Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

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- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown


Yesterday I bought the “local” local food and today I ate it- my first experience with the local crabs (live on video, below!). Today I 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) buy a lot of their food, has quite a bit of locally grown vegetables and some fruit.





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? 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- and if this food was more easily accessible. Farmers 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? Do we need more direct farmer-to-consumer distribution systems? Knowing we are currently importing 90% of our food- do we need large scale local farms to tip the import balance? 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 a 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.








Now to the crabs…








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

In this podcast I interview Guy Kaulukukui, Director of the Kohala Center’s Food Self-Reliance Program.

Guy has been tasked with developing a “critical path” to food self-reliance for Hawaii Island- mapping a strategy for how the island will decrease food imports and the increase consumption of local food. Guy Kaulukukui, who has a Ph.D. in economics education is uniquely suited to this complex task of how to transition from a import economy to a locally-based economy. Guy feels that it is important to increase the demand side of the food equation by reinforcing the message of eating locally produced food as well as working on increasing efficiency on farms to decrease the costs of local produce to the public.


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