Slow Food Events

Past Events - 2010

• Wednesday, April 14 - Our president writes: "Yesterday 13 of us (including three Santa Cruz SF members) met for a Chinese-themed lunch at Bamboo Hale, the Hilo Community College's culinary arts program restaurant. The food was tasty, but most importantly, we were showing our support for young chefs/cooks who will be preparing food in our restaurants in the future.  I spoke briefly to Alan Ogawa, who supervises the program, and hope that SFH can speak to the students in the future."
  
• Friday, March 26, from 2:00 to 6:00 pm: A sustainable Fish Farmers Market on  at NELHA's Gateway Center. "Sponsored by the County, the fish market will feature a variety of eco-friendly aquaculture products grown at the Natural Energy Lab. Includes Keahole Lobster, Dungeness Crab, Kona Kampachi, Big Island Abalone, and sturgeon."  Fresh whole seafood, as well as cut fillets and prepared sashimi plates. Other products produced at NELHA will also be featured, such as desalinated deep seawater, Kona Sea Salt, and algae products.
• Sunday, February 21, Noon, North Kohala Event: Slow Food Hawai'i Annual Meeting and Potluck. Meeting for members at 11 am, followed at noon by a lunch and open forum for members and nonmembers. Thanks to Edwin Goto, we had delicious veal burgers to go with the great food brought by our supporters.  Thanks to our hosts, Richard and Jileen Russell, more than 85 of us from around the island were able to enjoy the view of the spectacular North Kohala coast, and thanks to Kona Brewing Co. we sipped its new Oceanic Organic Saison beer and porter. The forum featured discussion of North Kohala's food production. Place: Pu'u O Kumau Ranch
  

Past Events - 2009

• Sunday, December 13, from noon to 2 pm, our Christmas potluck at the teahouse at Anna Ranch in Waimea. We celebrated Terra Madre Day (officially Dec. 10) with Ken Love giving a short talk on food communities in India and Hawaii.
  
• September 18, Slow Food Hawaii was at the Taste of the Hawaiian Range at the Hilton Waikoloa.
• September 13, Sunday, long time Slow Food members Marian Solomon and Mike Renner hosted a potluck brunch and tour of their lovely grounds and coffee farm in Holualoa. We had a good turnout under beautiful skies for the coffee farm tour.  We had several members who came over from Hilo or Pahoa, the usual terrific food, music, and a tour of the very productive property.  Shelby writes: One highlight for me was seeing Everett and Sandy Pang show Mike how to harvest and process fresh bamboo shoots from Mike's beautiful golden bamboo stand.
• September 7, Monday, Slow Food’s Time for Lunch Campaign, schools across the USA had “Eat-Ins” that day on school campuses to bring awareness and attention to the need for real food into school lunches.
  At Waimea School on the Big Island, we had a great turnout.  See Andrea Dean's blog with words and video from the event.
  
• September 4, we were at the Sustainability Fair at UH Hilo where we talked to a lot of east-siders who are into good, clean, fair food.  The fair was very well attended and is going to be an annual event.
• August 16, noon.  Potluck and farm tour at Ka'ohi Nani Farm in Waimea, a CSA and organic farm run by Lark Willey and her family. Lark and Steve spoke to us about CSAs and organic farming.  Along with the always impressively gourmet dishes from Slow Food members, we enjoyed a delicious taro-leek pancake using taro grown on their farm. There was fresh produce available for sale as well.
   
