Our friend Chef Alan Wong is cooking for President Obama on Thursday night. It’s a White House lu‘au on the South Lawn for the President, his family and congressional delegates from all 50 states with their families.
Last year when Chef Alan made his annual visit to Hamakua Springs Country Farms, he and his chefs and restaurant staff cooked a huge feast for all the Hamakua farmers who grow and produce what he uses in his restaurants, as they do every year. And last year for the first time, there was an imu.
Chef Alan did some interesting things with that imu! For instance, I remember him wrapping long Wailea Ag Group hearts of palm in foil, with taro, and cooking it in the underground oven. All the food was just delicious.
This year, fish farmer Roy Tanaka told Chef Alan how good tilapia can be, and Chef Alan prepared it at our most recent cookout. Now he’s fixing it at the White House.
What other interesting and delicious foods will he prepare for the Obamas on Friday? Will their imu look much different than ours? Where are they going to get the right kind of rocks? Will there be a guy in jeans and a white t-shirt keeping flies away with a branch? I cannot wait to hear.