From Ground to Grindz — Day 7: End Is Here

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First Things First: Fresh Fruit

Posted Saturday Oct. 2, 8:30 a.m.

We’ve definitely had our fill of apple bananas for a while, and we haven’t gone wanting for papaya, but one quintessential Hawaii fruit that we didn’t enjoy during Days 1 through 6 was the mango.

I was gifted two huge, organic mangoes this week, but they took a couple days to soften up in our fruit bowl. Today’s finally the day.

I’ve sliced a few mangoes in my day, but not in a while so I guess I got rusty. I tried the avocado technique of halving the fruit vertically, expecting to use a knife or spoon to pry the hard, round, racquetball-sized pit out of the middle. This pit was flat and disk shaped, like a drink coaster. But with great effort I removed it, sucked it clean, and got the rest of the flesh out.

The outside of this organic local mango was picked clean. We didn’t waste that solid gold.

It proved to be a solid breakfast for both Korina and I, giving us enough fuel to get started with our day. And there’s still one more mango left for tomorrow morning.

Back to the Market

Posted Saturday Oct. 2, 11 a.m.

While Eat Local week didn’t technically start until last Sunday, our work began a day earlier with our first trip to the Kapiolani Community College farmers market. So it’s fitting that we’d go back on our final day.

We got a lot of the same things and a couple new items. We came home with yellow grape tomatoes, maui onions and lettuce from HSN Farm; Sunrise papaya from Theng’s Farm; shallots and a bag of red potatoes (picture above) from Pit Farm; and jalapenos, sweet peppers and breadfruit from Vilath Farm.

It’s definitely more than we’ll need just for today, as we already have fish and bok choy leftovers in the fridge. But while the challenge ends at midnight, our use of local produce won’t. To be sure, 100 percent is going to be a thing of the past — hello, rice! — but we’ll try to stick to local whenever we can.

I’ll flesh out all of my reflections in coming days, but for now, it’s time to steam some local potatoes.

Local ≠ Healthy

Posted Saturday Oct. 2, 1:30 p.m.

The assumption is that if you’re subsisting largely on vegetables, your diet is bound to be healthy. But we know what assumptions can do.

My caloric intake has been dramatically reduced this week, and I’ve cut back on the starches in a serious way. I’ve been weighing in daily and expect there will be a considerable weight loss to report. But that doesn’t mean every dish has been a nutritionist’s dream.

For our Saturday lunch we steamed some Okinawan sweet potatoes — purple and white — then cut them up into wedges and made delicious fries with the mac nut oil and some salt. Look at the pretty colors:

Sweet potato fries are 100 percent local, but not 100 percent healthy.

That was served with some of our butter-soaked left-over fish and bok choy. Satisfying? Yes. Healthy? Not so much.

Mission Accomplished

Posted Saturday Oct. 2, 8:30 p.m.

Well, we did it.

For seven days, Korina and I gave up some of our favorite foods and compiled a near-perfect record in . And with Saturday night’s dinner now in our stomachs, we’ve completed 21 of 21 meals (with a few snacks in between).

The next bite of food we eat, at some point Sunday morning, will have no restrictions on it.

Our final meal included a soup with daikon radish, potatoes, three types of onions, the leftover opah and, most notably, jalapenos. The flavors and ingredients weren’t too dissimilar from soups we’ve had on numerous other occasions.

Our side dish is one we’ve added to our repertoire this week, which I think is what the challenge is all about.

I just had my first ulu experience a couple of days ago and now I’m hooked. I’ve already nearly mastered the exceedingly simple baked chip technique, adding bonuses like Maui cane sugar or Hawaiian sea salt to turn the cracker-esque disk into something more like a cookie or potato chip.

Baked breadfruit chips provided the crunchy final bite in our weeklong local food challenge.

Breadfruit baking is just one of many skills Korina and I learned along the way. We honed our discipline and self-control. We took a small glimpse into what life would be like if the boats stopped coming from the mainland. We now know what it feels like, and what it tastes like, to live off the land.

It’s been a wild ride. Thanks for coming along.

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