There is a moʻolelo of a Chiefess (in some versions a chief, or a god), who lived long ago during a time of great famine.  Seeing her people starve, she ordered them to bury her alive as an offering to the gods.  The people at first refused, but eventually had to obey her command.

 
After they had done her bidding, they wept and wept for their beloved chiefess -- now all truly seemed lost.  It is said that their tears soaked the earth, and that from the wetting of the ground sprung a small shoot.  This shoot grew quickly, and became a tree that soon bore a nourishing fruit.  That amazing fruit was the ʻulu, whose name means "to grow". 
Much later, some of the people looked to the sea and saw a woman there, coming to land.  It was their chiefess, alive and draped with long lei of limu kala -- a sign of divine forgiveness.
After that time, the people lived in peace, and always had enough to eat.  

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Ulu is a strengthening food.  Once, it was fed to slaves in the Carribean to make them stronger to work on the plantations.  They refused to eat it.  However, when they rebelled, it became an important food to sustain them, and is now nationally renowned in Jamaica.  Similarly, many Kanaka of Hawaiʻi lost the taste for ulu folllowing the influx of colonial foods after WWII.  However, today, as the value of Ea increases, Ulu's importnce has again come to the forefront.