In our next segment of Local Food, Sustainable Food (Part 4) we will be discussing the importance of supporting local businesses who also happen to grow, cook, and/or serve locally sourced food.
We’ll be covering the following local businesses (a few of my favorites):
Ma’o Organic Farms (Oahu)
Surfing Goat Dairy (Maui)
Prima (a Kailua, Oahu restaurant)
Town (a Kaimuki, Oahu restaurant)
Stay tuned!
English: Local food cartoon created for Transition Town Worthing (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Local Food, Sustainable Food. (Part 2)
Vegan Lilikoi-Passionfruit Gelato
Even though this isn’t a food blog we are talking about food this round at Sustainability Studies so I thought I would share a favorite recipe of mine. A way to use local, sustainable foods. This is made with all locally grown, organic Hawaiian ingredients.
2 bananas (or apple bananas)
1 lilikoi (aka passionfruit)
1. Take the two bananas, cut them into pieces and throw them in the freezer. You should use just-ripened bananas – not brown. This will eliminate the banana flavor once they are frozen.
2. The next day put the frozen banana chunks in a blender or food processor. Pulse the blender and then spin on high until the bananas are pureed just barely.
3. Cut and scoop the insides out of the lilikoi and add them to the bananas in the blender.
4. Blend together until a whipped gelato consistency is formed. The lilikoi seeds do not need to be crushed.
5. Enjoy!
The frozen banana (when blended) creates an ice-creamy consistency and doesn’t have much of a banana flavor. However, if it does have a hint of banana flavor (when adding riper bananas) it still tastes great with the lilikoi.
Delicious, local, sustainable, homemade, vegan gelato!
Passiflora edulis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Locally sourced veggies from Ma’o Organic Farms
“Food is the unifying fabric of humanity, connecting us to the earth and each other.” – Ed Kenney, chef/owner at Town Restaurant in Kaimuki.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Food is what keeps us alive and, with the right food, is what keeps us healthy. If we are going to talk about sustainability we should be talking about food. In the next few installments of Sustainability Studies we are going to talk about food in Hawaii.
The Hawaiian Islands are natural-resource-rich islands. For example, in my backyard alone I have so many papaya trees that I have to give fruit away to keep from wasting any. I don’t even have to water those trees for them to keep producing fruit. On the island of Oahu (possibly not even the island with the most fertile soil in Hawaii) we have a lot of local farms with quality fruits and vegetables, many of them being organic. However, the islands are still heavily reliant on outside food sources. It’s hard to see chickens roaming the roads and beaches on the North Shore yet when I go to buy eggs, the cartons are all stamped with that infamous “mainland” stamp.
What can we do to create a more sustainable food system in Hawaii? It all comes down to going local.
1. Support local farms and fishermen. Go straight to the source whenever possible or sign up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box, delivered full of fresh, seasonally and locally grown fruits and veggies.
2. Grow your own food whenever possible and swap with neighbors if you can to get a good variety.
3. Go to farmer’s markets. Every section of Oahu has a farmer’s market at least once each week. They are often cheaper than buying from the grocery store and are much more fresh and tasty. BONUS: they are usually a good spot to get to know people in your community.
4. When eating out, eat at restaurants that cook with locally sourced, organic foods. Keep a lookout for “farm-to-table” restaurants.
After all, there is nothing more satisfying than the benefits of eating food that you put work into, drinking from a fresh, local coconut, or biting into a ripened apple banana.
English: Papaya (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Do you have any ideas for going local and supporting sustainable food systems? Comment below.
The Honolulu Museum of Art featured a film this month, Song of the Kauri, directed by Mathurin Molgat. The film, a part of the Aotearoa Film Festival, is about the ancient native Kauri tree of Aotearoa (New Zealand), it’s sustainability, and how it is used to craft musical instruments. After a recent trip to New Zealand, I noticed how vast and beautiful the kauri trees are. I recommend seeing the film for inspiration on how we can appreciate and sustain our own native flora and fauna.
Song of the Kauri is, “An environmental film full of music, forestry, hand crafted instruments, New Zealand’s incredible natural beauty and friends.”
