Skip to main content
The notion of “edible art” brings to mind visions of candy bouquets and aesthetic charcuterie boards—food simply arranged to look like something else. For Daphne Kauahiʻilani Jenkins, butter mochi is a medium—a sticky, perfectly chewy vessel to comment on the politics of food and identity.
Traditionally, this Hawaiian dessert staple is a simple combo of rice flour, sugar, milk and eggs, and sometimes coconut flakes, depending on a family’s recipe. It’s similar to a dense pound cake but with a chewy mochi bounce, and more pillowy than cakey. Jenkins’ ʻOno Mau Goods (onomaugoods.com) are more nuanced, layered with seasonal ingredients from the Pacific Northwest and her native Oʻahu, and rarely repeated. One may feature Kahuku Farm Lilikoʻi Butter flown back in her suitcase from a visit to the islands, or Mount Hood strawberries with a layer of locally made Pistakio spread and a sprinkling of homegrown pea shoots. Another, a riff on pineapple upside-down cake called “Pineapple Overthrow,” references the oppressive presence of the Dole Plantation on Oʻahu and its role in the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the last reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
“I found my voice through butter mochi,” Jenkins says. “Through this, I get to write. I get to teach. I get to serve. I get to tell my story and honor my heritage.”
Jenkins honed her pandemic pastime-turned-“passion art practice” through a 2024 Caldera Artists in Residence program that allowed her to take bigger swings in a commercial kitchen. Now when she isn’t at her nonprofit 9-to-5, she’s working on custom orders that function more like artist commissions, requiring a two-week minimum lead time. Each batch depends on the client, what’s in season, and where Jenkins’ creative intuition takes her. Some people with nostalgia for classic butter mochi have clashed with her experimental approach. Jenkins welcomes it.
“I’ll never make it like your grandma, but I want to hear about it. I want to try it!” she says. “Now when I hear people expressing their opinions, I see the signs of a burgeoning culinary artist. I’m like, come on in, the butter mochi’s warm.”
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2025 here!
