attraction, Hana-uma Bay. Once you're able to take your eyes off the spectacular scenery to peruse the menu, you'll find the vegetarian options limited. But that's nothing new, right? Keep going until you come to the VEGETARIAN SANDWICH. The plainness of the title belies what is to come! Our server delivered a gigantic platter with a high triple-decker sandwich surrounded by a mix of exotic greens and pickled vegetables. My vegetarian dining companion, 99-year-old Maybelle Roth, was so impressed that she took a sample with her to show to the food servers at her retirement home. The layers consisted of three slices of a ten-grain bread trying to contain layers of fresh Island vegetables: eggplant, zucchini, onions, red, green, and yellow bell peppers, avocados, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, and Manoa lettuce, along with an herb marinade in a base of chopped olives, red vinegar, and olive oil. The manager plans to extend the selection of vegetarian entrees, both for lunch and dinner. Not cheap at $10.50, but worth it! Another option is the Portabello Mushroom Burger--so delicious that it makes one wonder why it can't be a universal replacement for the "dead cow" burger!