Big tubs of buttery popcorn go hand in hand with movie theatres. This has been the case ever since the dawn of moving pictures. Some people think that there even needs to be a sweet and salty element and a crunchy and chewy element to a popcorn mix. That’s why there have been other forms of popcorn created – for example caramel corn or the Chicago mix with savory cheese popcorn and sweet caramel corn. But what if you are used to umami in your snacks as Asian kids are? Then you create Arare Popcorn like kids did in Hawaii with arare crackers and popcorn. Sometimes called Popcorn Hawaii or Hurricane Popcorn when nori (dried seaweed flakes) are added, this is THE cinema treat on the islands.
Arare crackers come from Japan and are small variously shaped and sized crackers made of glutinous rice and flavored with soy sauce. Think of them as Japanese Chex Mix. In Hawaii they are called kakimochi or mochi crunch. The name comes from hailstones, which they are meant to resemble. There are many different types of these crackers – some are wrapped with nori seaweed. In Japan, they are paired with peanuts for a popular bar snack to go with Japanese lager. There are even pastel multi-colored versions that are served on March 3 – 3/3 – which is called Doll’s Day or Girls Day (Hinamatsuri), a popular holiday for girls in both Japan and the Hawaiian Japanese immigrant community. There is also a Boys Day celebrated on 5/5, but no special colored arare crackers for them!
In Hawaii in addition to nori flakes, the condiment furikaki is also sprinkled on top of Arare Popcorn. The popular Hurricane Popcorn brand has nori and furikaki added to Arare Popcorn. The brand started as a pushcart in 1991 at the Windward Mall in Kaneohe on Oahu. There are other flavors too, Typhoon Popcorn is arare popcorn with sour cream and chives nori flavor. There’s another flavor mixing the Korean element as a Kim Chee Flavored Hurricane Popcorn.
Furikaki is a Japanese condiment consisting of dried fish, sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, salt, sugar and MSG. Sometimes dried egg, bonito flakes, dried salmon flakes, Shiso (Japanese mint) and miso flakes are also added. Wow – talk about an umami bomb! I remember AMC movies used to have about a dozen flavored powders to top on your popcorn like garlic, green onion, cheddar and many more.
The Hawaiian food scene is known to be a fusion of the foods of Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Filipino immigrants who came to work the sugar cane and pineapple plantations in the early 1900s. This is the fusion of food that created the Hawaiian lunch platter – a mish mosh of side items from each of these cultures, paired with a side of rice and potato salad. You can find these in the hot case in any 7-11 or gas station across all the Hawaiian islands. My favorite of these is furikaki or Hurricane Chicken, doused in spicy mayo.
Well the kids did the same thing as their parents, fusing dishes together with Arare Popcorn. I heard about this cinema snack from my tour guide at Grove Farm the historic George Wilcox Sugar Plantation near Lihue. We were touring the cottage on the premises of George’s Japanese laundress who worked there for 52 years. Inside her kitchen was a box of these crackers and he told us the story. The Japanese brought this snack with them in the early 1900s to Hawaii when they started working on the sugar cane plantations, like Mrs. Moriwaki at Wilcox’s Grove Farm. Imagine this being like the commercial says, when peanut butter and chocolate first met to form the Reese’s cup. Maybe a Japanese kid was out at a Sunday matinee with his Hawaiian friend to see the new Dick Tracy movie. One got popcorn, the other brought arare crackers and they mixed the two together.
For the Netflixers there is a microwaveable Hurricane Popcorn mix made by the Hawaiian Popcorn Company, the Orville Redenbacher of Hawaii. And, kids in Hawaii know there is such at thing as Kakimochi breath, when you’ve scarfed down a whole bag of the stuff. Trader Joe’s in the states sells kakimochi and arare crackers so you can make your own version for your next movie night.
Hawaiian kids could munch to their hearts’ content at the Lihue Theatre on the island of Kauia, one of Hawaii’s largest theatres. It was built in 1931 in the Spanish Mission style and operated until the 1980s. Severely damaged by Hurricane Iniki in 1992, the lobby was preserved in its original art deco style and the rest of the building turned into senior apartments. Something tells me even the seniors are getting arare and popcorn kernels stuck in their false teeth.
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