-I remember all the great, you know, luaus -- birthday luaus, graduation parties.

Here on Moloka'i, we do it on a grand scale.

-Poke is one of those foods that's taken the world by storm.

And I feel that we've traveled back now to almost the birthplace.

-Yeah, Moloka'i style, so... -Yeah, looking forward to it.

Every dish has a story.

Food brings people together and has the power to conjure up cherished memories.

-♪ There's no combination of words ♪ ♪ I could put on the back of a postcard ♪ -So happy to be here.

Hungry.

-Hungry.

Right.

-I was born and raised in the Hawaiian Islands, one of the most diverse communities in the world.

-♪ I'll tell you one thing, we're better together ♪ -In this show, we'll meet a guest from Hawaii, learn about their favorite dish, and have some fun along the way.

-♪ So much better when we're together ♪ ♪♪ -Moloka'i is a place that's near and dear to my heart.

I used to spend from the ages of 6 to 10 camping out on the west end for two weeks every summer.

Moloka'i is the fifth-largest island in the state of Hawaii.

Quiet and rural, you can find glimpses of old Hawaii here.

And the people of Moloka'i are passionate about protecting its lifestyle and natural beauty.

There's not a single traffic light on the island.

Tourism and development have yielded to responsible land management and community values.

Few well-known families associated with the island of Moloka'i, and one of them belongs to our special guest, Raiatea Helm.

[ Ukulele plays ] -[ Singing in Hawaiian ] [ Applause ] ♪♪ -Prior to this adventure, I never really had an opportunity to get to know Raiatea.

At the age of 18, Raiatea Mokihana Maile Helm was awarded Most Promising Artist.

Since then, she has received two Grammy nominations and countless Na Hoku Hanohano Music Awards for her beautiful falsetto voice.

I remember when she first came on the scene.

It was a time when contemporary Hawaiian music, you're seeing an influx of reggae beats, R&B, soul.

But she stood out because what she was doing was a very traditional style of falsetto Hawaiian, singing the old standards.

And why that meant so much to me is because it comes from the same era that my parents were performers in Hawaii.

Hey, boy.

[ Laughs ] -Welcome to Kalama'ula.

-Is that what this area is called?

-Yes, this is where my father and his siblings grew up.

Dad's parents are actually originally from Maui.

-Oh, okay.

-And then came here in the '40s and worked the 'aina.

A lot of them were farmers.

Not only mahi'ai, but, you know, lawai'a, they're fishermen, as well.

-Right.

Everywhere you look, people are growing food just for the family, it seemed.

-Yes.

Yes.

-It's just a tradition that just carried on.

Okay, I got to ask the "Family Ingredients" famous question.

What is your fondest food memory growing up in Moloka'i?

-I remember all the great, you know, luaus -- birthday luaus, graduation parties.

And here on Moloka'i, we do it on a grand scale.

You know, you get to bring the family together.

-Right.

-And everyone has a role.

I was, like, one of the cutters, the preppers, you know, being the youngest cousin.

I remember the ono foods, especially the raw stuff, anything raw from the ocean.

Poke, yes, that's my favorite.

-Yeah.

Poke is one of those foods that's taken the world by storm.

-Yes.

-And I feel that we've traveled back now to almost the birthplace.

So we get to see it in its -- in its truest, purest form.

Yeah, Moloka'i style.

-Yeah.

The literal translation of the word "poke" is just "to cut."

Poke was just pretty much raw fish that was cut up.

Traditionally, it was real simple -- 'inamona, which is kukui nut that's been roasted, salted, and bashed up, limu, and some pa'akai, sea salt.

That's basically about it.

It's one of those island staples.

What we've come to understand as poke is chopped fish that most always has sesame oil.

That's what gives that kind of nutty flavor in place of the 'inamona.

As of late, it's become almost anything goes.

You can have chopped fish and you can add mayonnaise, avocado, wasabi.

Traditionally, most Hawaiians were farmers, but only a few were fishermen.

The fishermen were highly skilled and greatly respected.

They learned to read the different cloud formations, ocean currents, winds, and even the flight patterns of birds.

Because this is a poke adventure, let's catch some fish.

But first, we'll meet a chef who is doing new and exciting things with poke.

Before we head to the restaurant, we need to stop by Barking Deer Farm to pick up some ingredients.

It's a husband-and-wife one-acre farm run by Tocatta and Jamie.

-You want me to show you around?

-Sure.

Let's do it.

-Okay, great.

-It was the most meticulously kept organic farm I had ever seen.

