Share Your Table: A Mexican-Korean-Japanese holiday feast

Chef Kevin pulls out the achiote turkey from the oven
(All photos courtesy of Adriana Torres Chong)

Only in Hawaii do so many different countries' cuisines so easily find their way to our tables, particularly around the holidays. Growing up on the mainland in a Chinese household that didn't cook, we always ate Chinese food at Chinese restaurants for all holidays (reliably open 365 days a year). So when I left for college, I resisted going home for Thanksgiving, opting instead to follow my Caucasian friends to their all-American Thanksgiving turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy feast, crazy relatives included. From then on, I've wanted every Thanksgiving dinner that I prepare to be nothing but "traditional." But then I married a Mexican-Filipino, and tortillas, rice, and adobo somehow sneak themselves onto the dinner table. And these days, nostalgia finds its way into a lup cheong fried rice stuffing for the turkey.

Of course, it's not only on my holiday table that myriad cultures come together...our managing editor's Thanksgiving spread included turkey with all the trimmings, lomi salmon, sushi, challah bread, tofu-salmon-watercress salad, chow mein, and tako namasu.

Foods from all cultures come together on this holiday table

And I'm especially impressed by Kevin and Adriana Torres Chong's Mexican-Korean-Japanese holiday banquet which included Achiote turkey, mandoo, sashimi, and a coconut flan. Kevin is the chef de cuisine of Chef Mavro and Adriana is the instructor for Mexican Cuisine at KCC (one can only imagine how amazing this feast prepared by two chefs must have been!). Kevin and Adriana drew on their respective Korean and Mexican cultures to assemble this holiday dinner, which took place on Thanksgiving, but is also Christmas and New Year's rolled into one giant feast, as Thanksgiving is the only holiday of the season that Kevin has off.

Fish and zucchini jun

The turkey was coated with Achiote, a traditional adobo sauce inherited by the Mayan culture. Side dishes to the turkey included pickled red onions and habaneros, a chorizo-mushroom stuffing, and a traditional gravy (sometimes we just can't escape tradition!). Kevin's mother provided the Korean side of the feast, including kimchee (of course), fish jun, zucchini jun, Korean-spiced shrimp, and mandoo. To help round out the celebration, a sister brought a local favorite, Chinese vegetable stew, and an uncle who's also the owner of Sushi Masa in Honolulu brought a sashimi platter, a nod to Hawaii's way of celebrating the new year.