No matter if they came from 50 different clans and spoke many different dialects, Chinese gathering at the Wo Hing Society hall would find a way to come together—and often with food as the center.

Construction of a cookhouse in the backyard not only provided a more fire-safe location for the kitchen, but created a hub for families. When hosting events for hundreds of people, adults would cook in huge woks and steamers over a wood fire, and children would do the dishes—proving the Chinese ideal of the kitchen as center of family life. 

Chinese culinary influences continue to pervade Hawai‘i’s local cooking today. Manapua, or Chinese bao—a bread dumpling with a meatfilled center—was once hawked by sellers on street corners. Today manapua remains a favorite lunch or snack, especially filled with char siu, Chinese-style BBQ pork.

The most distinctive food of the Moon festival, moon cakes (yueh ping) are sweet round cakes filled with sesame seeds, melon and lotus seeds, or bean paste. A golden yolk from a salted duck egg is placed at the center of each cake. 

Another favorite, li hing mui came to Hawai‘i in the form of salty and sour plums, dried and eaten by Chinese plantation workers. Today these plums are usually pickled in a variety of ingredients, boiled, stored and ground into li hing mui powder, which is then added to Hawaiian dishes from shave ice to chicken.

Cantonese cuisine gave to Hawai‘i the stir fry, now a common meal for local households, mixing bits of meat and vegetables with rice. In addition, sweet-and-sour and dim sum dishes, saimin and dumplings are all delicious Chinese additions to island cuisine—not to mention the Chinese herbs, spices and flavors that accent many local dishes.