Looking for a hot seafood trend? One word: poke.
Pronounced “Poh-kay,” this traditional Hawaiian seafood favorite typically consists of cubed ahi (yellowfin tuna) sashimi marinated with sea salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, seaweed, and other spices. Poke can be made with other seafood as well, but ahi poke is by far the most common.
In Hawaii, the poke capital of the world, you can find the seafood treat in most grocery stores and restaurants. In fact, Honolulu magazine in a 2011 article described the ubiquitousness of poké this way: “Its explosion in popularity and rise as a culinary icon has made poke Hawaii’s hamburger, another foodstuff that began with humble origins and has taken on a cultural identity …”
On the mainland, too, the versatile seafood is enjoying unprecedented popularity – in Los Angeles and other cities there has been an explosion of poke restaurants in the last several years -- and it would appear we are just at the beginning of this...