Most of the time when I think of organic farm, because they're not spraying, you see weeds.

And this farm was perfect rows.

Does it all stay here?

-It does.

Most of it stays here on Moloka'i right now.

We're selling locally through a local food hub and then, if we have extras, to restaurants and small cafés.

You know, we've been doing a lot of soil augmentation.

So what we really try to focus on is building our soil.

So we're doing, like, biochar, cover cropping, and composting a lot.

-And that holds the moisture.

-Yeah.

Yes, we're focusing on that, the health of the soil.

-Can we try something?

-Yeah.

What do you want to try?

-Arugula.

-Arugula.

Okay.

-That's the green by which all greens are judged.

I'm gonna teach Raiatea the first lesson of being a chef -- eat everything in front of you.

So how old is this?

-We planted this about three weeks ago.

So it's coming up now.

-Here, try some.

-Should be still thoroughly tender, and the flavor won't be too overpowering.

As arugula gets older, it gets a little bit spicier.

-I've often found that you look for this kind of a spicy bite and a little nuttiness, but if it's not tended to well, it gets super hot and you can't eat it.

Yeah, I love that nutty -- -Yeah.

Yeah, it's really nice mixed in a salad mix.

-Ooh, yes.

Strong.

-Yeah.

-A little spicy, like watercress-y, kind of.

-Mm-hmm.

-Yeah.

-We harvested for the chef that we were gonna meet later in the day.

And what kind of lettuce is this?

-This one is a green butterhead.

-Wow.

Such a different view, you know, coming from the 'aina.

-And so what I really like with salad mix is the colors and the textures.

And if we add a little bit of this red crisp, it has that different texture to it.

-Being able to harvest these greens and then take them to a chef afterwards and have him prepare food for us, it was ideal.

After gathering a vibrant bundle of leafy greens, we headed over to meet the local chef who had a new spin on poke.

-Not too many eating places on Moloka'i, but Paddlers is one of those places where you can have a nice dinner or a nice lunch.

-The chef there is Kainoa, local boy, went away for 15 years to Washington.

You knew that you always wanted to come home.

-It was always the plan.

You know, I didn't think I was gonna come home so early.

I was kind of in a point in my career where, you know, I was about to take the next step in, you know, in fine dining.

And my grandfather called me and let me know about an opportunity.

-The menu when we first went in, I was like, "Whoa, this isn't a small-town diner."

Whoever was in the kitchen had come up through some serious training, and he came out and shared his version of poke.

-Here we do a lot of different variations, kind of work with what we have available.

I do anything from smoked venison to we integrate smoked fish.

Right here we have 'ulu.

-You get fishermen coming right to the door.

One of the -- what, your cousin over there has -- -Yeah.

He got some fish.

-Yeah.

It's definitely nice over here.

I got local fishermen coming here at least twice a week, generally, depending on the season.

So everything here we try to get from Moloka'i, if possible.

Should I go ahead and make a batch for you?

-Yeah, let's go.

-Okay.

Sure.

So you start with the ahi.

-And you always have some sort of poke on your menu.

-Always, yeah.

This is kind of the one thing that flies out, like you say.

You know, it's definitely a favorite among here.

Then we have our 'ulu.

-Breadfruit.

-Breadfruit.

-Oh, I never had that.

-In my house, we don't -- we don't really use potato anymore.

Stews, curries like this, we just kind of use 'ulu.

My kids love it.

-It's a little sweet.

It's like half ripe almost.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Here we have togarashi, kind of a Japanese chili shimi pepper.

Hawaiian salt.

Kukui nut, 'inamona.

-Traditionally, these are really the only two ingredients.

-Yeah, really, generally, yeah.

Green onion.

I make a green onion aioli, and then it's also got some smashed avocado inside that we integrate.

-Little heat.

-And a little heat, some jalapeño.

-Oh, yeah.

-Ooh.

Everything he put in the dish played an important role.

-Yeah, we offer rice or greens, but, like, yeah, these greens are beautiful.

We'll start to plate the gr-- or the poke.

Our house glaze, our yaki glaze we make in here.

Some sake marine.

-Oh, fancy.

-'Ulu, breadfruit -- I've never had breadfruit in a poke before, which worked out perfect.

Oftentimes, you think poke bowl on a bowl of rice.

It was so good with these fresh greens, and the starch that we didn't have in the rice came from the 'ulu.

Oh.

-Yeah, the 'ulu.

-Yeah.

-Very good.

Mmm.

So you have a combination of, you know, your Japanese in here.

You get Hawaiian.

