Kanaka Pudding

Kanaka Pudding a highly idiosyncratic dish of hawaii. Rachel Laudan (1996) explains that kanaka, an obsolescent term, was much used in the 19th century to mean Hawaiian, and this pudding, which is indisputably Hawaiian, remained popular up to or beyond the Second World War.

The tradition of eating plain biscuits, (crackers, sea biscuits, or ‘pilots’ as they are called locally) is a vigorous one in Hawaii; sugar is a Hawaiian product; and canned milk has been a leading staple. These ingredients are all that is needed to make kanaka pudding, by softening the crackers in hot water and taking them with sugar or condensed milk and possibly a little butter.