• June 6-7 - Waipi'o campout. A huge thank you to Alberta and Jayson Mock Chew for hosting Slow Food Hawaii at beautiful Mokuwai and providing all who attended a bountiful and delicious homemade Hawaiian dinner. They gave us an unforgettably wonderful experience at the campout and raised a whopping $3,400 for Terra Madre 2010!  Forty-one people attended the campout (three from Slow Food Oahu) learning about taro farming, lauhala weaving and harvesting coconuts. It was a terrific group, mellow and congenial, which made for a good time for all. The weather cooperated nicely -- no rain -- and the moon rose on schedule lighting up the night sky and silhouetting the valley. A hike to the beach on Sunday morning took us through a mystical forest of exotic plants and trees, passing houses surprisingly remote and tucked away that evoked another time.
  Devany's blog: Waipi'o Valley: Taro and the Mock Chews
  VIDEO: Slow Food Hawaii and isolated Waipio Valley a good match
• May 9, Saturday, SFH sponsored another Culinary Garage Sale, to raise funds for Mala'ai.  Great buys - things like cookbooks, matates, chinoise(es), pots, pans, proofing baskets, crystal glasses, dishes, knife sets, etc. all donated.
• April 16 & 17th, Thursday and Friday, From Bean to Bar - Chocolate Candy making for the Home Processor & Food Lover.  At Kuaiwi Farm, Captain Cook.  Learn how to take the fermented, dried cacao bean through the six basic steps required to become chocolate candy. A two-morning course, with plenty of tasting, and a goodie bag of candy to take home.
• March 21, 2009 - Spring Equinox Work and Learn Day at Mala’ai
  Mala’ai extended a special invitation to Slow Food Hawaii members for a work and learn day at the garden to celebrate the official beginning of Spring. Details.
• March 1, 2009 - We could not have asked for a better setting or better food than we had Sunday for the annual meeting.  Holuakoa Cafe chef, Wilson Reed, fixed a lovely lunch of house made lavosh with fennel seeds, creamy organic pumpkin soup with pumpkin relish and a touch of olive oil, savory scallion scones with Hawaiian salt, fresh salad with balsamic dressing, and a spectacularly dense and delicious Meyer lemon cake with basil oil and pinenuts. (thanks, Clare, for working with the chef!) Then a short business meeting, time for conviviality.  At: Holuakoa Cafe, 76-5901 Mamalahoa Hwy Holualoa, HI
  
• January 31, 2009 At Hilo's Lyman Museum, SFH members Joan Namkoong and Nan Pi'ianaia, both of whom have studied and written about Hawaii's food traditions, gave a talk at SFH's first Hilo potluck, after which there was a special tour of "Key Ingredients - Hawaii edition", a traveling Smithsonian exhibit.   Nan spoke about food available to the Lymans when they arrived on the Big Island in the 1830's.  Joan talked about the development of  iconic Hawaii flavors from our immigrant population.
• January 24, 2009 Saturday, 8:30 AM – 1 PM - A Mushroom Hunt 
  with the Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park for a morning in coastal Casuarina groves at MacKenzie Beach Park with Don Hemmes, co-author of the authoritative identification guide, Mushrooms of Hawai`i.  See full event info.
• January 17, 2009 - 8 am to noon, SFH members Deb and Ben Discoe demonstrated how to humanely process chickens.  Members attending participated and learned about backyard chicken processing, and each took home a finished bird. There were 17 finished birds, nearly 3 years old - wet cook only, stewed or stock.  They were locally raised free-range on grass and organic feed their whole lives.
  For pictures and details, see the blog entry Processing Day

Past Events - 2008

• December 14, noon-3pm Christmas potluck - Anna Ranch.  Delicious dishes using (mostly) local foods!
• November 30, 2008 - Jam Sessions 8:30 am., repeat class at 1:30 pm
  Class size limited to 15 each. Would you like to learn everything you need to know about making jams and jellies (and maybe syrups) with the fruit you have in your back yard or find in the farmer's markets?  SFH member and tropical fruit expert Ken Love and Chef Betty Saiki will teach you everything you need to know: equipment, pectins, how cooking time changes taste and texture, how to preserve safely. Taught at the Culinary Arts kitchen at Hawaii Community College at Kealakekua.  You will leave with a jar of jam or jelly and a lot of knowledge.
  
