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Sweet and Dry: Day 4 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:54:39 +0000

Sweet and Dry: Day 4- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

Solved the problem of the local buzz today when some friends gave me some mead- sweet, dry and rose. I will report back when I imbibe. I also scored some homemade lilikoi jam and a huge taro root. Not having bread or crackers is a bit of a challenge, I am dying to put the lilikoi jam on a cracker! Anyone have any kiawe, ulu or taro flour?

The biggest challenge I am having so far is really one of preference, not of availability of food. There is plenty of local food available- and a wide variety at that- but what I want is another story. Sure, I can have poi with honey for breakfast, but will I continue to do that? Unlikely. I will probably go back to toast. That being said, eating no processed foods makes me realize how eay it is to slip into a diet that has way too much bread and pasta going on. I am feeling great- lighter and stronger.

What I ate today:
-Mountain Apple brand Eggs Omelet with kale, Hamakua mushrooms, Puna goat feta, basil and green onions
-Carrot-ginger soup
-Opihi
-Crabs
-Spinach salad
-Mango
-Steamed Soybeans
-Cucumber with goat cheese
-Sautéed Eggplant

Costco and Crabs: Day 3 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:48:04 +0000

Costco and Crabs: Day 3- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

Yesterday I bought the “local” local food and today I ate it. I also took a trip to Costco to pick up some pictures and took the opportunity to check out the local food scene.

Costco, the place where many people (more confessions, myself included) but lots of their food, has quite a bit of locally grown vegetables. I did not see any organic local fruits and veggies at Costco and most of the produce was from Oahu, with a few exceptions- the Papayas from Hilo (GMO papaya’s? I am not sure), purple sweet potatoes from Molokai, Hamakua Springs tomatoes and Hamakua Mushrooms. I am guessing that in order to supply Costco a farm would have be pretty well industrialized and is probably not practicing sustainable and regenerative farming techniques. (I would love to be proven wrong- send examples if you have any!) I think we would all agree that our preferred future would not include adding chemicals to the soil or spraying our vegetables. It would also be ideal, in my humble opinion, if our food was produced on smaller homesteads or diversified family farms. It would also be ideal if this food was easily accessible. Farmer’s markets are hot these days, to be sure, but most people still buy their food at the food store or at Costco. Do we need more co-ops? Do buyers need to be more flexible? Other direct farmer to consumer distribution systems?Do we need large scale local farms to tip the import balance- knowing we are currently importing 90% of our food? I love the idea that we all produce food and trade…but it is more of an ideal than a reality for me. I am more of a shopper than grower, more likely to help organize food systems than supply the food. If I had to survive on what I grow in my yard today I would starve. (I did cook up some of my container garden grown kale in my kale,Hamakua mushroom, Puna goat cheese, green onion, Mountain Apple Brand Egg omelet this morning.)

So go ahead blog readers, give it to me...are you pro buying local food in Costco or anti buying local food in Costco? When expressing your opinion, I would like to know how large a family you are feeding and how that effects your purchasing behavior.

By the way- what I ate today:
squid luau
crabs
opihi
cucumber with goat cheese
carrot-ginger soup
omelet with goat cheese, hamakua mushrooms and green onions
mango
banana

Learning About “Local” Local Food: Day Two- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:05:07 +0000

Today I got an education in “local” local foods, as in Hawaiian foods. I have always steered clear of “local” local food because I don’t eat pork and can not abide the calories in even one scoop of macaroni salad. However, real local Hawaiian food I love (except pork.)

CC and Diamond explain options for preparing the crab, opihi and limu.

Today was one of those embarrassing haole days. After dance class (Nia) I stopped by the farmer’s market to do some connecting with people about the North Kohala Eat Locally Grown Campaign and to try to score some food, of course.

A booth at the corner caught my eye…squid luau, opihi, limu and crab. Score! I ordered all of the above, but realized that I didn’t know what to do with the limu, opihi or the crab. I have had opihi and limu at luaus before, but they were prepared for me. I have never eaten the Hawaiian crab. Totally embarrassing! How could I have been living here for 20 years and not know how to prepare those foods. And worse yet, I don’t know how to harvest those foods. No wonder why locals give me the sideways eye when I talk about eating locally. I know nothing about eating “local” locally! Someone teach me please!

