What is Poke?

We know we love it as one of our favorite healthy meals. However, some do not even know the origin of poke. Poke is a Hawaiian dish and Poke is actually pronounced “POH-Keh”, translating to “slice, or cut” into small pieces. This adequately describes the dish as its main ingredients are typically various types of cubed raw fish.  It is served as both an appetizer and main meal.

History has “POH-Keh” beginning as fisherman seasoning the scraps and cut-offs from their catch to enjoy as a snack.  The dish has evolved over the years, incurring slight revisions.  The Poke Bowl that is now popular in the United States and across the globe, offers the ingredients grouped in a bowl, rather than mixed, as traditional versions presented.

These traditional versions also had minimal ingredients using raw fish, Hawaiian salt and seaweed. Today we have numerous ingredients and sauces that include white or brown rice, edamame, pineapple, avocado, ponzu sauce, teriyaki and sriracha sauce to name a few.

As folks seek to implement healthier lifestyles, Poke seems like a good answer.  This is because fish is a great alternate source of protein when seeking to replace red meat in your diet. As “LiveStrong.com” reports “A 6-oz. serving of steak, for example supplies 38 g of protein while the same size portion of salmon contains 34 g of protein.” Nearly equivalent in protein. More importantly eating fish has been proven to reduce one’s risk of cardiovascular disease. Fish is also a good source of vitamin B12, vitamin A and magnesium.