In this paper, we look at what it means to 'eat Hawai'i' and examine how Hawai'i Regional Cuisine (HRC) imagines, produces, and consumes place through particular constructions of local foods. The term 'local' attaches to foods as a marker of numerous positive attributes such as seasonal, sustainable, and community-based. Drawing upon ongoing ethnographic research on Hawai'i Island, we examine spatial and discursive constructions of local and how this particular cuisine places itself in local food networks while simultaneously using place to localize itself within the Island's food networks. Using a case study approach to carefully contextualize localness, we show how Merriman's Restaurant and HRC complicate notions of alternative and local food systems in its discursive and material production and reproduction of Local food and locally grown food.
Kathoey
is a Thai word that refers to people with male bodies who are transgendered (male to female) and also to effeminate gay men. Attitudes in Thai culture toward
kathoey
are complex and dependent on a range of social factors. Historically, it appears that
kathoey
occupied a spiritual role in Thai society.
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