Foodland launches Eat Local Tuesdays

Nadine Kam photos
Aya Nishihara and Eric Newhouse have fun with props during the launch of Eat Local Tuesdays at Foodland Aina Haina.

Foodland launched its new weekly Eat Local Tuesdays program Jan. 20, with all Foodland Hawaii locations supporting the idea of buying local in support of farmers and a safe, sustainable food supply for Hawaii.

They will be making local products easier to find, tagging them with orange “locally grown” and “locally made” signs, and sharing samples from 3 to 6 p.m. or 4 to 7 p.m. depending on the store. Students from neighboring high schools will be offering free samples to customers, their participation made possible through a “Buy Local It Matters” Eat Local 2015 grant from the State Department of Agriculture.

They are also inviting customers to take the Eat Local Tuesdays pledge at checkout or online at Foodland.com, by committing to eat local at least one day a week.

Customers who take the pledge will receive double Maika’i points on the local items they purchase on Tuesdays. In addition, each week there will be a “Local Item of the Week” offered at a reduced price. You can also sign up to receive weekly notice of the Local Item of the Week, as well as recipes and information about the item and grower.

Also, on Tuesdays only, there will be a specially priced local deli offering and seafood poke offering. This week’s items were a Hawaiian plate lunch of laulau, hulihuli chicken, lomi salmon and pineapple, for $8.99, and a lomi poke bowl of ahi tossed with lomi salmon and sea asparagus, for $10.99.

For updates, follow @foodlandhi on Instagram and Twitter, and FoodlandHawaii on Facebook, and use the hashtag #EatLocalTuesdays

Kalani High School juniors Christina Shin, left, and Victoria Huynh were there to offer samples of meatloaf made with the Local Item of the Week, local ground beef, that this week was priced at $5.49 per pound with Maka’i Card.

Now here’s something I didn’t know, the River of Life Mission has its own chocolate-making enterprise, Chocolate on a Mission, to help raise funds for its support services. Learn more at chocolateonamission.com

Also offering chocolate was Amy Hammond of Aloha Chocolate Co., whose tins feature locally themed chocolates incorporating Waialua Estate Chocolate, and below, chocolate shaped like coffee beans.

More local sweets came in the form of macadamia nut and vanilla nougat made with local ingredients, shared by Christian Acerogiles. The roasted macadamia nuts were so pure and intense.

During the launch, Foodland Aina Haina welcomed a sizable neighbor island contingent of farmers and food producers, including beautiful Maui Fruit Jewels inspired by French patés de fruits, fresh fruit purees cooked with pectin to create a concentrated jammy jewel candy.

Stacy Au and Jan Tsue, left, came from the Big Island to represent Na’alehu’s Paradise Meadows Orchard and Bee Farm, whose products include Hawaii’s Local Buzz honey, macadamia nuts and coffee. Tsue told an amazing story of her aunt and uncle coming to Hawaii for peace and quiet, buying some land, and after clearing it, discovering they had a farm with lime and lemon trees, macadamia nuts and coffee.

A sampling of Paradise Meadows garlic roasted- and chocolate-covered macadamia nuts.

Kokohead Foods smoked ahi spread was the hit of the afternoon, a product of Kaimuki’s 12th Ave Grill.

Naked Cow Dairy’s Sabrina St. Martin was there to share new products, including honey- and Kona coffee-rubbed Kona Buzz cheese, and Pink Hawaii cheese studded with crushed pink peppercorns. Coming up will be a squid-ink brie.