Food & Agriculture

100% Hawaii grown Thanksgiving

andrea — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:52:23 -0800

ShareYourTable.com celebrates a 100% Hawaii grown Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving nears thought you might want to check out our story on a 100% locally grown Thanksgiving. Staff writer Martha Cheng made an imaginative and resourceful meal using locally grown products. See how she did at:
http://www.shareyourtable.com/stories/2008/locavore_thanksgiving

Martha also took the "Eat Local Challenge" and recently completed a month of eating locally grown and produced foods. Read her blog on the ins and outs of sticking to an all Hawaii diet for 30 days.
http://blog.shareyourtable.com/

You might also want to checkout the winners from "5th Annual Tom and Warren Matsuda Culinary Competition" The is a scholarship contest founded and sponsored by Roy Yamaguchi.
http://www.shareyourtable.com/stories/2008/culinary_competition

Please share our site and these links with friends and family.

Aloha,
Melanie Kosaka
First Daughter Mediaworks, Inc.
(808) 739-0624
visit ShareYourTable.com where food traditions, recipes, stories feast!

Great story on Judy, founder of BALLE

andrea — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:37:32 -0800

The executive director of BALLE will be on the Malama Kaua`i Radio Show on Friday, 11/28, from 12-1

Judy's story

When Judy Wicks moved onto a leafy Philadelphia street in 1972, she discovered that her new neighborhood was to be torn down to make way for a mall. "How could it be that these charming brownstone row houses and neighborhood shops would be Judy full-lengthdemolished to make way for chain stores and fast-food restaurants?" she exclaimed. This must have been her first BALLE moment! After helping to save the block from the wrecking ball, Judy opened the White Dog Café in January 1983 as a take-out coffee and muffin shop on the first floor of her house. Over the years the business grew into additional row houses and the menu expanded, until by 1989 the White Dog had grown to a full-service restaurant seating more than 200 customers, with a menu inspired by fresh local produce from the family farms of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Continuing to live above the shop, Judy grew deep roots in her community, providing educational programs on progressive issues and developing a mission of service in four areas: serving customers, employees, community, and nature. In serving nature, the White Dog Café became the first business in Pennsylvania to purchase 100 percent of its electricity from wind power, developed a recycling and compost project, and installed a solar hot water system for washing all those dishes.

Keep genetically engineered animals off your plate

andrea — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:24:48 -0800

http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/t/741/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=2622...
You might think that after their controversial decision to allow cloned animals into the food supply, the Bush administration would take a break for while. But they're up against the clock, and trying to push genetically engineered animals onto your dinner plate. Can you help us make sure they don't get their way?

The Food and Drug Administration recently released its draft plan for how it will approve animals that are genetically engineered to grow faster, produce more milk, or even produce drugs in their meat or milk. The agency wants to use its drug approval process to approve new GE animals - a process that is flawed and wrapped in secrecy. This approval process would require the agency to review the effectiveness of the genetically engineered trait and any health impact on the animal, but not test the food that comes from these animals.

And this process does nothing to weigh any environmental damage caused by things like GE fish escaping from fish farms and breeding with wild fish, or the ethical considerations of altering the genes of animals in the first place. And to make matters worse, the FDA is not requiring that food from GE animals be labeled, so consumers won't know if the food they buy for their families was produced with this controversial technology.

Tell FDA to ban the use of genetically engineered animals for food. Take action.

Thanks for taking action,
Sarah Alexander, Senior Food Organizer
Food & Water Watch

Ka Loko prompting political posturing

andrea — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:57:26 -0800

Ka Loko prompting political posturing
http://kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/11/13/news/kauai_news/doc491bd78ae74...

The Ka Loko Reservoir is seen here shortly after its dam breahced in March 2006 taking seven lives and resulting in a court schedule spread over much of 2009. The Garden Island file photo
By Nathan Eagle - The Garden Island
Published: Thursday, November 13, 2008 1:13 AM HST
State Attorney General Mark Bennett yesterday responded sharply to claims that Gov. Linda Lingle has used his office as a political tool.

Attorney Bill McCorriston in a news conference yesterday morning in Honolulu accused Lingle of abusing her power by misusing Bennett for political purposes and to advance her own agenda.

