Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean » eat local hawaii

BREADFRUIT FESTIVAL–ROOTED IN THE PAST AND BEARING FRUIT FOR THE FUTURE

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 09:04:33 +0000

HOLUALOA, HAWAI‘I – Hawaii Homegrown Food Network, the Breadfruit Institute of the National Tropical Botanical Garden and Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, are presenting the Breadfruit Festival at the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in South Kona on Saturday, September 24, 2011 from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. The Garden will also be holding a dedication for its new visitor center at 12:00 noon on the Festival day. The Festival and dedication are free and open to the public.

The Breadfruit Festival celebrates the rich culture of breadfruit (‘ulu) in Hawai‘i and the Pacific, raises awareness about the importance of breadfruit for food security and teaches about the many delicious ways to prepare breadfruit.

A highlight of the day will be cooking demonstrations by local celebrity chefs, food booths featuring breadfruit and other local favorites prepared by Hawai‘i Island’s finest chefs, and the “I Love Breadfruit” Cook-Off Contest where anyone may enter their favorite breadfruit dish to compete for prizes.

The Breadfruit Festival will also feature Hawaiian and Pacific Islander cultural activities including ‘Ulumaika (breadfruit bowling), talks on the culture and history of breadfruit, ‘Ōlelo No‘eau, woodworking, quilting demonstrations, tapa making, ‘ulu poi making and more.

Workshops on breadfruit propagation, tree care and maintenance, economic opportunities, the Hunger Initiative and other topics will be given by experts Dr. Diane Ragone and Ian Cole of the Breadfruit Institute of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.

An art exhibit will feature the finalists in a fine art contest which focuses on the beauty of breadfruit, and a youth poster contest. Breadfruit trees will be available for sale on festival day, but supplies are limited and advance purchase for pick up at the festival is encouraged by contacting hooulu@hawaiihomegrown.net.

In addition to the September 24th Breadfruit Festival in South Kona, an East Side festival spearheaded by project partners Ho‘oulu Lahui and Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School will be held March 2-3, 2012.

Learn more about the Breadfruit Festival by visiting www.breadfruit.info.

The Breadfruit Festival is a program of Ho‘oulu ka ‘Ulu—Revitalizing Breadfruit, a project of the Breadfruit Institute of the National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Hawai‘i Homegrown Food Network to revitalize ‘ulu as an attractive, delicious, nutritious, abundant, affordable, and culturally appropriate food that addresses Hawai‘i’s food security issues. The Breadfruit Festival is sponsored in part by the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s Kūkulu Ola—Living Hawaiian Culture Program.

I Am an Eco.Local Cover Girl!

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 00:49:04 +0000

TheEco.local.oct2010

Ulu and a Lamb Education: Day 27 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 08:48:29 +0000

‘Ulu and a Lamb Education: Day 27- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

I am happy to report that my tapioca pudding made from the fresh cassava I got yesterday came out awesome! It was a hit at the Eat Local Challenge potluck in Waimea tonight. I probably over cooked it, because I have that tendency. I cut the cassava in half and peeled it. Then I boiled the big root pieces. I was faced with grating all of that cassava and decided that I had to get a food processor. I had to go to Kona today and stopped in at Costco and bought a food processor for $79, which is possibly one of the best gifts I have ever given myself. I grated up all of that cassava in no time. Then I pulverized a good deal of it with milk and added honey, fresh cinnamon (locally grown from Richard Benton!) and eggs. You just have to bring it to a boil for a few minutes with the variety of cassava that I got. Different varieties have different levels of toxic cyanogenic glucosides, so knowing what you have and how to prepare it is important. Just ask the farmer or grow it yourself. Thankfully my son was home and willing to hang out and stir while I went to visit with Ralph Blancato to score some ulu.

Ralph and Laura have an amazing place where they grow a variety of native trees, hardwoods, fruit (great mangoes!), ulu and more. I will be cooking up the ulu tomorrow in our Stone Soup Club. Ralph also raises sheep for meat and he explained to me the difference between sheep, mutton, weaver, ewes, lamb and rams!

Crazy for Cassava (and Asparagus): Day 26 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 09:24:54 +0000

Crazy for Cassava (and Asparagus): Day 26- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

Today I visited with Richard Liebmann at Lokahi Farms and got some Cassava and Asparagus.

Cassava, a.k.a. manioc and tapioca, is according to wikipedia – the third-largest source of carbohydrates for meals in the world. Cassava is not as popular in Hawaii as it is in the South Pacific and other parts of the world, but it should be! It is very easy to grow- low maintenance and high yield. My kind of crop. I got a few cuttings from Richard and am going to plant one each in a gallon pot. Richard showed me how to harvest the cassava and explained how to prepare it.

I have already cut and peeled my cassava and am about to go and grate it to make tapioca pudding for a local foods pot luck tomorrow night. I will report back about how it comes out tomorrow. Click here for an article that Richard wrote about cassava with links to other resources.

