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"Cooking" for Me, Myself and I

When I am organized and have a refrigerator stocked with local fruits and veggies (70% of the time and getting better), this is how I assemble my breakfast/lunch. I take some local, organic lettuce greens, 2 oranges, 2 frozen bananas and a quarter-sized piece of ginger. I add some acai concentrate, Hawaiian Spirulina and Agave syrup or local honey.

 

I turn my Vita-Mix to the "variable" speed and slowly increase it to high and within less than a minute, I've taken the colorful blend to a single shade of "furple".

  You won't taste the lettuce or spirulina because of the sweetness of the fruits. This whole concoction sustains me through the day, it varies slightly with the fruits that I'm given or find at the local supermarket.  All of the fiber and goodness remains in the smoothie. It's no wonder that I'm in love with my Vita-Mix, a blender with 4 wheel drive!

A New Green on the Block

Here's another reason to seek out local foods. If you frequent the weekly farmers' markets, your patronage and support will encourage them to offer new and varied products. When they do, you'll have a chance to try foods that you may have never seen before, much less tasted.

I grew up with my Aunty Thelma's daikon-ba, pickled daikon shoots, on hot rice with a sprinkling of soy sauce. Sometimes with hot green tea added for what's known as chazuke.

My aunt grew vegetables in a designated "patch", along side her driveway and around her grey, two-story house.  Wherever she deemed the soil rich enough and the sunlight sufficient for her eggplants, string beans, daikon, etc., she planted an edible landscape and served up some of the most delicious food offerings this side of heaven!

So now, when someone offers me a sealed, plastic bag full of green stuff that I am not familiar with, my taste buds grapple. Is this something we like? Can we associate it with something good that we've had in the past? The curly leaf mustard greens on sale at Manuka Farms' booth today, fit the bill.  It was crispy and slightly bitter, like the raw onion slices that I love in my salads and because I knew that it was grown in Big Island soil, I thought of Thelma as I chewed and salivated.

Mustard Greens: Nutritional Facts

Photo: CookThink

Haumea's Garden

Thalia Davis, a Kona Yoga regular, kindly forwarded the news of this weekend's Haumea's Garden- A Local Food Exposition to be held at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort.

Thalia says that 85% of what we eat on the Big Island is shipped in. INcredible! Thanks to organizations such as The Kohala Center, our own conscious farmers, and progressive educators, we will:

...make a strong positive statement for the future of our Island’s agriculture, with an emphasis on the keiki, their education and their future participation in our communities as leaders.  We can assist our island to eat in a healthier way, creating a thriving and resilient economy while preserving our precious natural and cultural resources.-The Kohala Center

Not far from our studio, Innovations Public Charter School has started a garden program to teach kids about our environment, food and cultural history. Thalia's son attends the school so you can be sure she'll be at the summit and at the benefit concert on October 6. The proceeds from the concert will provide support for youth gardens and agricultural programs around the island.

Look at all of the participating farmers, businesses and organizations listed here:

http://www.kohalacenter.org/food/haumea.htm. It'll warm your heart and tummy to know that the Big Island is eating its way to sustainability!

Let's Eat Local

Food is the most primitive form of comfort.
-Sheila Graham

I joined the Eat Local Challenge (ELC) a month ago, inspired by the Keauhou Farmers' Market and my dear friend, Nora Bow. It was a month of education for me because I made the commitment to record my consumption of local foods and, as we all know, thirty days hath September!

I certainly fit in with the population of humans who reportedly eat from a preferred list of ten or fewer foods. It would have been opportune for me to try different fruits (but I love mangoes!) and food products for a wider variety and a more interesting read. I did, however, learn a few things, made some new connections and have some ideas for future challenges.

This is what I learned:

Your local supermarket may be a better source than the health food store, at least for fresh and local produce. I found that out within the first week.

The proper placement of the apostrophe S for the possessive noun farmers is after the S, as in Farmers' Market, not Farmer's or absent as in Farmers. I'm usually picky about such things but chose to ignore it until I began reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - A Year of Food Life. I respect her writing expertise so much more than any government entity. Mangoes may make you lazy and I'm correcting my previous posts as I find them.

