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One of our major draws to living in Hilo, Hawaii is the availability of locally grown fruits and vegetables, fresh caught fish, Hawaiian grass-fed beef, unmedicated chicken, and local dairy products and eggs. The availability of local food and green energy (wind, solar, and others) give Hawaii a great probabiliy of becoming self sustaining. This is what we have found about the delicious Hawaiian grown and caught products. Hawaii Self SustainabilityHawaiian Fruits and Vegetables Fresh Hawaiian Fish Grass-fed Hawaiian Beef Hawaiian produced Eggs and Dairy products Other Hawaiian food products and what is missing Health food stores in Hilo Fresh food is everywhere in Hilo, bananas in the yard, Hilo's farmer's market, and roadside stands set up on the main roads. Eatting local grown food supports the Big Island's self sustainability, is healthier than processed or foods shipped from the mainland, and is very affordable. Hilo grocery stores support local producers by carrying products from the Big Island and other islands in Hawaii. KTA grocery stores have a brand called Mountain Apple, which is just Hawaiian grown and made foods. Hilo's fresh foods combined with clean water and unpolluted air makes us feel healthy and full of energy. Hawaiian Fruits and Vegetables Every day farmers and enterprising locals bring their produce to the Hilo Farmers market. They bring papayas, bananas, tomatoes, ginger, avocados, lettuce, sweet potatoes, oranges, lemons, garlic, onions, peppers, cucumbers, jack fruit, bread fruit, pineapple, coffee, mac nuts, lychee, rambutans, and more. Many of the tastiest fruits are not even available on the mainland.
We go to the market several times a week to get vegetables and fruit.
Here is the food we just bought from a Farmer's market shopping trip.
The prices can vary, but these 6 papaya, 8 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, romaine lettuce, bag of ginger, 8 bananas, a grapefruit, and 3 maui onions cost $17 (Jan 2008). Bring lots of one and five dollar bills; everything is paid in cash at the local markets. You can get Hilo grown produce in the super markets as well under the Mountain Apple brand and at other stores from great local producers such as Hamakua Springs.
Even in our backyard we are overflowing with lemons and bananas. Fresh Hawaiian Fish
Fish is a favorite to us because it is full of healthy oils, its low calorie, and tastes great. Suisan fish company has a retail store in Hilo with a dock where the fisherman unload their catch every day.
Fish caught by Hilo fisherman is flown all over the world prized in sushi by the Japanese and served in five star restaurants in New York City. We get daily caught fish that had been cut and cleaned at Hilo's KTA grocery stores as well Right now (Jan 2008) fresh fillets of Hawaiian, handline caught, blue fin tuna is avaiable at $9.95/lb. It is available in chunks for $5 to $7/lb if you are willing to spend time cutting it up. This is incredible after paying up to $48/lb (when we could get it) for yellow fin tuna from Vietnam and the Philippines in Northern California stores. Sadly, blue fin tuna is being overfished world-wide due to its taste desired by sushi fans. Hilo fisherman also catch Mahi Mahi (Dophin fish), Opah(Moonfish), Ono (Wahoo), Red snapper and many other varieties. The availability is dependent on the season. We support making sustainable seafood choices by not buying fish caught using longlining which turtles, seabirds, sharks and marine mammals get caught or entangled in resulting in their injury or death. Longline fleets are contributing heavily to the decline of threatened or endangered species. In Hawaii, the fish is usually marked with how it is caught which allows us to support local fisherman using handline and pole and line methods. Grass Fed Hawaiian Beef The Big Island is a perfect place for cows. Abundant grazing land has resulted in ranches on the Big Island raising grass fed cows with no hormones. The taste is very different from cows raised in feeding lots. When cooked, the fat is clear and looks like water. We paid up to $13/lb in California for grass fed beef, when we could get it. Lean grass fed beef raised on the Big Island is $4.20/lb. It is sold by KTA under their Mountain Apple Brand. Hawaiian produced eggs and dairy products Hawaii has farms where chickens, pigs, sheep, and cows are not pumped with antibotics and hormones. We find the products taste better than their counterparts on the mainland. The chickens here are small, since they have no growth hormones; the breasts can be mistaken for thighs. The taste reminds me of what chicken use to taste like when I was a kid. We often buy Hawaiian chickens from KTA already cooked, like this one on the right below. (KTA also has excellent fried chicken.)
Other Hawaiian food products and what is missing Other food that is locally produced include breads and baked items (though wheat is shipped in and ground in Hawaii), nuts, honey, vanilla, oils, sugar, coffee, chocolate, tofu and tempeh (from imported soybeans), chips, noodles, etc. These are pictures of the shelves at KTA in Hilo filled with Hawaii baked goodies. We love the coffee from the Big Island and are in the process of trying them all. Our current favorite is from the Hamakua coast. We support local products as best we can and the goal of the Big Island become self sustaining. Here is a list of Hawaii Big Island Brands available to buy. Here is a recent report analyzing the state of locally produced food and agriculture on the Big Island performed by the Rocky Mountain Institute and paid for by Omidyar family (billionarie eBay founder). We still have to buy products shipped across the Pacific from the mainland. Some of the food products that we buy that are not available in Hawaii are rice, corn products, olive and canola oils, vinegars, maple syrup, and wine to name a few. We wait for sales and buy mainland products then. Health food stores in Hilo Hilo has two great health food stores carrying items not available in the grocery stores. There are efforts by individuals and organizations to promote the self sustainability of Hawaii through eating locally grown foods and using renewable energy. The prospects of not needing or minimally needing to import products to Hawaii is exciting. Self sustainability would allow Hawaii to weather the economic storm and minimize the pollution of and destruction to the fragile marine and rain forest ecosystems. Here are some blogs, groups and organizations working on sustainability for Hawaii:
Copyright 2008
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