No matter what one’s feelings about Hawaii’s statehood are, 1959 marked the end of a decade where Pacific and American cultures blended and borrowed on a vast scale, partially via soldiers returning home from abroad. Thanks to factors like the lingering post-WWII rationing mentality and the rise in popularity of canned goods, versions of egg foo young and sukiyaki graced the picnic tables of the most middle of Middle American housewives right next to tuna casserole and Campbell’s tomato soup. The ambiguous Hawaiian buffet theme was hugely popular in the decade of Wally Cleaver. And the introduction of tiki bars, restaurants and night clubs set an image for Hawaii and the rest of the Pacific that persists, in many places, to this day.

In the Islands, local food (the term was coined in the 1920s) influenced by waves of Asian, Portuguese and Puerto Rican migrant workers preceded the canned meats made popular during wartime. However, this particular popular cuisine presaged the 1970s Thai and Vietnamese influences in Hawaii and the 1990s birth of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. So what foods and drinks capture the spirit of 1950s Hawaii, both perceived and real? It’s been 50 years. Might as well don a McCall’s muumuu or kapa cloth-patterned aloha shirt and party like it’s 1959.

Grinds

Few of the consumable products for which Hawaii is famous are actually indigenous to the Islands. Pineapple, an introduced species, thrives, and by the 1950s, Hawaii was producing three-quarters of the world’s pineapple. For better or worse, any recipe involving pineapple often was (and is), called Hawaiian or Hawaiian style. With the 1950s trend of using mostly canned and other prepared goods for main meals, this led to dishes such as beans Hawaiian style (essentially Van Camp’s pork and beans and pineapple chunks), sweetened pineapple topping over ham waffles (Bisquick, of course) and pineapple cheese refrigerator pie. The ultimate non-Hawaiian dish that unfortunately has the word “Hawaiian” in it: Hawaiian Sandwiches. This 1950s monstrosity consists of hamburger buns spread with peanut butter, topped with sliced canned pineapples and Velveeta pasteurized processed cheese slices, all broiled and garnished with maraschino cherries. The chef is instructed to “serve immediately.” Or what, it will taste…bad?

Much better tasting–to us, anyway–are the canned processed meats that American servicemen brought during WWII, which were further popularized in Hawaii thanks to strict fishing regulations around the Islands. One WWII sandwich consisted of sautéed onion and mashed spam in butter, held together by an egg and nestled between white bread, American cheese and tomato.

By 1959, one billion cans of Spam had been sold. In addition to Hawaii’s popular Spam creations such as the iconic musubi, Hormel encouraged Spam consumers to make dishes such as Cantonese sweet and sour Spam in one of its 1950s recipe booklets.

As for recipes created and made popular locally, we can credit Robert Taira of King’s Hawaiian bakery for developing the Hawaiian version of Portuguese sweetbread in the 1950s, used in everything from savory sandwiches to sweet French toast. Visit [gourmetsleuth.com] for the pineapple juice-laced recipe.

Many today assume Liliha Bakery’s famous Coco Puffs have been around forever, but the bakery actually first introduced its Chantilly cake in the 1950s, decades before the puff’s current incarnation. Of course there’s no official recipe available for public eyes. But celebrating 50 years of secret-recipe Chantilly isn’t so hard to do.

In 1954, Ernest Morgado of Pacific Poultry Company registered it as the first commercial operation to raise and process chicken in the Islands. If that wasn’t Morgado’s badge as chicken king, 1958 saw Morgado trademarking the name “huli huli” chicken with the Territory of Hawaii. While most Hawaii denizens will tell you the best ginger-shoyu-pineapple-sherry-garlic marinated and charcoaled grilled huli huli chicken is at school fundraisers, you can easily find recipes online or find the official huli huli marinade at stores to barbecue this food staple yourself. This 1950s recipe sure beats bits of cheese loaf on crackers topped with canned olives.

Drinks

Primo was enjoying its time as the king of beers in Hawaii during the 1950s. It was also around this time that colorful Polynesian-themed tropical drinks were introduced to Hawaii by outside forces, soon to be closely identified with and often mistaken for drinks of the natives.

For the mai tai, Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic still vie for the title of the real mai tai originator in local legend.

Don the Beachcomber first opened tiki establishments with his wife and business partner on the mainland starting in the 1930s. After a divorce, Don moved to Waikiki before statehood to begin his tiki establishments. His first recipe from the early 1930s consists of one-and-a-half ounces of Myer’s Rum, one ounce of Cuban rum, three-fourths of an ounce of fresh lime juice, one ounce of fresh grapefruit juice, one-quarter ounce Falernum, half-ounce of Cointreau, two dashes Angostura bitters, one dash Pernod, one half of a squeezed lime and one cup of cracked ice, all shaken and served in a double old-fashioned glass, garnished with a pineapple stick and a sprig of mint.

Trader Vic’s claim to the mai tai dates back to 1944. He brought the mai tai and a menu of other tropical drinks to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in the 1950s. Rum shortages necessitated official recipe adjustments in 1951 and 1956, and led to the introduction of Caribbean rums to supplement the 15-year old rum in the original recipe. It wasn’t until 1964 that Vic’s current mai tai recipe was developed. But the version you remember drinking in 1959 consisted of one ounce of Trader Vic’s Jamaican rum, one ounce of Martinique rum, one ounce of pre-mixed curaçao, orgeat and rock candy syrup and juice from one fresh lime. It was hand shaken and garnished with half the lime shell and floated with a fresh mint sprig at the edge of the glass.

A Coco Palms Lodge daiquiri recipe graces a 1950s Achors’ Kauai Motor Tours Gray Line tourist brochure. Tourists were able to take a piece of what they thought was Hawaii home with them. This piece was made up of two cups of shaved ice, one ounce of fresh lime juice, two ounces of light rum, half an ounce of lilikoi juice and two slices of pineapple. It was blended for two minutes, then garnished with a pineapple stick, cherries and a sprig of fresh mint.

Though it can feel kitschy, any expertly mixed drink, no matter the origin, can take you on your own mini vacation–even if you already do live in paradise.

Don’t forget the ukuleles

Tea For Two