-It works.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's not confusing.

The 'inamona and the pa'akai, you get that traditional, like, Hawaiian flavor.

But then you have with the aioli with the avocado in it -- oh!

-Mm-hmm.

♪♪ There are so many beautiful things about Moloka'i that I don't think a lot of people see from outside.

To me, it reflects sort of the old Hawaii.

♪♪ -You can't come to Moloka'i without visiting a good friend's local business, Kealopiko.

They specialize in textiles and fashion.

Every single article of clothing that they design has a very deeply seated story behind it.

That's what really sets Kealopiko apart from this multitude of aloha-wear producers in Hawaii.

So, this is our Kealopiko workshop here on Moloka'i, where we make all of our All Aloha collection.

So typically we hand-dye all of our fabrics.

-What do you dye them with?

-These, we use natural dyes that are fixed by the sun, so it gives it a more weathered texture, makes it look more like kapa.

Then typically we come in and we'll screen-print whatever we've dyed.

We do that really organically, so we don't use machines.

It's really by feel.

-So no two pieces are ever the same, because even just the way you -- you screen it, it's just like plop it down.

-Yep.

So for, say, an aloha shirt, we'll make 15 pieces that are the same color, the same print, and the same print color.

Each piece is its own because of how the art is placed on the fabric.

So 15 guys will have the same shirt, but it will look different.

It won't be exactly the same.

Each of our designs has a story that goes along with it, and for us, the hangtag is really the key, because clothing is great, but we're really storytelling here, just as our -- as our kupuna do or as you do with song or as even you do with food.

On one side, it's in Hawaiian, 'cause that's one of our values for our company, to share Hawaiian language.

On the other side, it's in English, so it'll explain the design.

It'll give you some Hawaiian culture information but also scientific information, particularly because our kupuna were scientists, and then it'll have some 'olelo.

And so the 'olelo is usually based on research about the design.

So in this design, it's a malolo and the ulu.

so the ocean waves.

Instead of taking an 'olelo no'eau and copying it and just putting it into our text, our culture, our language is still alive.

So it's still evolving.

We don't need to copy from our kupuna.

We can draw from them and make new.

So that's usually what we do is we gather all of our information about the design, about the -- the image, the how it makes us feel.

You know, if it's a plant or an animal, we'll go and visit with them and then we'll come up with an 'olelo no'eau that's new, you know.

-Oh, unreal.

You've got to be familiar with all that in -- in music.

-Absolutely.

Yes.

That's why knowing the language is -- is pretty important.

And with music, the correct pronunciation.

But for me as an artist, I would make sure, you know, like with Kealopiko, they -- they work through the process.

There's a certain protocol to each method.

And for an artist that sings songs of the old, you know, I have to go straight to the source.

-Right.

-And then I also have to think of the composer involved, you know, what was she thinking or what was he thinking during that time and how -- and also thinking of that certain time period.

Okay.

-Okay.

-[ Singing in Hawaiian ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -What's your inspiration for the music that you play?

Is it mostly from over here?

-Well, you know, growing up, I danced hula, and hula wasn't something that I really embraced.

It was the music.

That's kind of what captured my heart.

I kind of, like, forgot I was dancing, you know.

I wanted -- I wanted to be in the -- in the back with the musicians.

[ Singing continues ] -So is there any specific songs growing up here that really stand out?

-Well, you know, for -- for Moloka'i, a lot of my greatest memories were, you know, the ancient myths, you know, and legends.

-There's so many over here.

-I mean, this island has so many stories.

-Right.

-I fell in love with the folklore and, you know, these people of the past, you know, ancient Hawaiians.

We, of course, recognize Hina, the goddess of Moloka'i.

So if you're from Moloka'i, you have -- you got to know this song.

-Right.

-You know, it's an old traditional song entitled "Moloka'i Nui a Hina."

[ Singing continues ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -What I do is Hawaiian music.

-Another famous Helm musician is Raiatea's uncle, George Jarrett Helm.

With his music, George was able to spread his message about caring for the 'aina.

As native Hawaiians, the land is our ancestor, and in 1977, George sacrificed his life protecting the island of Kaho'olawe, and by doing so, he sparked the revival of Hawaiian consciousness.

-He has inspired so many and in different ways.

You know, and this is the thing, you know.

They never considered themselves activists because what they were doing, it was something that was good.

It was right.

You know, even though I didn't get to meet him in person, I kind of have an idea of who he -- who he was, you know, because some parts of him live in our family.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Moloka'i is broken into three sections -- the west end, central, and east end.

