The origins and evolution of Hawaii's favorite dish. Poke's come a long way from its origins in pre-contact times, when ancient Hawaiians feasted on freshly caught fish massaged with sea salt, seaweed and crushed inamona or kukui nuts. Today poke shops are popping up from Los Angeles to Kansas City to New York.
It's unclear as to where the dish originated, but the present form of pok became popular around the 1970s. It used skinned, deboned, and filleted raw fish served with Hawaiian salt, seaweed, and roasted, ground candlenut meat. This form of pok is still common in the Hawaiian islands.