Poi pounding

I know it's really the season for mochi pounding, but having not yet found a Japanese family who will take me into their wings for their yearly tradition, I attend a poi pounding demonstration hosted by Slow Food KCC instead. Like many poi pounders I've come across, Daniel Anthony is a storyteller and comedian. I suppose one has keep himself and others entertained during the lengthy and tedious process of pounding poi. What a workout...I'm thinking of advising Ben on ditching the Perfect Pushup and getting our own wooden board and stone pounder. Not to mention the delicious result: pa'i 'ai, or mashed taro. At first, it confuses me that cubes of steamed poi can be pounded to resemble a slightly sticky play doh that can be kneaded and folded like bread dough, until I remember my early cooking days when vigorous overbeating of mashed potatoes resulted in a gluey, gray mass. Somewhere in the process of pounding the taro and releasing the starches, the taro also becomes sweeter.

Still, there's really only so much I can eat before I tire of it as is. Daniel has numerous ideas on how to jazz it up, from different flavors to smoothies to calzones (hm.....). First, though, we have to get more farmers growing it.