It's far more healthy to feel good when eating your food than worrying about eating good food. You can take down two mangoes off a tree with one stone, if the Eat Local concept truly appeals to you and you don't obsess over it. Click here, for Food: The Science of Scrumptious. The article explains how we all have our food quirks and may even pass them on to our kids.

Pre-planned meals avoid the need for prepared meals. You'd think I would have learned this after all the years of late afternoon competitive grocery shopping.

My Eat Local focus has given me a greater appreciation of the Big Island and all that is grown here. I'm also gaining a new respect for the foodies of the world! Their enthusiasm and true joy of eating will change the way America eats, which Europeans will say is with too much worry and guilt.

Here are some links to a few happy foodies I've made contact with this past month:

Bettina and Suzanne are the high-energy writers of Loulies...for the love of food. Bettina found us through the ELC website and introduced herself.

You'll want to keep an eye on a new Hawaii publication: Hawaiian Edibles. Gloria Cohen, the publisher and editor-in-chief, promises an interesting second issue.

Kale for Sale is written by an eco-conscious foodie named Katrina and she mentioned Kona Yoga in her September 27 post along with a list of other blog sites.

I am inspired to continue my local eating focus and to try some of the recipes shared by all of my new friends. I'm also highly intrigued by the concept of a 30 day challenge so stay tuned, this is the beginning of a brand new month!

What's considered local? Take a look at this 100-mile radius map and type in your zip code. Many Eat Local enthusiasts consider local to be within that area.

Print: TaroFestival.org

My October Challenge...

Hawaiian Edibles

I picked up a copy of Edible Hawaiian Islands' premier issue at the Keauhou Farmers Market this past Saturday. Publisher and editor, Gloria Cohen, writes: Everywhere you look, there are signs that the Hawaiian Islands are in the midst of a renaissance in sustainable eating (eating locally produced food) - and we should all be a part of it.

There's an article about Richard Ha's Hamakua Springs Country Farm that reminded me of the sauce I made using their cocktail tomatoes and a cilantro pesto from Manuka Farms (9/18 on my Eat Local food list). Ha expects to produce close to 2 million pounds of tomatoes this year in all shapes, sizes and varieties! I'd say he's doing his part in "...making our state self-sufficient."

The magazine highlights farmers as well as the commercial establishments that acquire and prepare locally grown foods. It credits the top chefs who began  Hawaii Regional Cuisine (HRC), with changing the way Hawaii eats and thus raising the demand for top quality local produce and food products. Incidentally, Kona can be proud that one of the original HRC chefs is our own Amy Ferguson, owner of O's Bistro in the Crossroads Shopping Center.

At this point, you may get a complimentary copy of Edible Hawaiian Islands at all Borders stores in Hawaii, and maybe from one of the vendors at the Keauhou Farmers Market. Look for the pineapples on the cover! As for me, I want to try the Chopped Salad recipe from Restaurant Bar Acuda (page 30).

Your food choice, is your voice.

This is a typical Saturday's harvest from the Keauhou Farmers Market for me: packaged organic greens, smoothies, mangoes, lilikoi (passion fruit), tomatoes, sweet potatoes and bananas.

There definitely are more choices available to me here in Kona and on the Big Island, but I have my favorites. Now that I've become much more aware of the beauty of eating locally, it's a matter of trying new recipes and food combinations.

If it's food market panache you seek, follow Alice Waters in New York. She cruises the entire market to scan what's available, forms a menu in her head and proceeds to forage through the food stalls. I'll try this on Saturday, sans video crew.

