Who'd a thunk I'd be a Mathematician?

     In August, 2012, there was a huge hula event called an 'uniki or graduation for one of the students.  Part of the ceremony called for a luau or feast with traditional Hawaiian foods like laulau, lomi salmon, poke, squid luau, chicken long rice, poi, sweet potatoes, pineapples, desserts, fruit breads and sweet potato pudding.  About 110 people were expected but food was prepared for 150 people.

     Throughout the preparation period, the continual question was...what portion should each person get?  What is the necessary total amount needed to feed everyone and have some extra?  Some people measured by ounces per person.  Some people measured by cups or parts of a cup.  And then some people measured by the gallon.  In the end, the discussion kept going on and on and a calculator was put into service.

     What did we learn from it?  We prepared way too much food.  We could have served at least 200 people.  One cannot be too stingy when serving Hawaiian food!!

Glossary

laulau - bundles of food wrapped with ti leaves and steamed.

• packets of seasoned beef, pork, codfish wrapped with taro leaves
• packets of taro, sweet potato, onion, carrots wrapped with taro leaves
• cubes of corned beef wrapped with taro leaves

lomi salmon - salad made of salted salmon, tomatoes, sweet onions, and green onions

poke - cubes of raw fish (ahi) seasoned with limu kohu (a seaweed), Hawaiian salt, and inamona
           or roasted kukui nuts.  Seasoning and ingredients are varied

squid luau - taro leaves, coconut milk, and squid simmered

chicken long rice - chicken with rice noodles, garlic, lots of ginger and green onions

poi - cooked taro that is mashed into a thin paste