Regarding the deadly Ka Loko Reservoir Dam breach, Bennett is trying to cover up the criminal failures of the Lingle administration by attempting to place sole blame on the land owner, retired auto dealer Jimmy Pflueger, McCorriston said in a media advisory.

“Since the Ka Loko Dam tragedy occurred, I have led the state’s criminal investigation into this matter with one and only one goal: to determine whether criminal charges are legally and factually warranted and appropriate,” Bennett said in a statement. “That was the goal the day of the tragedy; that is still the goal.”

McCorriston called for an independent prosecutor to be appointed for the Ka Loko case.

Michael Pollan: Eating Is a Political Act

andrea — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:26:07 -0800

Michael Pollan: Eating Is a Political Act

By Mark Eisen

November 8, 2008 Michael Pollan has got people talking. His recent books, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, have captured the public imagination, setting off countless coffee shop discussions, dinnertime arguments, and oh-so-many blog posts.

Even more impressively, his exploration of modern-day agriculture and the dysfunctional American diet has prompted his readers to look at their own eating habits with a new sense of understanding and often a desire for change.

Pollan has taken Wendell Berry's memorable phrase "eating is an agricultural act" one step further. "It's a political act as well," Pollan advises.

A lot of people agree. The alternative food movement -- organic farming, local food systems, sustainable agriculture, and more -- is burgeoning today because, one family at a time, consumers are backing away from the global food network. Instead, they patronize farmers' markets, buy food shares from CSA (community-supported agriculture) farms, and favor grocers who sell local meat and produce.

Pollan's books are essential reading in this movement. He details the importance of grazing to a sustainable farm's operation and the problems of corn as the cornerstone of U.S. agribusiness. But most of all he gracefully chronicles his own journey of discovery in a food world where, amidst $32 billion in advertising, baleful health consequences are carefully obscured.

Free Natural Qi Cooking Class

andrea — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:30:11 -0800

Start: Nov 12 2008 - 6:00pm

End: Nov 12 2008 - 7:00pm

Timezone: Etc/GMT-10

Free Natural Qi Cooking Class

qi cooking class

Wednesday

November 12

6:00 to 7:00pm

Qi Center in Lihue

According to the Chinese ...food is the best medicine. Grandmaster Hong's recommended guest natural nutritionist Stephanie Sweet Eggert demonstrates Qi Cooking for radiant health using natural Chinese foods for balance and longevity. Stephanie shares Grandmaster Hong's easy recipes for delicious and healthy meals with the ancient principles of Yin Yang. Tasty samples will be served.

Stephanie Sweet Eggert is the director of Centered Nutrition in Huntington Beach California. She received her training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, which is the only nutrition school integrating all the different dietary theories-combining the knowledge of traditional philosophies such as Traditional Chinese Medicinal healing foods with modern western food principles.

Directions & Contact

Qi Center, 3343 Kanakolu Street, Lihue 96766.
From Kuhio Hwy 56 , turn at the AT&T Store on Ehiku,
then take the fourth right on Kanakolu Street and follow the signs.

For more information, call 639-4300 or email qihawaii.rr.com">qihawaii.rr.com

‘Taste of the Season’ will benefit Kauai Food Bank

SaveKauai — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:33:54 -0800

‘Taste of the Season’ will benefit Kauai Food Bank

http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2008/11/09/news/kauai_news//doc491693...

By The Garden Island
Published: Sunday, November 9, 2008 1:13 AM HST
The demand for food at the Kauai Food Bank has left the shelves and coffers at the warehouse in Nawiliwili stressed to the limits. “And it’s going to be even more demanding as the holidays approach,” said Judy Lenthall, Kauai Food Bank director.

The food bank is now responding to about 5,000 requests for food each month.

“Such circumstances, especially during the holidays, are a tough cross to bare,” said Andy Melamed of KQNG Radio, who is joining with the food bank to deal with the situation. “I liken it to the months following Iwa and ‘Iniki, where we on Kaua‘i pitched in, with friends, family neighbors, and businesses to again rise to the forefront.”

On Nov. 22 KQNG Radio staff, along with The Garden Island and Dickie Chang’s Wala‘au television program will help produce a Food Bank Foodfest celebration at Kukui Grove Center Stage.

