Plate Lunch

Ever thought about where the first plate lunch started?

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According to the research of Arnold Hiura and Wayne Muramoto, the evidence of the first plate lunches dated back to the 1920s and '30s.  Pushcart peddlers served plate lunches to stevedores (those unloading the vessels), sailors, laborers, and cruise ship crews and passengers.  Leilani Iwanaga's grandmother, Moyo Iwamoto, was one individual who had sold plate lunches on the Honolulu waterfront in the late 1920s.  She sold snacks such as candies and oranges at Honolulu Harbor near Pier 7 from a wooden pushcart.  Later her little business expanded to selling sushi and pastries from a red wooden cart.  Unlike the old cart, it could hold a large block of ice.  This ice was used to make shave ice and milkshakes.  Moyo also made her own syrup by mixing sugar, food coloring, and various flavorings.


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Old Fashion Shave Ice Syrup

5 lbs. sugar
3/4 c. cornstarch
3 qts. water
          Concentrated flavor
          extracts
          food coloring or dye
          dash of salt
Mix sugar and cornstarch.  Add water and stir to dissolve.  Bring water to a boil and boil hard, stirring constantly so it will not burn.  Remove from heat and add small amount of dye for desired color and enough concentrated extract to flavor according to preference.

Matsu, Moyo's son, remembers helping his mother push the cart from Halekauwila St., through Ala Moana Boulevard and along Honolulu Harbor.  On Channel St., Moyo was able to lease a small space where she set up a small cooking area and four long tables.  She then began to sell plate lunches.  For 50 cents, people could buy an eight-inch paper plate piled high with rice, a vegetable, macaroni salad, kim chee, or takuan pickles, and a main entrée.  These entrées included a choice of beef stew, beef tomato, butterfish, chop steak, pig's feet, chicken long rice, pork chops, ham hocks, or saimin.  Moyo retired in 1965 at the age of 81 and passed away a year later.  Matsu and his wife continued the business for a few more years after the passing of Moyo, but retired as well.  Matsu remembers one other lunch stand owned and operated by a Kaya family that served plate lunches around the same time. 

I found this extremely interesting and I for one learned something new!  I never wondered how the plate lunch was possibly first introduced in Hawaii.  Hopefully, everyone found this an appealing topic as well!