Embedded Files
- Chinatown Visit, 5%
- Foster Botanical Garden Assignment, 5%
- Written Family Interview, 25%
- The exercises are intended to help students connect information discussed in the classroom, with that learned at home and found in community resources. All information related to written assignments (directions and handouts) are available on this page.
- Handouts are provided for each of the two assignments as a PDF at the bottom of this page. Print these worksheet so that you may complete your answers when you visit the venue.
- Foster Botanical Garden admission charge is the responsibility of the student. Your entrance receipt (to prove that you actually visited the site) should be attached at the upper left corner of your worksheet.
- Students should plan ahead.
- Late assignments will be levied a 10% deduction for each class day that it is late.
- Students must arrange their own transportation to each location. Bus routes and timetables are available at TheBus URL; Please note that weekend and holiday services are not as frequent as on week days. You should plan to spend 2-3 hours at each activity, and also allow sufficient transportation time to get to-and-from the activity (allow 25-50 minutes to get to the site.
- The Foster Botanical Garden is located about 2-3 blocks from the boundary of Chinatown, so you may wish to do both venues at the same time. If you do this, plan to allow enough time (at least more than a half day) before these areas close (suggestion: arrive at Chinatown before the noon hour, have a meal (lunch); and then spend abut 90 minutes exploring the area to complete the worksheet. After exploring Chinatown, go to the Foster Botanical Garden).
- Worksheets for each exercise should be printed out and used during your visit. It is not a good idea to visit the resource, and then try to fill out the worksheet afterwards at home.
- The worksheets are at the bottom of this webpage.
Assignment #1: Chinatown Market Visit (website link to Chinatown website, walking map, and map legend)
Due October 25, 2017
Chinese New Year was on Jan. 28, 2017; this year is the Year of the Rooster. Special dishes during this season are gau and jai. There are many festivities in Chinatown during this period. Local historians list 1789 as the date of the first arrival of Chinese in Hawaii, although they may have been sailors who visited Hawai'i earlier. The early Chinese were involved in constructing and operating the first sugar mills.
They were the first immigrant contract group, from the Kwantung (modern spelling is Gunangdong) Province,
which was arranged by William (oringinally Wilhelm) Hillebrand, MD, (a physician who later wrote the first flora of Hawai) on behalf of the Hawaiian Agricultural Society. After he left Hawaii to return to his native home of Germany, he sold his property to Captain Thomas & Mary Foster; the latter bequeathed her property to the City & County of Honolulu. Hillebrand was also the first physician of Queen's Hospital), While he was in Europe, he also made arrangements in 1876 for the Portuguese contract laborers, who arrived two years later. When the Chinese completed their plantation contract, most (75%) of them settled in the 25 acres now known as Chinatown. There were two occasions (1868 and 1900) when fires destroyed much of this area. Today the merchants of many different ethnic groups (Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Laotian, Thai, Hawaiian, Filipino, Korean, and Caucasian) have united behind a community-based group to revitalize the area with art galleries, specialty shops, and special events, including block parties on the first Friday evening of each month. Frommer's has a suggested walking tour, with a map, as well as Google (both sources are also attached as files below).
- There are many small markets and stores located all over Chinatown, most of which are open Monday-Saturday during normal business hours.
- There is a Chinese bakery, Sing Cheong Yuen Bakery (1027 Maunake St., a few stores mauka of N. King St., on the Diamond Head side, tel. (808)531-6688, open from 7 am - 6
- pm), which sells baked goods, moon cake, peanut or macadamia nut candy, candied fruits and vegetables).
- My favorite place for manapua is Char Hung Sut (64 N. Pauahi Street, yellow building between Smith & Maunakea Streets, tel. (808)538-3335, take-out menu and cash only;open Wed.-Mon., 5 am - 2 pm), which was inducted into the Hawaii Restaurant Association Hall of Fame in 2012... One writer includes this place among the 17 Most Important Restaurants in Honolulu.
Market photo from the defunct Chinatown website:
http://chinatownhi.techmonde.net/?q=node/
- There are markets with char siu, roast pork, and Cantonese roast duck.hanging near the shop's entrance (see Yelp photo of Chun's Meat Market, 157 N. King St, tel. (808)533-0577, on left)..
Three of the largest markets contain many different vendors, selling various foods, produce, meat, and food stalls:
- Maunakea Market Place (#1 on walking map) 1120 Maunakea Street. You may enter on either Hotel or Maunakea Streets. An excellent example of a new development in context with the historic district. A gathering place for Chinatown residents. Watch mah jongg players in the center courtyard; shop for souvenirs; stop in for tea at the Tea Hut or have a meal or snack at food stalls inside the main building. Walk through the open market behind the food court, and see the crowds of people buying fresh vegetables, exotic herbs, tropical fruits, pig’s heads or feet, chicken feet, live eel and fish, etc.
- Oahu Market (#5 on walking map) Corner of King and Kekaulike streets. Founded in 1904, provides feast for the senses. Aromas of char siu (red roast pork), fresh fish, and kim chee (spicy pickled cabbage) waft through the air (Honolulu Star-Bulletin archive photo on right).
