Getting Huhu Over Pupu

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Wednesday - March 26, 2008

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Ron Nagasawa is on vacation. This column was originally published July 2, 2000.

Eating plays such a major role in all of our lives - if you think about it, all of our greatest life achievements are celebrated by consuming lots of food. There’s first birthday baby luaus, graduation parties and, of course, wedding receptions.

Too bad for me that I have some kind of jinx hanging over my head. Maybe it’s just me, but I find that whenever I attend one of these celebrations, the table or row where I’m sitting always gets called last to hit the buffet line.

About the only thing that saves me from near starvation is that all local parties usually have a generous pupu table. Since I have such bad luck with getting the main meal in a reasonable amount of time, I will load up and consume a massive plate of appetizers.

The other week our family attended a baby luau. Before we sat down at a row of tables, my wife volunteered to get me a plate of pupus while I went to get a beer. When I got back to my seat, she was nowhere in sight, but a plate filled with poke, raw crab and boiled peanuts sat on the table.

I silently thanked her and in record speed, cleared the paper plate of its contents. Just as I pushed the now-empty plate aside, a guy holding a beer in each hand came to the table and exclaimed, “What the ... who wen eat all my food?”

Everyone in the vicinity fell silent, and that’s about the time I saw my wife walking toward the table with my pupu plate in her hands. I threw on my best wide-eyed innocent look and waited for someone to let on that I was the culprit. That moment never came, but I was riddled with guilt.

I took my full plate of pupus, handed it to the guy and said, “That’s unreal, brah, take some of mine.” Somewhat suspicious, he thanked me, but before I could make a clean getaway, my wife pointed at my face and said, “Why do you have crab shell bits on your chin?”