Confessions and Condiment Clauses: Day One-My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 19:03:14 +0000

When you wake up bloated from last night’s frozen pizza binge it makes it a lot easier to approach the day with an eye towards lighter eating. I got in late last night from Green Drinks Hawi and didn’t have any time to spend preparing food for today. I had good intentions of making yogurt from my local milk, but that did not happen.

At any rate, I would really like for these 6o days of eating local to take the same amount of time and money that I spend on eating imported food. We should get to the point where we don’t have to have “eat local” challenges because most most of the food in the food store is locally grown and it is priced competitively. As I see it, the main barriers from the consumer perspective to eating more locally grown foods are preference, availability and price. And preference is a huge factor. I would prefer to eat apples to papaya, I just like apples better than I like papaya’s, even though the papaya is abundantly available on my island.

So, back to my good intentions… I didn’t have any food prep time last night, so I just had to wake up and wing it. I woke up at 6:45 am and had to be out the door by 7:15 am with everything I needed for the day. I was heading out to a spin class at the gym, a full work day, chanting on the beach and then dinner out. I whipped up some scrambled eggs with feta and simultaneously microwaved a sweet potato, hard boiled a few eggs and scooped some strawberries into a Tupperware.

I must admit, though, that I started the day by cheating. The first thing to drizzle down my gullet was not local. While I was frantically whipping up all this local food, I was sipping my morning tea. Green tea. From China. I could probably live without green tea in the morning, but it is one of my life’s greatest pleasures. I am also a total tea snob. I know that there is local green tea available from my friends Kim and Taka at Mauna Kea Tea- I just need to get up to Ahualoa and get some. Maunka Kea Tea is having an open farm day on Sept. 18th in conjunction with the Honokaa Peace Parade (where I will be playing the evil Crimson Tide), so that will be my day to score local green tea. There is also Mamaki tea, which I like for during the day, but it does not give me that morning caffeine buzz that I need to kick start the day.

While we are on the subject of confessions (I have a few, this could take a while), perhaps I should reveal a hidden motivation for my embarking upon a 60 day eat local experiment. Yes…we all know that I am trying to raise awareness about the economic and environmental benefits of locally grown foods…blah, blah, blah. But what you may not know is how much I am internally motivated by vanity. Yes, vanity. Plain and simple, I like to look good. I know you would all like to think (as would I) that I am so high minded that something as superficial as how you look on the outside would matter, but it does. I think I can pretty well trace my commitment to healthy food and exercise back to an initial and primary desire to look good. While vanity may be a driver, the benefits are many. Eating a diet comprised predominately of fresh, local food not only keeps my body slim, which makes me feel good inside and out, but it is also totally healthy. I recently got back from a three week vacation where I gained a few too many pounds eating way too much of the delicious local Fijian food. Yes, you can gain weight from fresh, local food, too- the same science applies- you must burn more calories than you intake!

I am not laying around starving while I am on my local food diet. I ran out of my house- computer, workout gear and food in hand- and headed off to spin class. I am determined to feel great after 60 days- slim, toned, and clear of mind.

After spin I had lunch with my friend Susan Cox (aka Green Power Girl) at the secret lair of the Green Power Heroes- the Green Power Palace. Susan, already a local food eater, put together a great salad with local greens, sprouts and avocado. I added a hard boiled egg for some protein.

The Condiment Cheat Clause?
Another confession- or rather my moral compass is wavering around the issue of condiments. The last time I did a 90 day eat local challenge I was super strict about condiments. I sourced local oil (mac nut oil), local salt and used lemon and herbs for dressings. I did not use soy sauce, catchup or any non-local condiments. I am considering a condiment cheat clause this time around. Or at least in the first few days until it becomes easy for me to score oil and salt in the normal flow of my life. Susan did put some olive oil on the salad and I ate it! Later in the day she offered me chocolate (usually a main staple of my diet, I consider it a health food), and I refused emphatically.

Later on in the evening, I met my friend Terry at the Blue Dragon for dinner. The Blue Dragon restaurant grows almost all their own veggies at their farm- Blue Dragon Farms. Whatever they don’t grow themselves, they source locally. I had the house salad (a cheat on the dressing, although is was local lilikoi vinaigrette) and it had blue cheese crumbles (which I pretended I didn’t know were there.) I also had some ahi sashimi on a bed of local green papaya salad. I need to do some more research on the ahi. I know from previous research that about 75% of the fish we eat here in Hawaii is imported! We thing ahi is a “local fish”, but that is not always the case. There is a fresh fish market a few doors down from the Blue Dragon, so I am assuming it is locally caught, but I do need to do some more research on that.

