When early Polynesians arrived in Hawaii between 200 to 500 A.D.

, they brought
along some plants and animals to eat, and also relied on the abundance of fish in
the ocean around them.

But after British Captain James Cook arrived in the islands in 1778, bringing contact
with the Western world, Hawaii's food culture began to change drastically. Whalers
and merchants arrived with salted fish, followed by laborers from around the world
brought in to work on plantations. Those workers brought techniques and dishes
from China, Japan, Korea, Portugal, the Philippines, and other places, and their
cultures' cuisines mixed with ancient Hawaiian food to create what would become
the Hawaiian plate.