On Hawaiian agriculture farm.....

    One of the misconceptions that many people in the food industry have about Hawaii is that we get all our food from the mainland. I worked in Lanai (Hawaii's smallest island) for some time and I was surprised that they didn't grow anything on the island, everything was brought in by boat or plane once a week. I thought living on the Big Island of Hawaii was going to be more of the same thing, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was the complete opposite.
    At ULU, 70 percent of the menu is actually grown on the island. We work with 160 local farmers on a weekly basis. We truly embrace the farm to table concept and take it to another level. We have very strong relationships with our local farmers. Just to give you a picture, the first week that I was here my executive chef took me to the home of Paul Johnson the owner of Kekela farms just to hang out and talk produce.
    You never realize how much work actually goes into farming until you talk to a farmer. The guys that we work with are so passionate and knowledgeable about their craft it is truly inspiring. It's surprising the amount of scientific terminology and concepts involved in growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers. These next couple of months I'm going to dedicate some time to going out to the different farms in order to showcase the people who work with us. Its a good way to give back to our local farmers and put Hawaiian agriculture on the map as well. This past week I went down to Adaptations Farm and Living Aquaponics, both located on the south side of the island. I'll be writing about the owners and their unique farms pretty soon.