Pu Pu Platter

Egg rolls, Spare Ribs, Chicken Fingers & Wings, Teriyaki Beef & Jumbo Shrimp, Crab Rangoon

The term "pu pu platter" appears to be a mid-20th century introduction to the American Chinese culinary lexicon, though the concept of serving pūpū appears to have spread to North America from Hawaii via such entrepreneurs as Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic during the craze for "Polynesian-style" food of the 1940s and 1950s.

The "pupu platter" of that time was in actuality based largely on Cantonese cuisine as interpreted by American bar owners who catered to the American taste for "exotic" Polynesian/Asian dishes. During this period, most Chinese restaurants in the United States were Cantonese-operated. Such restaurants catered to the more conservative American public while still providing a taste of the exotic, and may have provided a "pupu platter," though not necessarily by that name. The fact that the American Chinese pu pu platter is almost always served in a hardwood tray (with carved sections for each food item) seems further evidence that the dish is of Hawaiian origin.

The first pupu platter was probably served in 1934 in California, according to Jennifer Trainer Thompson, writing in "The Great Tiki Drink Book." That's when Ernest Beaumont-Gantt, a former bootlegger, opened his Hawaiian-inspired place in Hollywood that he called Don the Beachcomber. He put pupu platters on the menu, and his Zombie creation (a rum drink for which Thompson says Gantt never gave away the recipe) was served at the 1939 New York World's Fair. With such success under his aloha shirt, he changed his name to Donn Beach and franchised his operation from Chicago to Hawaii.

The pupu platter became a national phenomenon.

Also in 1934, Victor Bergeron opened a hunting camp-style bar called Hinky Dinks in Oakland, Calif. He was a serious traveler and eater who visited Don the Beachcomber. Seeing and understanding success, he went home and replaced deer heads and snowshoes at his restaurant with hula girls and wooden tikis. He changed the name of his establishment to Trader Vic's and mainstreamed Polynesian-inspired drinks and food such as the pupu platter, Thompson writes.

What to serve on a Pu Pu Platter:

A typical pu pu platter might include egg rolls, fried wontons, Cantonese style spare ribs, chicken wings, chicken fingers, skewered beef teriyaki, crab rangoon, fried shrimp, shrimp toast among other appetizer items, accompanied with a small hibachi grill.

Recipes:
Eggs Rolls
Fried Wontons
Cantonese Spareribs (Char Siu)
Chicken Wings
Teriyaki Beef Sticks
Fried Shrimp
Shrimp Toasts
Coconut Shrimp (popular dish at tiki bars in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys)
Crab Rangoon
Rumaki (bacon-wrapped bites of chicken liver and water chestnuts)