Poke (cuisine)

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Tako Poke

Poke is a fish salad served as an appetizer in Hawaiian cuisine. Poke is Hawaiian for "section" or "to slice or cut", and consists of roughly one-inch cubes of raw fish (often ahi yellowfin tuna) combined with limu seaweed, crushed kukui nut, and sea salt. More modern variations incorporated medium-rare cooked fish, chopped negi (a type of green onion), ogo seaweed, shoyu (soy sauce), tofu, onion, tomato, red pepper powder, or tobiko (flying fish roe), reflecting influences from Japanese and other cuisines. Poke is similar to ceviche, carpaccio, and tartare.

Hawaii chef Sam Choy founded an annual Poke Festival and Recipe Contest in 1991, with the result that the conception of poke has expanded into other dishes based upon diced seafood with spices, such as octopus, opihi, hokkigai clam, or even nonseafood items such as tofu or steak.

Poke in Hawaiʻi is found in homes, restaurants, and a variety of ready mixes in most supermarkets. Common variants of these supermarket types include: fresh vs. frozen ahi, aku, ahi limu, shoyu poke, spicy ahi (with mayonnaise and tobiko), tako, kimchi crab, imitation crab, and mussel.