Terry was trying to trip me up by encouraging me to cheat and take a sip of his wine. I fought off his devilish approach! There are some local honey meads, which I look forward to getting my hands on. Dash from Uluwehi Farms also has some jabotocaba wine that will be ready soon!

Meanwhile, back at home, little did I know that my husband was busy making a peach pie. I came home and was greeted at the door with the aroma of fresh baked pie. I ate a banana and went to bed.

Cheetos and Pizza: Day Zero- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 03:02:57 +0000

In preparation for the North Kohala Eat Locally Grown Campaign and the Kanu Eat Local Challenge I am eating only locally grown foods for 60 days.. starting on September 3rd. To me “locally grown” means only foods grown, harvested, hunted and fished in Hawaii. I will try to source first from my North Kohala community, then Big Island and then the State.

9/2
I don’t know why, but a strange junk food craving has set in immediately prior to my perceived deprivation. I am on Maui for a few days staying at my girlfriend Mary’s house and she brought home Milano cookies and Cheetos. How did she know that I have a deep and ancient relationship with Cheetos? They were my preferred snack food when I was growing up. It was hard to separate me from that bag. Thankfully, Mary had a bit of a stomach virus and I had the whole bag to myself.

I wanted to start my experiment on September 1st, but since I was taking a trip to Maui I revised my start date to September 3rd. That meant that I would have no time for lengthly sourcing or preparation, I would just have to start winging it. Today I flew in from Maui and only had time for a quick stop at the KTA food store in Kailua-Kona before heading home to Hawi and starting to eat local the next morning. KTA has a long history of supporting local farmers and locally made products through their Mountain Apple Brand. I came out with: Mountain Apple Brand milk, Molokai Sweet potatoes, fresh soy beans, two types of cucumbers, red cabbage, green cabbage, celery, Hamakua Springs tomatoes, bananas, eggs, Puna Goat Cheese feta and spreadable and ka’u oranges.

One of the comments that I often hear is that eating locally grown food is more expensive than imported food and, therefore, only for the food elite. In order to examine whether or not this is true, I am keeping track of all my expenses. I am not sharing my food with my husband and son (I am not known for being the family cook, anyway!) so I can get an accurate accounting.

Since I am very into local foods, the night before I started my experiment I was craving one of my native foods- pizza. There I was cramming a not very good frozen pizza into my mouth at 9:30 pm at night. Shameful, really. Not even something I normally do, but it felt right in the moment.

Kanu Organizer’s Boot Camp in North Kohala

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:05:30 +0000

Check out some of Craig Elevtich’s pics from the Kanu Boot Camp this weekend

Next Green Drinks Hawi

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:05:58 +0000

Horses, Quantum Abstractions & Me: Peter’s New Art show at Living Arts Gallery

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 03:53:40 +0000

Want to have a painting of me (but looking younger, more exotic and with bigger boobs) hanging in your living room? Here it is:

My portrait is a part (small part!) of Peter’s new show in the Living Arts Gallery in Hawi. There will be an artist’s reception from 5 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 28 at Living Arts Gallery, which is located on the main street of historic Hawi, 55-3435 Akoni Pule Highway, No. 10. You can come see the show until mid-September- the gallery is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 889-0739.

Go Local at Village Burger in Waimea

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:36:34 +0000

I recently had lunch at the new Village Burger in Waimea. Great “local foods” concept, great food and great service. It is so nice to know exactly where your food comes from!

Volcano Island Honey Wins Kuleana Award for Green Business

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:12:46 +0000

Diane Chadwick, Co-Chair of the Kuleana Committee presents Richard Spiegel with the 2010 Kuleana Award.

Of course, I am especially proud because I do a lot of work with Volcano Island Honey! Volcano Island Honey Co. (VIHC) was recognized for its ongoing commitment to social and environmental principles in business as the winner of this year’s Kuleana Award. The Kuleana Award is presented each year at the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce Kuleana Green Business & Environment Conference. Read the full story here.