Must Eat Foods in Maui, Hawaii

Every time I travel to a new place I always search for the “must eat” food. When visiting Maui, Hawaii I already had an idea of what might be some of the “must eats” and I was happy to add a few more delicious things to my list. Here in no particular order are some of my definite must eat foods in Maui, Hawaii.

PINEAPPLE!!!

Yes. I know this one might be an obvious choice. Well it was for me at least. Maui is the last Hawaiian Island to grow and commercially sell pineapple. While visiting you can take a tour of a pineapple farm with the Maui Gold Pineapple Tours, you can visit a vineyard where they make wine from pineapples,  you can buy fresh pineapples off of the side of the road and you can pretty much enjoy it everywhere especially in your cocktails. There will be a whole write up just about pineapple alone later on the site but let me tell you if there is only one thing that you eat when visiting Maui it MUST be the pinapple,  you won’t regret it.

Shave Ice

If you missed my write up on shave ice the other day you should definitely go check it out. Shave Ice is a Hawaiian treat that everyone seems to be obsessed with and  each place says they make it better than the next. Similar to a snow cone a Shave Ice is made with shaved ice that has various fruity syrups added to it, however the real way to eat it is to also add ice cream to the bottom and sweetened condensed milk to the top. Mmmmm shave ice! Great on a hot day.

Pork

Pork is definitely a popular meat in Hawaii. Whether you enjoy Kālua pig cooked underground for a Luau or you go to one of the many fantastic BBQ joints in Maui like Beach Bums where they have the largest custom meat smoker in Hawaii or Fat Daddy’s Smokehouse you should definitely feast on some form of delicious pork while visiting Maui.

Seafood

Another no brainer. The seafood I ate in Hawaii was some of my FAVORITE seafood to date and that says a lot coming from a girl that has grown up living on the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia. My favorite dish was definitely Poke. Similar to Central and South American ceviche poke has an Japanese/asian spin on it and often is made with tuna (as well as shrimp, octopus and other seafood). Often made with soya sauce, sesame oil, chili pepper, onion, hot sauce, seaweed and garlic to name a few ingredients.

The calamari in Maui was also to die for and I shared a heaping plate of it at Nick’s Fishmarket at the Fairmont (a fancy restaurant that serves flaming strawberries for dessert!), I also had some amazing sushi while in Maui and I tried mahi-mahi for the first time which is one of the craziest looking fishes ever!! Mahi-mahi is extremely popular and they served it everywhere I went, similar I suppose to Haddock on the east coast of Canada.

Tropical Cocktails

Restaurants / Bars / Hotels you name it, in Maui they all know how to make fantastic tropical cocktails. The Mai Tai was apparently invented in California however it is often associated with Polynesia and is extremely popular in Hawaii. This was the first time that I had ever had a Mai Tai and after I had one I was ordering them everywhere I went. Since leaving Maui I have attempted to have them elsewhere but have been sadly disappointed each time.

I am also a bit of a Piña Colada snob after enjoying some many in Puerto Rico where they originate. No where else in the world has been able to impress me with making good Piña Coladas until I got to Hawaii. Not only in Maui did I have some fantastic Piña Coladas but I also learned of another new drink called the “Lava Flow” which is basically a Piña Colada that has smushed fresh strawberries stirred through it…. yes …. that is heaven.

This is just the beginning of all of the tasty foods that you can enjoy in Hawaii and I am sure there are many other great things that I forgot on the list. Honourable mentions go out to Spam Musubi, Poi and Hawaiian coffee.

Have you ever tried any of these foods in Hawaii? What was your favorite? Which ones did I forget? Let me know in the comments below :)

My trip to Maui was provided by the Maui Visitors Bureau. As always all opinions and views expressed are my own. At no point in time did they ask that I try every Mai Tai imaginable.

 

 

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