Sustainable Initiatives by Andrea Dean

TheEco.local.oct2010

Aloha! If you have been following my 60 Days of Eating Locally Grown blog and have been clicking through from Facebook, you have been being sent to KanuHawaii.org, which is OK, but there are more videos and pics at andreadean.com/blog. I had my settings crossed!

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

Today was one of those embarrassing haole days. After dance class (Nia) I stopped by the Hawi farmers market to do some connecting with people about the North Kohala Eat Locally Grown Campaign and to try to score some food, of course. What I got was local food, and an education in “local” local food, as in Hawaiian foods. I have always steered clear of “local” local food because I don’t eat pork, prefer brown rice and can not abide the calories in even one scoop of macaroni salad. However, I love real local Hawaiian food. 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!

When I got home from the market, I delved into making my local lunch.

Well… if you couldn’t be there (or even if you were) check out the highlights from our local restaurants, markets and night spots!