I was lucky because I called Richard just after he had his first asparagus harvest. I ate the asparagus tonight with my local Hula Cows butter and Kona Sea Salt. Totally divine! Have you ever seen what asparagus looks like when it comes out of the ground? I never had. Check it out:

Something in Me is Changing: Day 25 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 06:55:15 +0000

Something in me is Changing: Day 25- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

Today I needed to feel the earth and reach into the center of myself. Too much time on the computer connects me to others but leaves me feeling slightly disconnected from myself.

Some say that it takes 30 days to change a habit. I don’t whether that is true or not, but I can say that today, at day 25, I feel changed. My body feels great. I feel light. I feel comfortable in my skin. Good in my clothes. I was craving taro. My relationship with food has altered. I made a salad for myself and saw it as truly beautiful. And it tasted so good.

Despite all of this attention that I am placing on food at the moment, I am usually a very utilitarian eater. Eating is something that I do to maintain my body. In my spare time. Often while driving or working on the computer.

I think I eat a healthy, fruit and vegetable diet, but I fear that the slippery slope of bread and cheese dominate my diet more than I care to admit, or notice. I am so busy that I often reach for fast and convenient. Eating 100% fresh, not prepared foods requires more preparation time. Washing, cutting, cooking. Making fresh dressings and salsas. Pouring off the taro water multiple times. The term Slow Food definitely applies.

Am I so unusual? Eating 100% locally grown has forced me to hold up a mirror to myself to see what I have been eating. What I do in my mind and what I do in reality are two different things. I went to the CDC’s Fruit and Veggies Matter website and entered in my age, sex and level of physical activity and it popped out the following recommendation:

2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables every day based on your age ( 45 ), sex ( female ), and level of physical activity
(30 to 60 minutes ).

5.5 cups of fruits and vegetables a day is actually a lot for me. It is pretty hard for me to achieve unless I maintain a tight focus on fruits and vegetables. Not toast and eggs for breakfast. Fruit. Not a sandwich with lettuce on it for lunch. A salad, roasted vegetables. Not cookies and chocolate (that one hurts) and kashi bars for snacks. Dried fruit, fresh fruit. A cup of tea.

Last night my husband made a birthday cake for my son. I was not even tempted. Not even the haupia ice cream was as interesting to me as maintaining this feeling that I have. Clean. Clear. Full of energy.

There is disciple involved in this endeavor. But I am a strange lover of self imposed disciple. Wherever there is discipline I am learning and growing.

Eat Locally Grown Day: Day 23 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 09:29:27 +0000

Eat Locally Grown Day: Day 23- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

Today was North Kohala Eat Locally Grown Day at our local restaurants and markets. I started the day the Hawi Farmers Market where I bought pickled beets from Lokahi Farms, dried bananas and dragon fruit from Jim Parker and honey from Sage Farms. I had a few hard boiled eggs and my locally grown green tea in the morning before heading to the market.

In addition to being North Kohala Eat Locally Grown Day, it is also my son Kanoe’s birthday. I interviewed him about how he felt about that.

I went to all of our participating restaurants and stores during the day and sampled the local specials. I had to cheat a little at some places because not all of the ingredients were 100% local, but were predominately locally grown or sourced ingredients.

I had dinner at Sushi Rock, where eight of us made up an “Eat Local Swarm”. Owner Peter Pomeranze placed a note to diners on the table that highlighted North Kohala Eat Locally Grown Day and explained about how Sushi Rock always sources locally grown and caught ingredients. I had the local goat cheese salad and the Bountiful Big Island special roll that featured local corn and pumpkin. The fish at Sushi Rock is always local. Someone else at our table ordered the “Men Who Stare at Goat Cheese” appetizer. A special treat was the locally grown wasabi- Hello! It was awesome! Being that we try to promote local farmers we wanted to know who grew it.. but Peter told us he is sworn to secrecy.

SPAM Flavored Nuts and Oil: Day 20 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 07:07:23 +0000

SPAM Flavored Nuts and Oil: Day 20- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

Today I went on a quest for macadamia nut oil and ended up taste testing nuts. The flavored nuts make great locally grown munchy snacks (except for the SPAM Nuts.) This is not for the purist- there is a light dusting of mysterious flavored power on the nuts. Honey Mustard, Wasabi (my favorite) and, of course, SPAM flavored.

I also scored the oil. I called the Hamakua Plantations macadamia nut company the other day to see if they had oil. The nice person in the visitor center told me that they carried Oils of Aloha mac nut oil and that they knew it was local because they sold them nuts. I called Oils of Aloha and they assured me that all of their macadamia nuts were from Hawaii. The oil was expensive- I bought a case and it was $7 a bottle, so I spent $84 on mac nut oil. In this case, buying locally grown is clearly more expensive than a non-local alternative like olive oil. I have no doubt that in order to pay the farmers fairly for the nuts, pay employees and make a profit- the oil has to $7 a bottle. Right now, local oil is a specialty item, not a commodity. Might we develop a local oil industry? Do we want to? Other possible local oil sources are coconut oil and avocado oil.