Loulies... for the love of food

 Bettina (right) from Loulies.com, found us through the Eat Local Challenge site and has invited us to join their friends-who-love-food network. Their site is quite very impressive. There are posts that cover local foods, recipes, and tips. This was Bettina's offer:

I thought that you might be interested in our website, Loulies, which has two features: (1) "e-bites" which are sent out, on average, twice a week via email.  They are short musings on anything and everything inspired by food and always include a great recipe, must-have tip, menu idea, new ingredient discovered etc.
You must sign-up to receive the e-bites. (2) A Cook the Book club for those who want to learn to cook better with us (like a traditional book club, but we cook instead of read - this is how Suzanne and I met over 10 years ago and have learned to cook better with friends - it is really a great concept).

Such beautiful women, with the energy and creativity to match! I signed up to receive their 'e-bites' and you may want to do the same. Start a book club with your friends and let me know if you do. Especially if you live in Kona; "Have fork/spoon/chopsticks Will Travel".

Food Courting

Now isn't that a well stocked refrigerator? Almost everything you see in there is a local, Big Island grown product. It's not my refer, I live alone and it would take me weeks to eat all of that food. The owner will remain anonymous because some things should remain sacred.

While the Eat Local Challenge has enlightened my awareness of the foods grown locally, it's also given me an appreciation for a Big Island supermarket chain, KTA Superstores. Many of the items in their produce section are grown on the island and their own Mountain Apple Brand specifically labels locally grown produce and food products.

I used to make the health food store my first stop, choosing from their small selection of organic fresh vegetables and fruits before moving on the the supermarket. Many times, the organic offerings were limp and lifeless, just the way I would feel after traveling for days to reach Hawaii. The Eat Local Challenge has led to a few conscious choices for me through such suggestions as:

If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Fair Trade.

(Read more of this article)

This month, I'm finding myself at the Farmers' Market first and KTA second. The health food stores here in Kona are wonderful providers of organic and natural but still processed and packaged foods. They have a long way to go in providing us with a large and consistent supply of produce. I'm sure there are economic reasons for that, but I'm a simple consumer and will go where the grass is greener!

I'm off to the Saturday Farmers' market!!

Mindful Eating

Last week Saturday, Nora Bow bought this tray of wheatgrass at the Keauhou Farmers' Market for about fifteen dollars. She snips a handful at a time to juice and the grass keeps growing.

Nora just bought herself a Green Star Juicer and quickly learned all the nuances of its twin gear set-up. Here, she's showing me where to look for the extracted juice.

Like me, Nora finds wheatgrass juice a bit harsh to drink neat, so she's going to add some mango,apples, limes and starfruit. All of them grown locally except for the apples.

Once all of the wheatgrass and fruits have been juiced, what comes out of the juicer is a roll of pulp which Nora adds to her compost pile.

After downing our shots of chlorophyll, vitamins and minerals (with just a hint of 'foul grass'), Nora took me outside to see her favorite way to Eat Local: her container garden. Nora and her husband Jeff, live at The Pines in Kailua-Kona so they don't have a lot of outdoor space or soil. Container gardening solved that.

Nora's second choice for procuring local products is to trade her homegrown veggies and herbs with friends for such things as avocados, papayas and lychee. Then she ventures out to the Farmers' Markets in Keauhou and Waimea. What she isn't able to stock up through these channels, she'll get at the local health food stores.

Nora's an inspiration for all of us who aspire to eat local, eat neat, and eat organic. Her diet is comprised of about 90% raw foods yet she cooks for her husband who is not a vegan or vegetarian and she grows her own food within a limited space. Proof of the old maxim: Where there's a will, there's a way!

We're Taking the Challenge

 

I've made the commitment to Eat Local for the month of September. I signed myself up on the Locavores website and added an Eat Local Challenge logo to the Kona Yoga site. I want to make this fun so if any of you would like to join me, let me know.

I'd like to write to the Eat Local Challenge folks to let them know about our food choices here on the Big Island and some of our specialties. We have a wide range of tastes and choices. My friend Nora Bow is eating raw these days so I'm going to take some pictures of her as she makes some wheatgrass juice/smoothies. I also want to get a recipe or two from my mom, who's been a Kona resident for over 70 years. Maybe we can even have a Local Foods Potluck dinner.

Until we eat again, Aloha.