Sunday, June 29, 2008

30 Big Days

Welcome to the 30 BIG (Big Island Grown) Days blog!

We are Marcus and Kim, residents of Hilo, Hawaii, and this is our attempt to document 30 days of enjoying the bounty of the island, supporting Big Island farmers/producers, and reducing our oil consumption (needed to transport non-local foods to the island).

We have been inspired by our local vendors at the Hilo and Maku’u Farmers’ markets, The Slow Food Movement globally http://www.slowfood.com as well as here on the island http://www.slowfoodhawaii.org/, and books such as "Plenty" (Smith and Mackinnon) and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" (Kingsolver).

We must admit that there are caveats; most significantly, we have been unable to find any grain growers on the island. We understand that rice was once grown here (and could certainly be again) so after careful consideration, Marcus and I decided that we would allow it (whole and flour) on the “diet”. Non-native spices and other flavorings are also embedded in the recipes, but are kept to a minimum. Our hope is that after this experimental 30 days, we can begin to carve away even these non-essentials (although I may not be able to live without toasted sesame oil).

***September 2010 update: Aloha --- Kim here. Marcus and I are gearing up for the Kanu 2010 Eat Local Challenge so will be adding to this site. PLEASE NOTE: in 2008 (almost at the end of our 30 days of BIG food), Marcus and I were informed by staff at Abundant Life that the Island Harvest coconut flour and oil is NOT locally sourced; i.e., the product is processed here in Hawaii but the coconuts are from the Philippines. If you plan to use recipes that include those products, please substitute locally-grown mac nut oil from Oils of Aloha and Mac Nut "fines" (which is almost as fine as flour) from Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company. If you know of other sources for locally-produced oil or flour, please post :)