In 1964, the family took a trip in Mom’s push-button white Valiant car up to Wahiawa Heights to Peter-son Egg Farm. It was a Sun-day morning after Mass at Our Lady of Sorrows church, which was located just below Leilehua High School. It was a short drive since it’s just up the road about a mile away. We turned onto a dirt road and into a nose full of chicken manure and saw many, many chickens in houses. I believe that was the very first chicken I saw in person. I didn’t know what a chicken coop was or what the word manure meant. I only knew that I loved two eggs sunny side up mixed into my rice with a little bit of shoyu. I was little; a city boy living in the country for the first time because the doctor told Mom to get me out to the fresh air for my asthma. I was in Waipio, a little town outside of Wahiawa, existing long before Mililani built its first house, when country was country.
It would become a regular weekend trip to the egg farm, buying eggs for the week. Mom loved to cook dishes that used a lot of eggs, like oyako donburi, chawanmushi, or the fastest and best dish of them all, my favorite, the tamago kake gohan, or simply raw egg on hot rice with shoyu. You really should make this dish, but only with the freshest eggs possible.
Back in the day, it was possible to buy uncleaned eggs for a slightly cheaper price. I would fill up the sink, drop the eggs in and the feathers would float to the surface. I washed off da kine that was stuck on da shell. I can’t buy that type anymore.
When the restaurant was open, Dan Nakasone would go foraging for us once a week, and among the delivery was a case of Peterson Eggs. I knew how fresh they were and I was proud to support a local business from my hometown where I grew up.
One of the Peterson girls, Marcia, was a classmate of mine from Leilehua High School. I still have the recipe from Grandma Peterson for her pickled pineapple that I keep close by. We worked with Sharon Peterson Cheape a lot in the most recent years and tried our best to help them by buying the eggs and promoting them every chance we had.
It was a very sad day when I heard that the farm was closing. We are going to lose one of Hawaii’s treasures forever. It was a part of the fabric of Wahiawa community for 114 years and a part of our restaurant history in so many ways. So many people have wonderful memories of the family, the workers, the eggs, that dirt road!
Though sad, I choose to focus on the great memories we made together and shared with everyone. It’s time to say mahalo for all the great work, commitment, sacrifices and perseverance. It’s an amazing feat what you did to stay in business this long.
First, it was Honda Tofu closing, now Peterson Farms. It’s even sadder when you think about the next generations. They will have their own memories, but not these. We seem to be losing the battle with imported foods versus locally home grown.
Thank you to all the generations of Petersons! You will be missed by so many!
Chef and restaurateur Alan Wong has wowed diners around the world for decades, and is known as one of the founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. Find his column in Crave every first Wednesday. Currently, Wong is dba Alan Wong’s Consulting Co.
