What can you tell me about Ava?

Question

Does anyone know about Ava (or Kava) drink? Other than it's from the roots of a pepper plant, I really don't know much. I heard there was a bar in Honolulu that serves Ava - does anyone know the name of the bar?

Answer 1

exempt for being somewhat pompous and rude mauikitti answer seems to cover pretty much every thing on the subject

being hawaiian myself i feel sharing our culture and overall way of life will help to provide understanding to those who arn't familiar with the history of the hawaiian people

and just a little history lesson that most people don't know about the hawaiian people. when referring to a native of hawaii the actual word isn't hawaiian its actually ( Kanaka maoli )

Answer 2

Kava is ment for spiritual experience and phycisal healing. I believe what is being served up in the bars ouut here has been modified.

Not that it matters, we ( Hawaiians ) do a great job of allowing even our most sacred and treasured points of our culture
to be sold and used for greedy, sick, monstor Hospitality.

Kava is used for a variety of purposes, medicinal, religious, political, cultural and social throughout the Pacific. These cultures have a great respect for the plant and place a high importance on it. Kava is used primariarly in social gatherings to increase amiability and to relax after a day's work. It additionally has great religious significance, being used to obtain inspiration. In some Westernized Pacific-peoples, the drink has been demonized and seen as a vice; it is not uncommon for youth of such populations to reject their traditional cultural ties with the plant.

On 15 February 2006, the Fiji Times and Fiji Live both reported that researchers at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and the Laboratoire de Biologie Moleculaire du Cancer in Luxembourg had discovered kava may be effective in the treatment of ovarian cancer and leukemia. Kava compounds inhibited the activation of a nuclear factor that led to the growth of cancer cells. Aberdeen University had published its findings in the journal, The South Pacific Journal of Natural Science, that kava methanol extracts had been shown to kill leukaemia and ovarian cancer cells in test tubes. The kava compounds were shown to work selectively, passing healthy cells by and targeting only cancerous cells.
Fresh kava root contains on average 80% water. Dried root contains approximately 43% starch, 20% fibers, 15% kavalactones, 12% water, 3.2% sugars, 3.6% proteins, and 3.2% minerals. Kavalactone content is greatest in the roots and decreases as you move up the plant. Relative concentrations of 15%, 10% and 5% have been observed in the root, stump, and basal stems, respectively.