Excerpt from "From Fingers to Finger Bowls"
Chapter V: The Birth of Cities and Cuisines
Hawaii is well represented in California cooking, as well as in its history. The Kanakas were expert sailors and served as crew members on trading ships plying between China and the Pacific Coast. Some of them liked what they found in California and remained. John Sutter had brought with him twelve Islanders, including two women, when he established his fort and trading post in the Sacramento Valley. Coconut punch, whole roast pig and pineapple are typically Hawaiian. Pineapple and coconut are important ingredients in numerous California dishes.
The Anglo-Saxon custom of celebrating New Year's Day was introduced about 1855. The English residents of Los Angeles held Open House, some entertaining hundreds of guests. A few of the native Californians adopted this pleasant custom with great enthusiasm. Turkey and cranberry sauce were served, accompanied by plum pudding, mince pie, eggnog, wine, and other holiday refreshments. Accounts have it that there were those who partook too liberally of the liquid refreshments.
The Cinco de Mayo celebrations of the Mexicans also were elaborate affairs in Los Angeles, with grand parades, spirited music by native musicians and lavish picnics at which the tables groaned under their loads of food and drink.
Los Angeles was a town of innovation, even then. One pleasant custom of the 1850's and 1860s was that of inviting all and sundry to a feast on the opening of a new business venture. By his own admission, Harris Newmark introduced finger bowls to Los Angeles and in his book about his sixty years in Southern California from 1853 to 1913 he wrote:
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"To show the provincial character of Los Angeles fifty years ago...in the metropolis (New York) I had found finger bowls in common use, and having brought back with me such a supply as my family would be likely to need, I discovered that it had actually fallen to my lot to introduce these desirable conveniences to Los Angeles."