“The shopping center has stepped up big time,” said Lenthall.

ML&P's CEO David Cole resigns

SaveKauai — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:09:11 -0800

http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/510789.html?showlayout=0

ML&P's CEO David Cole resigns
Company reports $8.7 million 3rd-quarter loss

POSTED: November 7, 2008

KAHULUI -- With Maui Land & Pineapple Co. losing more money, company Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer David Cole has resigned, leaving him out of a position that made him the second-highest-paid executive among large Hawaii companies.

Robert Webber, the company's chief operating officer since March and chief financial officer since May 2006, will succeed Cole as president and chief executive officer effective Jan. 1.

Cole called him "exceptionally well equipped to steer the company through these challenging times."

Warren Haruki, president and chief executive officer of Grove Farm and a ML&P director, will become chairman of the company on Jan. 1.

Cole will continue to serve as a ML&P director and as the company's representative on the boards of Hawaii BioEnergy and Hawaii Superferry.

The announcements came today in ML&P's release of its third-quarter earnings report.

The company reported a net loss of $8.7 million ($1.09 per share) for the third quarter, compared to a net loss of $155,000 (2 cents per share) for the same period in 2007.

"Lower revenues in 2008 primarily reflect a reduction in real estate sales in 2008 of approximately $50 million when compared to the same period in 2007, cessation of the sale of solid-pack pineapple products in the second half of 2007 and a reduction in visitor traffic," the report said.

The Michael Pollan Prescription: How to Eat Better and Avoid the Industrial Diet

andrea — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:26:22 -0800

The Michael Pollan Prescription: How to Eat Better and Avoid the Industrial Diet
http://ipost.com/rd/9z1zmn53d9u8k67qeuhbdppg5b65s7988idghcj9m80

By Betsy Model

He may make his living from a computer keyboard and a classroom lectern, but Michael Pollan — author of the best-selling books The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and, most recently In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto — will tell you he’s happiest where the worlds of humanity and nature collide. In particular, he’s happiest at the intersection of dirt, the food that springs from it, and the humans who eat that food.

In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan explored how what we eat — whether produce, meat, seafood, sweetener or grain — gets to our plates. Perhaps more importantly, he examined what the consequences are to our bodies, our planet and our ethics when we consume the type of food that makes up most of what’s offered on supermarket shelves.

In In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, which he sub-subtitled “Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants,” Pollan goes a step further and deconstructs what used to be so simple just one or two generations ago … eating.

Furthermore, he points out, the concept of better living through chemistry has backfired on us at the dinner table. The butter that our grandmother served? Turns out it’s better for us than the partially hydrogenated oils used in margarine, once touted as a wondrous — and healthier — substitute.

Local eatery sizzles onto the Hot List

andrea — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:19:09 -0800

http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/04/23/business/story02.html
Local eatery sizzles onto the Hot List
Downtown@the HiSAM makes it to Conde Nast Traveler list
By Nina Wu
nwustarbulletin.com">nwustarbulletin.com

Chef Ed Kenney has made it to the Conde Nast Traveler Hot List again, this time for his second restaurant, Downtown@the HiSAM.

Downtown was the only Hawaii business to make the magazine's "hot tables" list in Conde Nast Traveler's 12th annual May "Hot List" issue. In 2006, Kenney's restaurant, Town, made history by becoming the first Hawaii restaurant to make the list.

"I'm amazed and dumbfounded," Kenney told the Star-Bulletin. "There were a lot of good restaurants that opened this year. I'm very happy about it."

Downtown opened for lunch about 10 months ago at the Hawaii State Art Museum. Like Town, Kenney's first restaurant in Kaimuki, Downtown features salads and entrees made from mostly locally grown produce.

Kenney and his chef/partner David Caldiero, run both Town and Downtown. Kenney's motto is: "Local first, organic when possible."

The top-selling items at Downtown include the seared ahi clubhouse sandwich, as well as the supersize salad, which features a versatile combination of organic greens from Ma'o Farms, along with tomatoes, beets, fruits, nuts and cheese.

Downtown has 71 dining seats, with room for 40 more at the Downtown ASAP! takeout counter, which attracts a daily lunchtime crowd of tourists, downtown workers and politicians from the nearby Capitol.