Early on in the history of restaurant dining, only the
most privileged class could afford and patronize restaurants so menus catered
to those with lots of extra spare cash including the most decadent ingredients
whether it was truffle and foie gras in France, swallow’s nest and shark fin in
China or eggs and oysters during the California gold rush. Of course as time
marched on, the industrial revolution allowed those in the middle class to also
occasionally enjoy a restaurant prepared meal all the way up to our current
generation where virtually anyone can dine out. Of course at some point, the
raw materials for these wonderful meals can cross the breakpoint where there
just isn’t enough to go around. Like the red drum during the Cajun blackened
redfish craze of the 80s or the current plight of Bluefin tuna due to the
incessant demand for maguro and o-toro. So over the past 10 to 20 years,
younger generations of chefs have sustained a movement of using sustainable
ingredients. And especially here in the 50th where we’re isolated in
the middle of the Pacific with shipping fees that are so exorbitant that local
cattle ranchers find it cheaper to ship a 1000 pound animal round trip to
fatten stateside than to continually ship grain to the 50th…
So all restauranteurs should be practicing sustainability
so subsequent generations can also enjoy the bounty of the harvest. Otherwise
we’re all doomed to consuming… Soylent Green.
A Step Further
A new generation of chefs in the 50th have
taken purchasing local and sustainable a step further. By incorporating
invasive species into their repertoire of ingredients. Seaweed that grows so
fast it chokes out native species and threatens coral by blocking sunlight.
Feral pigs that constantly burrow for food and in doing so create pits where
water collects creating the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes which
contribute to avian malaria and decimates native bird species. Or introduced
fish species that breed faster than indigenous species and take over whole
ecosystems by simply outbreeding everything else. We can just organize mass
eradication efforts of these invasive species to rebalance nature but that
takes time and money and what do we now do with dump truck loads of seaweed,
swine or fish. Bury them in landfill? That’s not solving anything. It simply
solves one problem but creates another. But even invasive species often are
alternate food sources so…
If you can’t beat
‘um, eat ‘um!
Which is exactly what Chef Ed Kenney of Town, the Kaimuki
Superette and Mud Hen Water did in creating a dinner utilizing these “pests” in
the 50th. He either used them as additions to, the focal point of or
to prepare a fabulous meal we recently sampled. To take a step back, Chef
Kenney’s Invasive Species Dinner was one of many items up for bids during last
year’s Hawaii Food and Wine Festival online auction. Ever since sampling his
Whole Hog dinner about 4 years ago, I knew I had to win the auction.
Fortunately there was a “Buy it Now” option which I promptly selected ensuring
that I secured the dinner. So fast forward several months with the six of us
eagerly anticipating our Invasive Species Dinner. The menu looked like this
with the invasive species in bold
font:
gorilla ogo,
pohole, grape tomato,
basil, shallots
piccolo frito with
ta’ape, fennel, sweet onion,
lemon, remoulade
mangrove planked opah, local veggies,
salsa verde
hand-cut pasta, venison Bolognese
wild boar loin, navy beans, lacinto
kale,
vinaigrette
kiawe financier,
pineapple, honey
The starter salad with gorilla ogo was an
updated version of the usual ogo,
tomato and raw onion salad served at many luaus in Hawaii. It’s a little
thicker than the prized Gracilaria
species that’s normally used but because it grows so fast, it has a tendency to
overwhelm coral blocking the sunlight from other seaweed thus killing both
coral and native seaweed alike. But mixed with the vegetal crunch of blanched pohole or young fiddlehead fern shoots
with succulent grape tomatoes and fresh basil made it one of my favorite dishes
of the evening.
Ta’ape or the
blueline snapper were intentionally introduced to Hawaiian waters from French
Polynesia about 40 years ago. Marine biologists are still uncertain whether
their rapid propagation comes at the expense of indigenous reef fish but they
seem to be everywhere… in very large numbers. But like most snappers, they have
a mild, flaky white flesh that takes to many cooking preparations including the
deep fryer. So we were served a plate of batter coated mixed morsels and while
the ta’ape was good, my favorite was
the fried slice of lemon.
Our 3rd course wasn’t an invasive species but
rather it was cooked on an invasive species. Chef Kenney used a slice on mangrove wood the way you would (pun
intended) utilize a cedar plank to bake fish. Makes a lot of sense to me,
instead of paying a lot of money for cedar planks, just use mangrove planks which basically are
free… short of the elbow grease needed to saw the planks…
The pasta course once again returned to an introduced
species though I think its habitat impact isn’t as severe as the rest. Venison primarily is limited to certain
ranches and the populations that may have escaped from those ranches don’t
cause havoc like our friends that ended the savory courses.
Wild boar.
What can you say about these critters and the damage they do to the environment?
I think it’s universal wherever they establish wild populations whether it’s
contributing to avian malaria in the 50th to damaging native flora
by their incessant digging and rooting and the subsequent soil erosion that
ensues. And never mind running into a mother sow with her piglets while hiking
or biking. Those tusks can maim and even kill. When I actively mountain biked
years ago, we used to joke that if a wild boar started to chase you on a bike
trail, you didn’t have to out bike the boar… you just had to out bike the guy
next to you. But I did see them occasionally cross the bike path. And though we
were served the loin, this boar did remind us that wild boar carries a lot less
fat than their farm raised cousins and had a lot firmer muscle structure.
Huli-Huli Anyone?
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