Fact or Fiction? Shaved Ice Vendor Experimenting with Sushi Flavors

Haleiwa Shaved Ice

The following submission is either completely fictional or is fact-based.  Please post a comment noting whether you think it is True or False with your own entertaining or supporting commentary.  The answer will be revealed in a future comment on this post.

Our stay on Oahu and Maui is reaching its conclusion and somehow we nearly missed out on a Hawaiian islands’ tradition, shaved ice - That tasty treat known in Ohio (where we grew up) as snow cones.  Luckily, our travels this week took us to the little town of Haleiwa where we encountered Matsumoto’s Haleiwa Shaved Ice.

This legendary shaved ice hot spot was hard to miss with its long line of customers cascading onto the sidewalk.  We spotted a camera crew from the local news outlet and quickly learned that Matsumoto’s supplemented its traditional syrup flavors (i.e.: cherry and banana) with more creative offerings such as green tea and pickled mango, but that wasn’t what had attracted the media.  Further investigation revealed that the owners were experimenting with a new flavor based on sushi grade ahi tuna which was presented with an optional dollop of fresh wasabi.

When asked about the creative offering, the shop’s representative informed us that it was created in an effort to appeal to the Japanese tourist community which contributes strongly to their business.  While sales of the unique flavor have not been significant, it has garnered positive press and increased foot traffic to this local institution which currently sells more than 1,000 shaved ices each day.