Saying aloha and mahalo to BU
Hawaiian students hold annual luau on Saturday
Spring has finally come to Boston, although it lacks some of the tropical feel that the members of the Hawaii Cultural Association remember from home. So for the past 12 years, they’ve worked to “spread a little aloha” around campus at this time of year, says association president Alison Tomisato.
“We’re spreading the Hawaiian culture in the Boston community,” says Tomisato (COM’06). “Our luau draws both students as well as people from Hawaii who live in the greater Boston area, and people really seem to enjoy it.”
This year’s luau is on Saturday, April 22, at 6 p.m. in the George Sherman Union’s Metcalf Ballroom, and organizers have gone out of their way to bring island culture to campus. “A luau is traditionally centered on food, so we’re doing things like kalua pig, which is shredded pork, and lomi lomi salmon, a Hawaiian salad of salmon and traditionally massaged tomatoes,” Tomisato says. “Lomi means massage in Hawaiian.”
Hawaiian comedian Augie T. will make his first Boston appearance, and students will perform traditional Hawaiian and Tahitian dances as well. A canned food drive, benefiting the Greater Boston Food Bank, will also take place; participating guests will receive a free gift and be entered in a drawing to win free interisland airfare for two.
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in advance at the GSU Link. For more information, visit the Hawaii Cultural Association’s Web site at http://people.bu.edu/pauhana.