The Calabash

Aloha, Kau Kau Chronicles users and community archivists! Hauʻoli makahiki hou and mahalo for your generous participation and kokua in 2021. Thank you for bringing so many onolicious recipes and memories to our community as we work toward our common goal of preserving the history of Hawaiʻi’s community cookbooks and recipes for generations to come!…

KauKauChronicles.org launched in Oct. 2020 to preserve and share the history of Hawai’i’s recipes. Here are some fun facts about this site that illustrate just how much ❤️ the 🌎 has for Hawaii’s unique and beloved local foods. Sounds ono? See the recipes here: 1. Haupia Pumpkin Pie 2. Portuguese Bean Soup 3. Pork Bun…

Kau Kau Chronicles received a gift of some amazing recipes from The Pleasures of Portuguese Cooking (1987), published by the Portuguese Pioneer Civic Association in commemoration of their 50th anniversary (1937-1987). Our deepest thanks goes out to Kerry Mews who not only shared these recipes, but also shared a bit of her story and history…

We are so lucky that Allisa Benjamin joined the Kau Kau Chronicles Facebook group! She was so generous and shared photos of her amazing cookbook collection that she inherited from her late mother Lily Cordero. In looking at the photos Allisa shared, I saw a cookbook from the “New Products Show.” I recalled that a…

The recipes on this site are scanned from vintage Hawaii cookbooks that are available in hard-copy only. We scanned them to ensure that they are preserved for the future, both for historical purposes and as a fantastic reference for all home cooks and bakers. Some of these cookbooks include the names and home demonstration council…

Many of the cookbooks featured on this site were originally published by Hawaii’s University Extension Clubs and Home Demonstration Councils. Specifically, these are the cookbooks with covers featuring a solid color, such as yellow, red, green, blue, or gold and a line drawing of the Hawaiian Island from which the recipes were shared. I’ve always…