Excerpt from: Nguyen, My Lien Thi, Julia Wieting, and Katherine T. Doherty. 2008. Vegetation Analysis of Urban Ethnic Markets Shows Supermarket Generalists and Chinatown Ethnic-specialist Vendors. Ethnobotany Research and Applications 6:63-85.
In 2005, 35 million immigrants lived in the United States. That equates to 12% of U.S. population, and the highest number of foreign-born residents in eight decades. This culturally rich population will undoubtedly have a big impact on food choices in the U.S. due to the strong link between food and ethnicity. Food markets are an important venue to study the dynamic use of plants by ethnic and immigrant communities. The market acts to bring people of similar culinary traditions together as they provide the ingredients necessary for cuisine, which contributes to one’s sense of ethnicity. They are also an area where people of similar cultural backgrounds can meet, exchange information and reinforce community ties. Because the growing immigrant population will continue to have an effect on food plant diversity in the U.S., ethnobotanical studies for empirical data and analysis of ethnic markets and on food plant use are important to understand and address the needs of an increasingly diverse U.S. population.
At 17.2%, Hawai`i ranks fifth for states with the highest percentage of immigrants in the total population. Although Hawai`i is an area of high cultural and ethnic diversity, ethnobotanical information regarding its food markets is antiquated; limited in breadth by focusing on a particular ethnic group, plant form or taxa; or otherwise written for popular audiences.
The Chinatown market and its surrounding historic district, in downtown Honolulu, has long been a gateway to Hawai`i for many immigrants from Asia. The first arrival of Chinese to Hawai`i was in 1789, but it was the arrival in 1852 of contract laborers needed for the growing sugar industry that led to the development of Chinatown. These early Chinese immigrants built stores to support the social and consumer needs of their Chinese community. Today Chinatown is known for its colorful and eclectic blend of many cultures, including Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese (Carter 1988). Cultural groups have described it as an important place for familiar traditional foods and contributing to their happiness with living in Honolulu.
Nguyen, My Lien Thi, Katherine T. Doherty, and Julia Wieting. 2008. Market Survey Research: a model for ethnobotanical education. Ethnobotany Research and Applications 6:87-92
The First Friday of each month features an evening "block party" in Chinatown.
Foster Botanical Garden is located two blocks above North Beretania Street, which is the mauka"boundary" of Chinatown.
Assignment #2: Foster Botanical Garden - Due October 25, 2017
Foster Botanical Garden (located at the top of the Chinatown map; opn daily 9 am - 4 pm) was once the home of William Hillebrand, MD. He traveled to Asia on behalf of the Hawaiian Agricultural Society to obtain contract laborers for the sugar plantations. He was responsible for the first group of Chinese which arrived in Honolulu in 1852. While in Asia he collected plants for his home garden. He lived there for twenty years, and wrote the Flora of the Hawaiian Islanfs, published in 1888, two years after his death in Germany. He also made arrangements for contract laborers from Portugal, after he had returned to his native home.
The property was purchased by Captain Thomas and Mary Foster. The latter bequeathed it to Honolulu as a botanical garden. Two directors of the gardens [Dr. Harold Lyon (first director), and Paul Weissich (landscape architect)] were responsible for adding a large number of plants, both exotic and native, to the plant collections
The cost of admission to the arboretum is not included in the cost of this course. Guided tours by volunteer docents are available at 1 pm (Monday through Friday); reservations arr recommended, call (808)522-7066.
Assignment #3: Family Interview - Due November 29, 2017
Written assignments must be submitted electronically on Laulima as a Word file. The written assignment is graded using an evaluation rubric (See attachment Written Assignment RUBRIC-0314.pdf at the bottom of this page). THIS IS DUE ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, AT 4 PM (both hard copy and electronic copy to laauhawaii@gmail.com).
- The purpose of the written assignment is to express what you have learned about your personal interactions with plants and to promote passing along botanical knowledge within your family. Whether you have thought about it much or not, your family members interact with many plants in hundreds of ways each day. If, through the interview process, you discover that your family really knows very little about plants, then explore why that might be from an ethnobotanical perspective!
- The assignment is based on a set of interviews (more than one) conducted with member(s) of your family from an older generation. It's OK to stretch the definition of "family" to include hanai family or "adopted" family, but ideally, interviews are conducted with older members of your actual family. We'll discuss interview methods during lab.
- The goal of interviews is to learn something about family interactions with plants that were not already known by the student. Think of the assignment as a way to learn something that is interesting and useful for you and your family that you can pass on to your children when they enroll in the class. Consider producing something that you'd be proud to give your Family as a holiday present.
- Examples of topics that can be studied include:
- gathering wild plants for ornament, foods, etc.
- use of herbal products or plant parts for medicine or cosmetics
- growing home gardens
- carving, weaving, or craft activities with plants
- history and plants in traditional family meals
- many other topics (ask the instructors if you are having a hard time finding an idea.
- For reference citations formats, please go to the FAQs page.
- gathering wild plants for ornament, foods, etc.
*Download the full assignment at the bottom of the page*
(Revised September 26, 2017)
- Kekaulike Market (across yhe street from #5 on walking map) Across the street from Oahu Market at Kekaulike Mall between North King and Hotel Streets. The newest market was an instant success with local shoppers. Offers fresh fish, meat, poultry, fruits, and vegetables. (Global photo by Sherry Ott on left)
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