Local flavor

For regular folks who have a meal at Alan Wong’s or Chef Mavro on only the most special of occasions, it may seem as though a chef’s impact on our everyday eating is minimal at best. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

Alan Wong, George Mavrothalassitis and 10 other chefs are credited with starting a movement 20 years ago that not only provided Hawaii with a culinary identity, but cleared the path for the eat-local movement of today.

Wong, Mavrothalassitis, Roy Yamaguchi, Beverly Gannon, Sam Choy, Peter Merriman, Roger Dikon, Mark Ellman, Amy Ferguson Ota, Jean-Marie Josselin, Philippe Padovani and Gary Strehl were the 12 who joined forces in 1991 to create Hawaii Regional Cuisine, which featured food grown and raised in Hawaii.

The group will be honored by the Hawaii Restaurant Association at a "Hall of Fame" dinner Sept. 19.

The movement sprouted partnerships between chefs and farmers: Chefs sought farmers to grow what they needed for their menus, and farmers offered products that inspired new dishes.

"Hawaii Regional Cuisine promoted local ingredients. There were 12 chefs with different backgrounds, each cooking in their own style, but we all used the ethnic cuisine of Hawaii to create something never seen before," Wong recalls.

The movement also exposed Hawaii residents to food produced in their own backyards.

"Everything local you see (on farmers market and supermarket shelves) — it all leads back to the HRC movement," says Pam Hirabara, a Hawaii island farmer who got her start during that era. Hirabara Farms supplies baby lettuce to restaurants.

"Prior to HRC, there was not a lot of incentive to grow specialty crops. You couldn’t become a farmer with one or two or three acres. But now a farmer can plant an acre of asparagus or lettuce."

The cornucopia of available local ingredients — everything from baby bok choy and fresh herbs to shrimp and strawberries — has raised local eaters’ taste expectations.

"There’s something called palate memory. That’s when you taste something and you remember it for the rest of your life," Wong says. "It gives you a standard for what is a good tomato or head of lettuce."

"We’ve come a long way to have alternatives to those hard, half-ripened tomatoes" that are shipped to Hawaii, says Erin Lee of Lokelani Tomatoes. "HRC changed the way people viewed food."

Here are a few locally produced foods that have claimed a regular spot on market shelves and raised the bar on quality and taste. 

SPECIALTY TOMATOES

Erin Lee of Lokelani Tomatoes returned to Hawaii island from the mainland to use her agriculture degree when the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement started in the early 1990s.

"My mom said they were building resorts and looking for specialty crops," she recalls.

Lee approached chef Peter Merriman, who requested "a good tomato" and promised to buy everything she could grow for 25 cents above market rate.

So Lee researched varieties and brought in seven or eight to try. About six months later, she took a soda box flat to Merriman.

"He took a bite and said, ‘Yes,’" Lee says.

Vine-ripened tomatoes are fragile versions of the half-ripe, waxy version that is still imported today. They must be handled gingerly and have a shorter shelf life. But in return for the extra care, you get a product that’s gorgeous to look at and a pleasure to eat.

Hawaii-grown specialty tomatoes come in hues from deep red to golden yellow, and flavors range from rich and sweet to light and tangy.

It’s easy to find specialty tomatoes in farmers markets and supermarkets from such farms as ‘Nalo, Ho, North Shore and Wow.

SEA ASPARAGUS

Wenhao H. Sun says Hawaii is an ideal place to grow sea asparagus.

At his Kahuku farm, Marine AgriFuture, he grows the veggie hydroponically year-round in "water so pure, the product is clean and delicious," he says. "It can go straight to the table."

Sea asparagus is rich in amino acids, vitamins A, C, B2 and B15 and such minerals as iron, calcium and magnesium.

As its name indicates, the product tastes like the ocean, and that appeals to most cultures, Sun says. Europeans are familiar with it, and "when the Japanese taste the ocean, they say ‘oishii!’ (delicious) instantly," he says.

Sun launched his product in March 2006 via Alan Wong.

"I knew he worked in a French restaurant. The French are familiar with it, so I knew he knew how to use it," Sun says. "Roy (Yamaguchi) was also one of the first, and Mavro (George Mavrothalassitis), too. After that, others followed."

By midyear, the product was sold at Marukai and farmers markets. Today, it’s also available at Tamashiro, Times, Foodland, Don Quijote, Kokua and Whole Foods markets.

"Sea asparagus is a tasty, crunchy, healthful food," Sun says. "Everyone who tastes it says, ‘Wow!’ It’s universal."

GRASS-FED MEATS

These come from ranches that let their cattle graze on open pastures.

Grass-fed cattle, free of hormones and antibiotics, are not "finished" with corn before slaughter, so meat is leaner and chewier. It is healthier for its leanness and linoleic acid, an essential fatty acid similar to omega-3.

Grass-fed red veal, meat from calves, launched in 2009 and is exceptionally delicious, upping the ono factor in any recipe.

Most local beef and veal on the market are ground, though various cuts are available at some farmers markets. Availability of isle beef is on the upswing; find it at Foodland, Aala Market and Times.

"I believe that in this whole discussion of sustainability, it’s really the independent chefs who have been leaders. … They’re the ones who stepped up to the plate to buy local," says Joan Namkoong, food writer and board member of Hawaii Cattle Producers.

Chef Russell Siu of 3660 on the Rise uses isle beef for his hamburgers, saying, "the flavors are better."

Chef Mark Noguchi of Heeia Kea Pier General Store & Deli makes what he calls "diner-style" food with Big Island beef.

The pair proves that delicious doesn’t have to mean fussy. Try your own hand at local beef at home.