The Devil Made Me Do It: Day 19 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 08:18:53 +0000

The Devil Made Me Do It: Day 19- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

There was a local beer tasting down at Lighthouse Liquors today (Lighthouse Deli is one of our North Kohala Eat Locally Grown participants!). Rebecca Villegas from Kona Brewing Co. came out to Hawi to conduct the beer tasting. I knew that the beer was not 100% local, but the Devil Made Me Do It! How good can a girl be? I stuck to the Pipeline Porter, because that was the most local of the beers that were on hand. (I only had a little, I swear!) The Pipeline Porter uses locally grown coffee, is brewed in Kona and was bottled from the tank into a growler. The other beers in the tasting were in bottles, which are brewed and bottled on the mainland. Kona Brewing utilizes a lot of local ingredients in their food and beers.

Andrea’s Eat Local Challenge Tips: Day 18 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:20:32 +0000

Eat Local Challenge Tips: Day 18- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

Join the Eat Local Challenge (Sept. 25 – Oct. 3) for a meal, a day or a week!

This is my second time doing an “extreme eat local challenge.” The first time I did it for 90 days and I was much more stringent- Hawaii Island only and NO condiment cheats! This time around I have expanded my geographic area to the State of Hawaii and am allowing minor cheats on oil, soy sauce, dressing in restaurants, etc… Today I am on Day 18 of my current Eat Local journey. Here are a few of my tips to help you get ready for the Eat Local Challenge.

1. Clean your Refrigerator
Starting with a good, clean fridge will help you be organized. Get rid of all that moldy stuff in the containers, eat what is edible, wipe the shelves.

2. Reconnaissance
Start in advance by scoping out the places you usually shop. When you put your eye to it, you will find locally grown food in your usual food store that you have never seen before. Taro in Foodland? Yes! Sweet Potatoes in Costco? Yes! Start to buy these things and put them in your nice clean fridge.

Now plan and map out some cool field trips that you want to take. An outing to the Farmers Market? A visit to a farm? A trip down a country road to a farm stand? A foray to the fish market? How can you incorporate these outings into other things you need to do? This may seem like extra work, but it will be worth it- you will meet some very cool people, eat some excellent food, and your life will be enriched.

3. Staples
They don’t call them staples for nothing! Begin to gather your basic staples, think starch: Taro, squash, sweet potato, breadfruit, corn, cassava. Then gather the next level: Milk, eggs and cheese. (We have Mountain Apple Brand milk at KTA on Hawaii Island. Do other islands have local milk?) I use goat cheese, I have not found a local cow’s milk cheese yet. Next are your oils and condiments: Locally produced macadamia nut and/or coconut oil and butter if you can find them. Local salt! Lemons, limes, tomatoes and herbs are your new best friends! They will be the basis for your dressings, salsas and sauces. In my experience, local veggies and fruits are pretty easy to find and can be grabbed as you go. You will also need to think about your proteins: not all fish is local- if you are shopping in the food store you will need to check if the fish is local. If you eat beef and chicken it will be a little research project to find local sources- which are definitely out there. Pork? Well…your cousin/uncle/friend the pig hunter is your source there.

4. Get Out Your Lunch Box
Still have that superman lunch box somewhere? Well, time to bust it out! If you can’t find it, a small cooler will work fine. Running out of the house to work without bringing ample food for the day is a big mistake when you are on an all local diet. However, if it is in your flow and your budget, you can eat out at a restaurant that is serving local food during Eat Local Challenge week. I usually pack a main course (squash, fish, greens), a major staple (like poi), and some snacks (fresh or dried bananas, mango.) A hard boiled egg is also a great thing to throw in the lunch box. Lack of preparation is the only reason for starving when you are eating 100% locally grown. If you are hungry it is probably because you didn’t shop, cook and pack food.

5. Fun Foods and Beverages
It’s not all about fruits and vegetables- find fun stuff! Honey, macadamia nut butter, cocoa, tropical fruits (all taken together, at times!) Since I have local milk, I make yogurt and custard, which I consider fun when mixed with any or all of the above.

There is also the interesting world of the local beverage. There is coffee, green and oolong tea, coffee cherry tea, mamaki tea, kokoolau tea, and honey mead. I keep hearing rumors of “My uncles lilikoi wine” or “My father’s jaboticaba wine,” but have yet to actually lay my hot little hands on any of these fine beverages.

Honey, Tea or Me?: Day 17 of 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

admin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 05:58:38 +0000

Honey, Tea or Me?: Day 17- My Experiments with Food Truth- 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown

Join the Eat Local Challenge (Sept. 25 – Oct. 3) for a meal, a day or a week!

Today I met up with the Green Power Heroes to march in the Honokaa Peace Parade. The great thing about going to Honokaa (besides the fact that the parade was totally cool) was that I could get some tea and honey from Ahualoa.

Mauna Kea Tea Garden

Kimberly and Takahiro Ino grow and process their own teas, their company is Mauna Kea Tea. Now I can stop cheating on my tea! And what is tea without honey?I realize some tea drinking purists will cringe at the thought of me putting honey in my premium green tea, but I love it. And it is not just any honey, it is Richard Spiegel’s organic white honey. Not a day goes by when I don’t start the day with honey in my mouth praying for only sweet words.

Other delights today included a very creamy avocado, purple sweet potatoes, kabocha squash, salad and more mango mango mango!