One of the great pleasures of living here has been discovering the plate lunch or mixed plate.

We don’t have anything quite like it back home, maybe the closest is Chinese takeout or the occasional deli line. The culinary cultural contribution from Minnesota would be hot dish, which you call casserole.

Dontcha know tater tot hot dish? Or basically anything heavy that involves some combination of wild rice, green beans and Campbell’s cream-of-whatever soup?

But rarely do people eat hot dish for lunch, unless it’s leftovers. We’re big on leftovers, too.

Ahh, the plate lunch. A few things make the plate lunch great, the first being that it rarely costs more than $7, which is the best deal in Hawaii, unless you actually like Jack in the Box (Overrated and overcooked.).

My second favorite thing about plate lunches is the portions. I think there is a state law that says a plate lunch isn’t a plate lunch unless its weight requires that you to carry it with both hands. Every plate lunch is good for at least two meals.

So what is a plate lunch? I’m not sure about the exact definition, since plate lunches are infused with at least a dozen cooking styles and nationalities. Filipino, Portugues, Japanese, Korean and Hawaiian appear to be the most common.

The plate lunch’s history supposedly dates back to WWII and the days of the sugar plantations, when all the various cultures found themselves working side by side and would bring their lunches with them. They took a little kulua pork here, some tempura shrimp there, add pickled veggies or fruit and throw in the Japanese creation of the bento box for a container. And there it is.

From what I’ve seen, a plate lunch can be any be just about entrée as long as it’s accompanied by gigantic scoops of white rice, steamed or fresh cabbage and -- holy moly -- macaroni salad.
Macaroni salad deserves its own blog. I can’t believe how prevalent this stuff artery-clogging stuff is. Delicious. Even though it’s pretty much just mac and mayo. Lots and lots of mayo.

Can anyone please tell me about the history of this stuff?

I’m getting to be kind of a macaroni salad connoisseur. I think there shouldn’t be so much mayo that there is enough clinging to the container lid to slather on two ham sandwiches. There should also be enough to coat every piece of macaroni. Nothing sadder than dry macaroni salad.

My favorite is with just fine carrots and celery bits. Although I’ve had it with potatoes or boiled egg, which ain’t bad either.

As for plate lunch entrees, my favorite is katsu, either chicken or pork. I don’t care. I’m also getting to be a fan of all the kinds of fried fish, Korean ribs and the myriad stews here, such as beef and peas or spicy curry tofu.

I can’t believe that lau lau isn’t served in every town in America. And the loco moco is nuts, man. I could not believe when I saw it on a menu for the first time: a half-pound hamburger, no bun, just gravy, fried onions and two fried eggs on top. I ate the whole thing and then fell into a coma-like stupor for three days.

Maui fried chicken is unique as well. The breading is lighter, so you can really taste the chicken, but it’s pretty oily.

I once had a fried chicken plate lunch on Molokai that still had some feathers from the bird, a colleague said she had a similar experience. Hey, I figure at least you know that the chicken is fresh, although a little gamey.

My only complaint about the plate lunch is that it doesn’t come on a plate. It comes in one of those Styrofoam divided containers. With all the emphasis in Hawaii on environmental issues, I would have thought that someone by now would have invented some reasonably priced plate lunch container made out of recycled cardboard.

Okay. So I’m new here. Help a hoale out. Please, tell me about the best places to find a plate lunch on Maui. My plan is to eat my way across this island and learning about as many cultures as possible. One plate lunch at a time.