A good poke goes a long way, in many ways, in friendship, in love, in sharing.

A good poke does that.

Poke is so popular in Hawaiʻi, it's a staple.

You see it in advertisements, commercials and features.

That's the magic about poke.

It's amazing.

It's an amazing dish.

When people come to Hawaiʻi.

First thing they think about is poke, and that's what makes Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi.

And in here, I got some fresh tuna, and I got some sweet onions.

I got red onions in here and sweet onions here.

Every event I've done, I've always made poke.

So for me to really make people understand what the meaning of poke is, it's, you know, fish that's cubed and it's cooked, actually by the sea salt.

I'mma taste it?

Wow.

Good.

Chef, Sam Choy is a master in Hawaiian cuisine, and no one knows poke like he does.

My first introduction to raw fish was when I was, like, eight years old.

I've never lost that taste, the freshness, the sweetness and just the magical taste of a raw fish.

And to me personally, that has given me the drive to really make poke everywhere I go.

Poke is a traditional dish tracing back to ancient Hawaiʻi.

The name poke refers to the preparation of the fish, meaning to slice or cut sideways into pieces.

The early, early days of poke that before Captain Cook was very simple ʻinamona, which was kukui nut, and then, of course, the sea salad from the ocean, and most times, was limu kohu.

So this is a traditional poke, right here, no soy sauce, just HIKI, sea salt, ogo, you can use IMU kohu.

That simple version of poke is like taking a bite into the history of the Hawaiian people.

Wow.

Good, very good.

This morning, we're down here at the United Fishing Agency, the Honolulu Fish Auction.

We've got about 70,000 pounds of fresh ʻahi being landed today.

ʻAhi is the go-to choice for poke, and you can find it here at the Honolulu Fish Auction.

Inspecting each catch is an important part of finding a high quality fish.

You know, the fish are displayed individually, one by one.

There's tail cuts, core samples, and the buyers are looking for that high quality.

The color really brightness, the nice, fat content, because it's all about freshness, quality, and it's every single day.

The auction runs six days a week, closed on Sundays.

But you know, this industry really works for Hawaiʻi.

We're out there grinding really, producing fresh fish daily.

So here we have really nice, shiny, fresh fish.

And one way you can tell is just, you know, the color still has that really beautiful, you know, kind of shine to it.

You can see some of the still yellow in here, the sort of greenish gray.

And then also the eye color, you know, real clear eye, nice blue ring around the eye.

The name ʻahi refers to two species of tuna found in Hawaiian waters.

It's big eye tuna and it's yellow fin tuna.

We land about 60% of our catch is big eye tuna and then 30% or so is is yellow fin and that kind of varies by season, but really the bulk of our catch is ʻahi.

We're fortunate because we're surrounded by water and we're surrounded by hard working fishermen, and we're surrounded by companies that you know are willing to buy the fish from the fishermen and bring it to the poke stores.

So that's the big difference, the freshness.

Yeah.

When you see fresh fish or fresh poke, fresh ʻahi, in the marketplace, a lot of times it will come from, from this fishery, from local trollers.

No one's really freezing ahi here and adding gas additives or any other additives to preserve colors.

So when you see it fresh, it all comes from Hawaiʻi.

I've been making poke for cheese over 50 years now, and I go with what I feel, the taste, what I feel is good, and what customers like.

And I also listen to customers feedback too, as well, and that helped me a lot.

Poke is a mainstay for businesses like Alicia's Market.

My parents started Alicia's Market in 1949, they started the business.

For a while we never did have poke.

My parents just was cooking, was Chinese people, which started cooking roast pork, char siu.

We started selling poke when, probably when we hired this Japanese guy as a butcher.

So he started preparing sashimi and poke, and my mom just was looking over his shoulder, and that's how she started learning about how to do it.

Throughout the years, Leonard continue making poke trying different flavors and combinations.

Usually, when I make my poke, the wasabi oil really goes up through my nose.

I can tell it's when it's burning my eyes.

The flavor is good.

The poke that is most popular or that put us on the map was wasabi masago, which is fish with some masago eggs and wasabi oil, which I mixed together and comes out good.

People like it.

Be consistent.

That's what I want to be, just consistent and be nice to customers, and have the customers go out more happy than what they came in with.

That's the bottom line.

I distinctly remember the first time I made poke.

It was working for Del Webb Hotel, which is Turtle Bay today, and this is like an early 70s I said, Hey, we need to make poke.

So I asked the butcher to bring in, you know, a couple pounds of ʻahi.

And I made a traditional the before Captain Cook poke sea salt fish ʻinamona, limu kohu.

Had shrimp cocktail out there, crab legs and everything, but the poke was gone, and we just made, like, five pounds.

And that's when I went like, Oh, we're on to something here, you know?

And that's when I really felt like poke had a place.

It's a team effort, you know.

It's all about, you know, the whole source of the circle.

Today, poke enthusiasts gather for the annual poke festival, a celebration and competition with professional and amateur chefs.

Poke today, that contest has united all the poke makers in the country.

It's like magical.

You know, the vibes are just exciting, the explosion of the people that make the poke.

To me personally, beyond wow.

You know, the poke festival, to me, is kind of like, not only a gathering place of all the best poke makers in the state, it kind of showcases our message to the world of a dish that is so unique, but yet at the same time, is truly a dish from Hawaiʻi, and that is, to me, personally, why that festival is so important.

Sam spent his entire career sharing his love for poke, capturing the hearts and palates of people around the world.

Once a humble Hawaiian dish, poke is now a global sensation Where the Poke Festival is today.

It is not only a blessing from heaven, but it's a blessing to the Hawaiian people.

Poke, it's happening right now!