Sam Choy’s Keauhou Poke Contest attracted a large and enthusiastic crowd.

Among the winners of the different categories in the recently held 1^st Annual Sam Choy Keauhou Poke Contest held Sunday, March 18^th at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort was the entry by the ’Aina Life Culinary Arts Class of the Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School at Pū'āla'a in Lower Puna. Mariposa Blanco, the school’s Culinary Teacher, and Susie Osborne, School Principal and Administrator, entered the class’s ‘Ulu–‘Ahi Spicy Poke, and won First Place in the Non-Professional Spicy Category.

Abundant Life in-store ready-made foods.

—an interview with owner Malu Shizue

The original Abundant Life Natural Foods store was located in the Old Hilo Drugs Building on the corner of Kamehameha and Waianuenue Avenues, and moved to its present location at 292 Kamehameha Avenue in 1990. 

The store was founded in 1977 by Malu Shizue, when she was barely out of her teens. She says it was a response to an inner-call for “Right Livelihood,” and to wanting to be a positive influence in our ‘aina and the environment. Malu, a petite dynamo of a woman, is the sole owner and driving force behind the operation, although she credits long-time loyal employees for the store’s success.

Margaret displays a basket of freshly harvested veggies from her organic garden in Honaunau. Homegrown food is fresh, flavorful, and nutritious.

Many people now have some sense of the importance of growing food at home. Here are a few of the benefits of homegrown food.

Taste and nutrition

Homegrown is the freshest and therefore tastiest and most nutritious you can get. There is nothing like the flavor and vitality of freshly picked fruits and vegetables. Research has shown that produce that has been on the store shelf for a few days has significantly lower nutritional value as compared with freshly harvested produce.

Food self-reliance

Homegrown gives you control over your food. Currently about 85% of our island’s food is imported by ship or airplane from distant locations, and there is just a few days worth of food in stores at any given time. Many residents are concerned about economic, ecological, or health issues that might slow down or cut off our food imports. Many of our Hawai‘i Island Community Development Plans prioritize growing more of our food locally, supporting farms, and protecting agricultural lands. An event that restricted food imports might also curtail imports of fuel, fertilizer, and chemicals that are used commercially to produce and distribute food on the island.

A plate of healthy, locally grown food.

Remember the Food Pyramid? Well...that was recently flattened into a plate! The new "food pyramid" is now called "Choose My Plate" which is designed to help people more closely approximate—on a plate—the daily, healthy amounts of food to eat in each food group.

Here in Hawai‘i we are going one step further: we call it the "My Eat Local Hawai‘i Plate"--which is designed to help people choose healthy, locally grown foods. 

Awareness of local food is on the rise.

It shouldn't surprise us that more and more people are beginning to wake up about our food situation. Living in these islands, so far away from any other landmass, we are dependent on much of our food being imported and at the mercy of many whims of nature and man.

Farmers Markets & CSAs

Farmers Market Co-ops

We know that not all of us can farm or grow enough to maintain a booth of our own at any of the farmers markets, or have the time to do so, but here is a concept that started a bit over a year ago and now others are picking up in other areas.

There are several very enterprising people who are forming co-ops to sell whatever amount of produce/fruit/veggies you might have growing in your yards or farms w/o having to make a weekly commitment to rent or man your own booth at a market.