What is a luau? Feast to dinner show

A feast with entertainment

A luau, spelled lūʻau in Hawaiian, is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast that is usually accompanied by entertainment. It often features Native Hawaiian cuisine, and the entertainment can include traditional Hawaiian music, kanikapila, and hula. Among people from Hawaii, the ideas of luau and party blend together, so there are graduation luaus, wedding luaus, baby luaus and birthday luaus. Luaus are celebrated under large tents in outdoor areas, and a lei is a very common item. A luau is first of all a celebration, and a dinner show borrows that form. The Orlando dinner show takes the outline of that party and puts it on a stage.

The kapu falls, 1819

In ancient Hawaiʻi, men and women ate their meals separately under the religious kapu system, which governed Native Hawaiian life in every respect. Commoners and women were not allowed to eat certain foods that were reserved for special occasions. In 1819 King Kamehameha II ate with women, which ended the kapu and began the period called the ʻAi Noa. Messengers carried word that eating was free. This is when luau parties were first created, as dinners or small gatherings called pāʻina, or as larger feasts called ʻahaʻaina.

Where the name comes from

The modern name goes back at least to 1856, when the Pacific Commercial Advertiser used it to describe a luau, or native feast, prepared for the people. The name comes from a food often served at a luau: luau stew, made with young taro leaves, usually with octopus or chicken, and coconut milk. The word for the feast and the word for the taro leaf are the same.

Eating by hand

Kālua puaʻa is often the centrepiece of a luau: a whole pig cooked slowly in an imu, an earth oven. Another dish is poi, made from the roots of taro. The feast was traditionally served on the floor, on mats decorated with centrepieces of tī leaves, and utensils were never present: everything was eaten by hand. The thickness of poi was named by the number of fingers needed to eat it, so three-finger poi has the thinness of applesauce, and one-finger poi is the thickest.

From backyards to dinner shows

Luaus began as private, home-based gatherings, and over time larger public luaus with entertainment from singers became familiar on the continental United States as well. Luau-themed parties vary in how closely they follow Hawaiian tradition: some ship food from the islands, while others settle for artificial leis, Mai Tais and a poolside mood. Guests may be invited to make their own lei, and live music is common, with the ʻukulele, the guitar and sometimes drums.

Where an Orlando luau fits

A dinner show in Orlando is a luau in the second sense: a staged evening that borrows the feast and the music. The Polynesian fire luau is presented by a Samoan family and takes in dance from Hawaii, Tahiti, Tonga, New Zealand and Samoa, with a lei greeting, a buffet and a fire knife finale. The lei gained popularity in the United States through the practice of presenting one to arriving or leaving tourists in Hawaii, and the Orlando show opens with a lei greeting by dancers. Expect a changing buffet menu and a show built by the organiser, not an earth-oven feast on the floor. The operator publishes its current menu and allergen labels on its own site.

• A lei greeting from the dancers
• A buffet with a menu that changes
• A show of dances from five cultures
• A fire knife finale