I called a friend to ask him a question. I started off by asking him if he remembered the late Palani Vaughan, a Hawaiian musician, singer and legend. He said of course, they used to talk story at the old Honolulu Club during morning workouts, as did I. I remember talking to Palani a lot about the food of Hawaii when he was growing up. I was curious of old Hawaii and what they ate and how they prepared dishes. One morning, we got to talking about poke, he was so fascinating, and he agreed to come to the restaurant to show me how he made uhu poke. I know I had to get a certain color uhu per his instructions, as they can be blue, green, red or brown, and are members of the parrotfish family. It was simple, it had to be fresh because we would take the liver and mash it into the cubed fish, add Hawaiian salt and inamona, so simple and delicious! At the time, I never ate raw fish this way; it was an amazing revelation.

I called Brooks Takenaka, general manager of the United Fishing Agency, or as we know it, the fish auction. It’s the only one of its kind in the U.S. Brooks is a treasure chest of information and if you want to talk story about fish, fishing and the old days, this is the man. I called to ask him what color uhu, because I forgot, was the one best for poke. He immediately mentioned, “Oh, the sleeping uhu, panunuhu in Hawaiian.” This also means that a lot of the different colored ones are swimming about and as a result the meat can be more tough, especially when they get bigger. Size matters on this one; the smaller one is better! Brooks reminded me that the color was muddled between reddish brown.

Now, when you start a conversation with Brooks about fishing, diving or cooking, you gotta be ready to spend some time just listening, because you want to hear all that he has to say. I would often take the staff to visit the fish auction when the restaurant was open, so that everyone could see it and hear Brooks talk. He will tell you that he came from a poor fishing family, that they ate almost every part of the fish — eyeballs, livers, heart, intestines, etc. — but he loved it. He didn’t think he came from a poor family because he ate so well, he says. Cynthia, his wife, is also a great cook and very fish savvy, as Brooks always talks about what she made last night or is going to make tonight.

When I mentioned my “simple” night diving excursions back in the day, he started talking about his old diving days, how much fish he saw at this place and that place, some holes and caves were “like going into an aquarium,” it was so abundant. Going in the ocean at night was, still is, a great test of how much cajones you got! On a dark night, no moon, you see only what your flashlight shows you. You see your partner’s light in the distance and you pray your battery’s going last! You see shadows lurking in the channels, your imagination gets the best of you if you think too much, and everything gets magnified under water, thus the fish stories of how big da buggah was!

I so enjoy listening to Brooks talk; he’s informative and you walk away learning something new. It’s people like Brooks, Palani and our kupuna, our past, that informs the present we live in. If we understand our culinary history better, we broaden our awareness and foundation.

This reminded me of my chef again, who said to me, “Cook with two feet on the ground so when you get creative, it makes more sense.”

Chef and restaurateur Alan Wong has wowed diners around the world for decades, and is known as one of the founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. Find his column in Crave every first Wednesday. Currently, Wong is dba Alan Wong’s Consulting Co.