Check out the trailer for the film below:
Last month (on my birthday!) I signed up for a free day-long “Tour de Trash” on Oahu. This tour was probably the best thing I could have done to learn about how trash is managed in Hawaii. It’s a very interesting and complex process and one that should be taken seriously. The fact that these tours are offered (for free) is a great step toward educating people about where their trash goes and encourages people to abide by the “THREE R’s”:
REDUCE
RE-USE
RECYCLE
….in that order!
On this tour we visited the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill…
The RRR Recycling Services…
Schnitzer Steel Hawaii…
The H-Power Waste-to-Energy Plant….
and Hawaiian Earth Products composting center…
To sum up the order of how things are processed from when they enter the bin to how they are managed is as follows:
1. Waste is placed in three different bins – Brown bins for trash, Blue bins for recyclables (in Hawaii that’s plastics 1 and 2 and corrugated cardboard), and Green bins for Yard Waste
2. Waste is picked up curbside by county trucks or personally taken to drop-off facilities.
3. Recyclables are taken to RRR Recycling Services where they are sorted and sent for processing. Some recyclables are sent to the mainland U.S. for processing, others are sent as far as China.
4. Yard Waste is sent to Hawaiian Earth Products to be composted into soil and mulch (which is free to those willing to come pick it up!).
5. Trash (non-recylables and non-compostables) are sent to facilities where contents are sifted through to take out any metals to be sold and recycled (Schnitzer Steel Hawaii), burned by H-Power to create energy, and/or (as a last resort) buried in the Waimanalo Gulch landfill near Kapolei.
Obviously the best way to avoid all of the nastiness that comes with handling and managing trash is to REDUCE your level of waste. The next best way is to become educated on how you can help to manage the waste that you do generate in order to help us become a more sustainable Hawaii.
If you are interested in learning more about waste management in Hawaii or taking a free Tour de Trash visit Opala.org.
“Ahupua’a” by Beth Marcil
“As the native Hawaiians used the resources within their ‘ahupua’a, they practiced aloha (respect), laulima (cooperation), and malama (stewardship) which resulted in a desirable pono (balance). This is sound resource management where the interconnectedness of the clouds, the forests, the streams, the fishponds, the sea, and the people is clearly recognized.” – Carlos Andrade
In Sustainability the Hawaiian Way (Part 1) we talked about “malama ‘aina” – to take care of the land and each other, because we are all connected to the land and each other. In Part 2 we are discussing the Native Hawaiian “ahupua’a” sustainability concept – a pie shaped land division that stretched from mountain to sea that allowed access to all resources. Within the ahupua‘a, highly specialized technologies such as fishponds and lo‘i kalo (taro gardens) ensured an abundance of food. Working in concert with the other ahupua‘a within a moku (district), the Hawaiians created a community-based system of self-sustaining resource management. Principles of ahupua‘a management enabled Hawaiians to sustain large and healthy populations without compromising ecosystem integrity for thousands of years.
To see what an ahupua’a looks like watch this video interview with Earl Kawa’a, who also describes the ahupua’a concept from a Native Hawaiian perspective.
Sustainable Hawaii illustration by Pegge Hopper – Honolulu Weekly 2011
Malama ‘Aina
“In ancient Hawaii the concept of sustainability meant to support (koo) or feed (‘ai kau). Taking care of (malama) the land (‘aina) and honoring a person’s ties to their ‘ohana (family) and ancestors of the land was a centuries-old custom, and these ancient Hawaiian cultural values were primarily focused on ways to nourish and sustain island families and communities. Their continued existence depended upon successful cycles of harvest from the land and seas and has been recreated for modern times by studying and replicating authentic past practices; and sustained by shared activities such as canoe-building, woodworking, herbal medicine practices and agriculture. Perhaps the Hawaiian word that best describes sustainability is hooulu, which means to enter in and inspire; to grow, sprout and propagate; to increase and to protect.” –Lucy Jokiel
Last month I attended a talk by Kamuela Enos, at the First Annual Hawaii Sustainability in Higher Education Summit at University of Hawaii West Oahu, called “Towards an Aina-Based Sustainability Model“. The intent of the talk was to “create a new sustainability paradigm, one based on traditional land use practices.” The first example of traditional Hawaiian land use models given was “kumulipo” – we are related to the landscape. The second model was built upon the concept of familial obligation. How do I interpret this? My take is: if we are related to the landscape we have a direct connection to it. We are a part of it like we are a part of our parents. Finally, we have a familial obligation to the land because we are related to it, we come from it and it is a part of us. Let’s take care of it (and each other!).
