It’s that time once again when most of us focus on
changes we’ll make for the rest of the year. Spend less, weigh less, work
harder, study more, be a better person and so on and so forth. Sometimes we’re
successful and continue on throughout the year. Sometimes we’re not as
successful and falter somewhere in February. I’ve always been mindful to “malama ka aina” or take care of the
earth for the past several years and it’s the only change that I’ve managed to
continue past February. Therefore when
the City and County of Honolulu started their recycling program with the blue
recycle bins several years ago, I was “all in” even going through our weekly
trash separating the “1” and “2” plastics, glass and cardboard sometimes to the
dismay of my other half. “No, the Clorox toilet cleaner is a “2” so it needs to
be quickly rinsed and placed in the blue bin”… or “before you toss the take-out
container, what number is on the bottom”? Take care of the planet. But can I do
more?
The Immediate
Community
So while caring for this planet is always a noble cause,
caring for your immediate community is just as important. So other than Mother
Earth, my next community is the United States but even closer is this little
rock known as the 50th state. Supporting my own immediate
environment. I already recycle as much as anyone which means less “stuff” going
into landfill here which is already packed beyond capacity so is there anything
else I can do? How about purchase local? Supporting local farmers, fisherman,
craftsmen, artisans, and the whole gamut. I never really focused on supporting
my local community by concentrating on my purchases. Sounds like a plan in
2016!
Realistic Support
For starters, unless you really want to restrict your
diet in the 50th, it’s not realistically possible to be a locavore
100% of the time. Take carbohydrates for instance. No one here grows rice or
wheat so that rules out all pasta, bread and rice. In fact, the only
carbohydrate laden food would be sweet potatoes and taro. We do have corn
production but it’s simply the super-sweet variety meant for consumption on the
cob so even starchy corn options aren’t available.
Hawaii does raise its fair share of beef and pork and our
waters do have a sustainable amount of fish, shellfish and cephalopods so
protein isn’t an issue. Likewise for vegetable matter as both the Ewa and
Windward farmlands produce an abundance of produce. However, fruit production
is limited mainly to tropical fruits as the 50th doesn’t produce any
stone fruit, apples, pears and most berries.
Therefore I’ll have to determine some “threshold” level
of local consumption as 100% just really isn’t realistic.
So for the Year of the Monkey, I decided on trying to
maintain at least 75% of my food consumption to local products but since the 50th
lacks local production of starches, I’ll also include breads produced locally
but it has to be produced from scratch in Hawaii, not just baked here.
Doable Changes
For starters, I’ll make a regular habit of visiting my
local farmer’s markets to procure locally grown produce. Several of the local
supermarkets already keep a separate section for local products which also
makes it easier when making shopping decisions. I also plan to just purchase
locally made tofu which I didn’t do
in the past since the vacuum wrapped Mori-Nu tofu products are cheap and have a
longer shelf life. However with the recent closing of Honda Tofu, the 50th
is just left with three other locally made products so it magnifies the
importance of purchasing local. And though we don’t consume a lot of beef, I’ll
look for local Big Island or Maui raised beef though it will be a challenge to
consume locally raised pork. There are local purveyors of swine, notably the
Shinsato Farm which produces outstanding pork but they primarily sell their
product only to restaurants with the exception of whole hogs for $200. And even
if we could routinely consume a whole hog, I don’t have the butchering skills
to breakdown an intact animal.
And though I normally pack an apple or pear with my
weekday lunches, I’ll either look for locally grown fruits or simply switch to
locally grown vegetables. And of course that means no more Barilla or Golden
Grain pasta, I’ll have to seek out the artisanal local pasta products.
Local Snacks in
the New Year
Though the products that make up these sports time snacks
may not be local for you, they make great Hawaii versions of the venerable
nachos consumed at most sporting venues. Yes, mayonnaise and Sriracha aren’t
created in the 50th but they are produced Stateside (my larger
community). The 2nd recipe is my adaptation of Gyotaku Restaurant’s
Nattochos and all of the ingredients are from the 50th.
Loco Nachos
1 package of taro chips
1 container of lomi-lomi
salmon, drained
1 package of kalua
pork, chopped
1 small squeezable container of mayonnaise
1 tbsp Sriracha sauce
Place 1 tbsp of the Sriracha sauce in the mayonnaise
container and squeeze the container until it’s thoroughly mixed (it should be a
homogeneous pinkish-orange color). Place a single layer of chips on a serving
platter. Sprinkle the lomi-lomi
salmon on the chips along with the chopped kalua
pork. Drizzle the Sriracha mayonnaise at 90 degree angles and serve.
1 package of wonton
wrappers, sliced diagonally and fried until golden brown
½ cup grated yamaimo
(mountain yam)
½ cup natto
(fermented soy beans)
Cubed raw tuna (ahi)
tossed with smoked sea salt
½ cup diced sweet raw onion
½ cup cubed avocado
Microgreens
Furikake
Place 1 layer of the drained and cooled wonton chips on a serving platter.
Evenly sprinkle the next 6 ingredients over the wonton chips. Lightly sprinkle
the furikake on top of everything and
serve.
Is it Actually
Doable?
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