Grandma Vovo’s Kitchen
Portuguese Family Memories
Makawao History Museum
Author Alice Tavares poses with Museum Exhibit Curator Cherie Attix, and Darrel Orwig.
“Vovo’s Kitchen,” based on Alice Tavares’ book “Hub of My Wheel A Portuguese Family Memories On Maui” gives you a taste of Portuguese life in Upcountry Maui around 75 years ago.
Vovo's table; with two old chairs sat against the wall, covered with oil cloth. Above the table, she placed a picture of The Last Supper. The actual picture that hung from Vovo's kitchen hung in the MHM exhibit, having been kept by Alice. Religion was an essential part of Vovo's life, she practiced at Saint Joseph Churcha and at home. She blessed every loaf of Portuguese sweet bread before it was baked.
Vovo and her family lived in a plantation camp which shared a communal forno (seen outside the exhibit window). Each family within the camp were assigned a day of the week to use the oven. Because it was regularly used, the forno was kept fired, fueled by guava and eucalyptus wood supplied by the the plantation. The Fernandez' forno, almost six feet high and nearly that in diameter, baked ten loaves of VoVo's bread at a time. Used by the family daily at mealtime, smothered with Vovo's homemade butter, Alice describes it as "oh so ono!"
The Portuguese are justly proud of a local delicacy, Pao Doce, also known as Portuguese sweet bread, a subtly sweet lightly textured loaf or rolls.
