Kalo Kalo.
Taro — the most important food plant in Hawaiian culture, source of poi and cultural foundation.
Kalo (taro) is the single most culturally significant plant in Hawaiʻi. Brought by the first Polynesian voyagers, it became the staple food and the spiritual ancestor of the Hawaiian people in the Kumulipo creation chant.
The starchy corm is steamed and pounded into poi — the foundational Hawaiian carbohydrate — while the heart-shaped leaves (lūʻau) are cooked into rich, spinach-like dishes such as laulau and squid lūʻau.
Traditional kalo is grown in flooded loʻi paddies fed by mountain streams, and the loʻi system is one of the most sustainable forms of agriculture ever developed. Restoration of historic loʻi is a major focus of Hawaiian cultural revival today.
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