  <photos by Deb Pun Discoe>
  Wrapup: Our jam and jelly making classes were a great success. Led by SFH Ken Love, who knows more about jam making with tropical fruits than anyone, and with the assistance of Chef Betty Saiki, the morning class made Kona (Rangpur) Lime Marmalade and the afternoon class made Kitembilla Jelly, in both cases using standard powdered pectin, and processing in a water bath for 20 minutes.
• October 25, 2008 - FISH!  If you missed SFH's Fabulous fish fundamentals class, you have a second chance.  Chef Dan Bobo is teaching it at Anna Ranch on October 25th from noon to 3.  Johanna will be there to sharpen knives. The class is being sponsored by Waimea Community Education and it costs $65.
• October 25, 2008 - Hamakua Alive Festival. 9am to 2pm, Pa'auilo Elementary School.  The best of Hamakua's Agricultural Products and Local Talents.  Cook Off, Farmer's Market, Cooking Contests, Crafts and Education.  Admission is FREE, bring your family and friends and enjoy the day.
• October 3, 2008 - Taste of the Hawaiian Range - We will have a table at this amazing annual food event.  See the Taste of the Hawaiian Range site for full info.
• September 24-25, 2008 - Farmer-Chef Conference on Partnerships for Sustainable Local Food Production, presented by ACF Kona-Kohala Chefs de Cuisine at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort.  In addition to the conferences, SFH member Ken Love reports:  "One of the events that may be of particular interest to SF members is a dinner on Sept. 24 which will be 100% local. Chef Trask who is our ACF president is going out of his way to make this a spectacular event featuring the best of what the state has to offer."
• August 26 & 27, 2008,  From Bean to Bar: Chocolate Candy making for the Home Processor & Food Lover. Classes taught by Leon Rosner & Una Greenaway. How to take the fermented, dried cacao bean through the six basic steps required to become chocolate candy.  A two-morning course, hands-on experience in all aspects of candy making.  Plenty of tasting, and a goodie bag of candy to take home, and a handout illustrating the steps taken and equipment needed.
  Where: Kuaiwi Organic Farm in Captain Cook, mauka of Kealakekua Ranch Center.
  Report: "People were happy, learned how to make chocolate, and walked away with their fill of chocolate.  We ate brownies, and had lunch and chocolate milk too! Lots of bowl licking!  We also experimented with a less expensive chocolate grinder.  So folks left with ideas about how they could do this on their own."
• August 23, 2008 - 4pm, at SFH members' Roger and Kadie Harris's beautiful home in Waimea.  FISH:  How to Find, Cut, Cook and Enjoy It the Slow Food Way!  SFH member Chef Dan Bobo gave a class on how to cut and cook island fish after which we enjoyed the fish, side dishes, desserts and wine selected to pair with the food.  It was an opportunity to learn where the best places are to find great fish, the best kinds for different cooking methods, and best of all, how to cook fabulous dishes.  The class was a fundraiser for Slow Food Hawaii.  Thanks to Catrinka for the photos:
  
• July 27, 2008 - A Taste of Slow at Huli Sue's restaurant in Waimea, with a tour of Fujifarms, the organic farm that Huli Sue's owners Mark Vann and Lisa Smith own.  Highlights of the brunch menu for SFH locavores were the house made sausage from local grass fed beef, a taro and Big Island goat cheese casserole, ginger pancakes, Waimea tomato salad with Big Island feta, eggs en cocotte with Hamakua mushrooms, and lime and ginger poached mango and pineapple.  Highlights of the farm tour were some huffy chickens, tiny cherry tomatoes gone wild, and the opportunity to buy fava beans (seldom seen in Hawaii markets) and fresh eggs.   No surprise - the event was sold out!
  
• June 20-21 - Seed Festival at Bishop Museum's Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden. This year they offered camping at the garden the evening before the Exchange, Friday June 20.  Anyone who is bringing "seed or plant materials" to exchange with the community the next day may camp.  There was a dinner buffet Luau (imu and potluck)  and buffet breakfast the following morning for guests. After dinner on Friday there was a  bonfire, storytelling and music.  The Seed Exchange began the next morning at 8:30 a.m.

>>> Past Events - 2007

>>> Past Events - 2006 and before