Hawaii- Gathering of the Kings Luau

So I still have this song in my head from tonight’s luau and festive musical extravaganza, the Gathering of the Kings on the grounds of The Fairmont Orchid. This is quite a production, complete with dancers, torch jugglers, people on stilts and all sorts of acrobatics. It tells the story of the settlement of the islands in Polynesia. I certainly enjoyed it and the music.

There was food to taste from Tahiti, Hawaii, New Zealand and Samoa. I tried lots of different things, including poi, a traditional Hawaiian startch made from pounding the roots of the taro plant. We had ridden by fields of taro the other day in Waipio. I had heard that it could be an acquired taste and that infants are sometimes given this somewhat pasty concoction from birth.

It was sort of a grayish color and tasted both sweet and bitter. Not my cup of tea, but if prepared another way, perhaps I would have liked it.

Darley Newman is the host of the Emmy Award-winning Public Television series Equitrekking®, which takes viewers on horseback riding vacations around the world. Equitrekking is broadcast on PBS stations and on international networks in over 30 countries.

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