On this unforgettable day, we get to visit the west end and learn from master fisherman Uncle Mac Poepoe.

We're here for poke and we were fortunate to be hosted to a private conservation fishing area that's been taken care of by Uncle Mac Poepoe.

Mo'omomi is the most intact beach and coastal dune system in the Hawaiian Islands.

There are more than 22 native Hawaiian plants there, four of which are rare or endangered.

We went down there specifically to throw net and catch fish to make poke like Raiatea remembered it when she grew up here.

♪♪ I had been there probably about 30 years ago.

Returning there this morning at the break of dawn, it seemed like it was completely unchanged.

-Something about that side of Moloka'i is just so... haunting.

♪♪ My cousin, you know, Kekama, I've never seen him like that, so serious.

And it was my first time fishing with them.

-Uncle Mac Poepoe, he started by saying, "I'm not religious, I don't pray, but I do respect this place."

Mo'olelo, the legends of the place, he found very important and the respect of the fishermen.

He was just the keeper of the knowledge that had been handed down through generations that deserved respect.

Probably one of the most raw, just unspoiled beaches that I've ever been to.

But I couldn't help but notice the plastic pollution that happened to be everywhere.

Ocean pollution, that was something that, when I was here 30 years ago, wasn't there.

It's an international problem that we all need to start addressing.

-These mounds over here are all 'ohiki mounds.

It's a really vital part of the whole ecosystem, the fish they eat.

When you come, you look at all this, you know, everything is present, is there.

When you go look at the rocks, you look at all these limu that's growing, I think telling one big story, you know.

-It was really like he was hunting.

It wasn't just a by chance, "Oh, I threw a net and I caught fish."

One time when it was clear, perfectly clear water and I could actually see the fish, and Uncle Mac was crouched down.

He was waiting for the wave to come in because then the white water would make this cover on the -- on the top and the fish wouldn't see him, and that's when he would throw.

-Wow.

Mahalo ke Akua.

♪♪ ♪♪ -We proceeded back to Kekama's House.

10, 12, 14, 16, 18, one throw.

We all took turns, scaled the fish, gutted the fish, cleaned the fish.

-[ Speaks indistinctly ] -Sand turtles.

-Yeah, right there, sand turtle.

How's that?

Look, it's still alive.

-Come on.

-Baby sand turtle.

-Eats it.

-Most of the time you think poke, you think redfish, you think ahi, sometimes tako or he'e, which is octopus.

But rarely do you get to eat reef fish.

His method for this fish is unlike anything I've ever had or seen.

-So what I like to do is get one side butterfly filleted or just chunk this up like this.

You get the bone side.

And you get the side without the bone, yeah?

-Fillet.

-What was interesting to me is he didn't skin the fish, he didn't take the bones out.

Then he said, "I love the bone side, but you got to have the side with no bones for the people that don't like the bones."

The meat closest to the bone is always the best.

And added pa'akai, which is Hawaiian sea salt from Mo'omomi.

The concept is, if it grows together, it goes together.

So it makes perfect sense.

And 'inamona.

-How's this 'inamona?

It's so wet.

-Yeah, I've never seen it like that.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Little bit of nioi, chili pepper.

Shook it up, put it on ice, wait a couple hours, wait for the flavors to come together.

It was what I was hoping we would find when we came to Moloka'i is truly authentic poke.

♪♪ So did you do this?

You said you were cleaning fish.

You remember doing that?

-Of course, yeah.

It was a family thing.

And Dad went to fish, all the uncles and the cousins, you know.

Now it's coming full circle with Kekama, you know, being the next generation.

This is bringing back some memories.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -You know, my uncle says in one of his videos, aloha 'aina does not exist without family.

-[ Singing in Hawaiian ] -Growing up with love in your family is so, so significant to how we look at life, how we treat people.

And because I grew up with that, you know, I try my best to aloha folks, even strangers.

You know, just nice gestures can go a long way.

-Here on Moloka'i, we enjoyed two different styles of poke.

One was a delicious traditional preparation, and the second was a modern creative version from the next generation of young chefs, something that I think our Hawaiian ancestors would have loved.

What I learned from both dishes is that if your process is not culturally rooted with a historic point of reference, your dish is nothing more than just a bowl of disconnected elements.

Each beautiful ingredient serves a purpose and adds a new page to the story.

We're all storytellers.

You tell stories of our people through music.

They tell stories through their clothing.

And we tell our stories through food.

They bring people together.

They help to define an identity and perpetuate a culture.

-[ Singing in Hawaiian ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