Trending – Poke Bowls
When it comes to food, I can talk or write as though I’m a specialist and argue as if I’m a politician. Food is my passion and so it happens that I want to try out all the new Instagramable treats. These days, people tend to spend their coin for “postable” food. And so it goes, that the new food trends, with every color you can imagine in a photographic dish, are likely healthier than pre-Instagram days.
We eat more greens, such as edamame, avocado, and green smoothies. Avocado, well, it seems everyone is under pressure to eat those beautiful creamy fruits (yes it’s indeed a fruit). It is super healthy and diverse. You can eat it in a salty or sweet dish. My mother used to eat it as a pudding! Part of its magic is that it helps to reduce fat. However, there is a big downside to avocados. What most people don’t know is that the avocado plantage is currently destroying Chile. People are suffering from water shortages because a single avocado plant needs thousands of liters of water to grow. Thousands of litres…imagine. I’m not trying to get emotional, it’s all about trends. To tell you about the latest trend, the Poke Bowl, without mentioning the downside of one its popular ingredients, the avocado, wouldn’t be correct.
On to the good stuff! I’m here to tell you about the fancy version of a fish salad – the Poke Bowl. They are bowls (you don’t say?) with several ingredients. The fish is usually raw tuna or salmon and it’s considered a whole meal. Add vegetables, lettuce and your Poke is complete. The most famous are those with salmon, lettuce, edamame, sesame seeds, cucumber, beans, corn, chili and chia seeds. (You know, those little black seeds that are a must on everyone’s Instagram breakfast.)
These bowls find their origin in Hawaii. Poke means “to cut“ or “to slice.” It’s not pronounced as the English poke. It is po-KEH. This trend has been around for a year now, but in Hawaii it has been around for centuries. It’s basically Hawaii’s favorite dish. Europe and America took it straight from Hawaii and changed it a bit. The possibilities for variations are endless.
According to the food historian Rachel Laudan, “The present form of the Poke Bowl became popular around the 1970’s. It used skinned, deboned, and filleted raw fish served with Hawaiian salt, seaweed, and roasted, ground kukui nut meat.” This form of original Poke Bowl is still common in the Hawaiian islands.
For new style Poke Bowls, you can find them in several bars around Hamburg. One of the most famous is the Poké Bar. The bar opened in 2017 and has become a well-visited, popular hotspot. You can create your own bowl and choose from several ingredients. If you are a food lover, you will definitely want to try these out. Its cheaper and healthier than buying a burger. If you really want to feel good about things, maybe you try it without the avocado?