The Four Integrated Components of Aina-Based Sustainability (with Hawaiian translations) are:
1. To sustain natural living systems (Waiwai)
2. To sustain human populations (Kanaka)
3. To sustain knowledge systems (‘Ike)
4. To sustain political rights to land (Mana)
Compare the components of the Hawaiian concept of sustainability with the components of the Western concept (to sustain environment, society, and economy). Where do you think they are similar? Where are they different? Considering that Hawaiians effectively sustained this model for thousands of years on their own, in one of the most remote places in the world, one has to wonder why things had to change…
“Aina-based sustainability shows that what will be good for Hawaiians will be good for everyone” – Kamuela Enos
In Part 2 of Sustainability the Hawaiian Way, I will discuss the Native Hawaiian technology for complete sustainability – the “ahupua’a”.
On the North Shore of Oahu, near the beautiful town of Ka’a’awa, a large chunk of land called Kualoa Ranch extends from the tops of mountains, through valleys, fishponds and beaches, and out toward the reef. Having been there a few times to better familiarize myself with the Native Hawaiian “ahupua’a” sustainability concept, I recognized the Kualoa Ranch t-shirt worn by this University of Hawaii at Hilo student on her blog – Ho’omeheu. She is doing a summer internship at Kualoa Ranch and is documenting her experiences on her blog. I thought her post provided a great student perspective of what it might be like to experience true Hawaiian sustainability field studies. Many mahalos to Wai for letting me post one of her first blog entries! (Read above)
First of all, my orientation days are done and Iʻve been awarded uniform shirts and a fancy magnetic name tag. 🙂
& now to homework…
My internship program required me to write a 2-3 page “personal internship development plan” that addresses what I will be doing at my intern site, some history behind it, and objectives Iʻve set for myself while working there. Be kind,… I havenʻt been in school for the last few weeks and the last English course I took was a semester ago. Haha.
“Personal Internship Development Plan”
Kualoa Ranch Hawaiʻi Inc., at the surface, has become a well known tourist attraction. However the company’s mission to be stewards of the land by education and celebration of its history and culture, brings together a true concept of ahupua’a.
Though not found in each, a loko i’a kuapā was a prominent feature often constructed at the bottom…
View original post 1,137 more words
Sumptuous and soulful, INGREDIENTS HAWAII is a film that captures Hawaii’s farm-to-table movement and is the inspiring portrait of a vibrant food community dedicated to human, environmental and cultural health.
Watch the full film here or watch the shortened version below!
Did you know that Hawai‘i is the GMO seed testing capital of the world? Since I have arrived in Hawaii there have been multiple protests against the use of GMO (genetically modified organisms) seeds and crops due to their reputation for causing negative effects on human health, the environment, and economies.
What are GMOs? According to Hawaii SEED they are plant seeds created by scientists in a laboratory where they insert genes into an organism to create new traits. In the United States, GMOs are not labeled. They are in over 75% of processed supermarket foods in ingredients like soy lecithin, canola, corn syrup, and cotton seed oil.
Due to the invasive nature of GMOs, otherwise healthy and sustainable agriculture grown in Hawaii are at risk of being destroyed or contaminated, putting local farmers out of business, risking the health of those who consume the crops and compromising the value of traditional, sustainable Hawaiian land use.
To learn more about GMOs, their local effects and the efforts to stand against them in Hawaii, please visit hawaiiseed.org!
A NOMAD ON THE LOOSE
Welcome to the National Park Service's official blog for America's National Parks in the Pacific. Join us as we EXPLORE our Natural Wonders, CELEBRATE our Unique Cultures & HONOR our Heroes. Aloha, Talofa, & Hafa Adai!
attracting, supporting, and engaging the conscious traveller
Perpetuating the identity of our ancestors
the path less taken
Sustainability Studies 