Ka Po‘e Kahiko o Wai‘anae Story
Lydia Hilapo Sharpe, born in Wai‘anae in 1907:
"Besides fishing, we would go to the beach to pick limu that we would bring home for the family to eat. There were all kinds of limu and we were taught the different kinds that were especially ono to eat. There was the lipe‘epe‘e, lipoa, limu huna, limu manauea, and some others I've forgotten, and they grew in abundance on the papa near the Puenakua side of Waialua. There was also lots of ha‘uke‘uke (sea urchins) at Puenakua that not many people knew about. My grandparents would gather these ha‘uke‘uke, bring it home, then scrub the spindles on the rocks to remove them, crack it open and we would eat the insides of the ha‘uke‘uke. It was delicious.
Further down from Kaiaka where we lived was Anahulu stream and, after a heavy rain pour, we would go down to the stream to gather the limu ‘ele‘ele. All the people of the area would run to the river with their buckets to fill with the limu ‘ele‘ele. When we brought home our buckets, Mama would soak and clean the limu then add Hawaiian salt. Adding the Hawaiian salt made the limu pahe‘e."
Reference Cited
Waianae Coast Culture and Arts Society. 1986. Ka Poe Kahiko O Waianae: Oral Histories of the Waianae Coast of Oahu. Topgallant Publishing Company, Limited. Honolulu, HI.
