Chef Mark pays a visit to Kauai Coffee Company, the largest coffee plantation in the United States. Marty Amaro shows us around the fields, explaining the growing process, and into the factory, where we see some of the roasted coffee being packaged.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & Accommodation provided by the Hawaii HTA as part of the “So Much More Hawaii” tour.

Chef Mark Tafoya visits the Sumida Watercress Farm in Honolulu, Hawaii, where Celebrated Hawaii Chef Mavro shows us how to make one of his signature dishes: Watercress Salad with Maitake Mushrooms, Sunchokes, and Watercress Essence.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Travel & Accommodation provided by the Hawaii HTA as part of the “So Much More Hawaii” tour.

Pineapple Meets Big Apple

I had the pleasure of being the special guest this week on “From Hawaii With Love” a podcast hosted by Jenny Fujita and Joy Koerte which celebrates the beauty and culture of the Aloha State.

The topic was “Pineapple meets Big Apple”, and we spoke about my recent adventure discovering the foods of Hawaii, and how Hawaiian cuisine has influenced foods on the mainland. I also spoke about our Gilded Fork Cookbook and offered some entertaining tips.

You can find all their shows on www.fromhawaiiwithlove.com

ReMARKable Palate #220: Innovative Japanese Cuisine

This week, I go from Maui to New York City as we speak with 2 restaurateurs about their modern Asian style eateries. First, I chat with Chef DK Kodama of Sansei and other restaurants all over the state of Hawaii about his modern Pacific Rim style cuisine, and his support for local farmers in the state of Hawaii. I then speak with James Du, co-owner of Akai Lounge on New York’s Upper West Side, which is doing it’s part to offer innovative sushi and interpretations of Japanese classics.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

I travelled to Hawaii as part of The “So Much More Hawaii” Press tour sponsored by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, and my travel expenses were paid for by the HTA. My meal at Akai lounge was a complimentary tasting menu. The opinions expressed are entirely my own.

While in Hawaii for the “So Much More Hawaii” New Media tour, I spent the afternoon with Lani and Ali’i, co-owner of the Ali’i Kula Lavender Company in Maui’s Kula “Upcountry” area. They gave me a tour of their lavender farm, which looks more like a zen mediation garden! Listen to the audio interview I did with them on ReMARKable Palate Podcast #209.

A production of the Culinary Media Network.
www.culinarymedianetwork.com

ReMARKable Palate #209: Ali’i Kula Lavender

I’m in Fire Island for a few days, and I’m reminded of my time spent in Hawaii a few months ago for the “So Much More Hawaii” media tour. While there I had the chance to spend the afternoon in the upcountry area of Maui, visiting with Lani and Alii, co-owners of the Alii Kula Lavender farm, which grows lavender and produces countless numbers of lavender products. It was one of the most relaxing farm visits I’ve been on in a long time. Here’s my conversation with Lani and Alii.

www.aklmaui.com

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

ReMARKable Palate #208: The Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory

I have the pleasure of meeting Bob & Pam Cooper, owners of the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory, the only operation in the US to grow, ferment, process and sell chocolate of their own. Bob & Pam took a break from winnowing to talk to me about the process, and about how they moved from North Carolina to the Big Island to become chocolate entrepreneurs.

www.ohcf.us

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Some more material form my recent trip to Hawaii for the “So Much More Hawaii” tour sponsored by the Hawaii HTA. The amazingly energetic and intrepid Melissa Chang took me all around her hometown of Honolulu as we discovered so many of the great local eateries. In this first post, We start our tour right after our visit to the Honolulu Fish Auction, which I reported on a few weeks ago. We had breakfast at Nico’s, an eatery just down the pier from the Fish Auction, which gets the freshest fish in town for their fish omelets and fish fried rice. Here I speak with Nico, a native of Lyon, France, about what brought him to Hawaii:

We then headed over to Chinatown with Melissa and Tommy Wong to check out all the great eats. We really got lucky to be able to go into the Luk Fun factory, where they make delicious rice noodles. Melissa thinks it’s because the “round eye” stayed in the back of the line while the Chinese people asked if we could shoot video! (Thanks to Tommy for explaining to the proprietor what a podcast is in Cantonese!)

Those Dan Tat were so sweet and “eggy” (in a good way), and I’m really craving some more right about now!

Special thanks to Melissa Chang for showing us around. We’ll have a few more Honolulu Eating Tour episodes coming, as we try malasadas, cocoa puffs, Helena’s Hawaiian Food, and Filipino food! You can find Melissa’s blog at The Urban Mix Plate.

More to come!

ReMARKable Palate #201: Sommelier Chuck Furuya

I sit down with Master Sommelier Chuck Furuya at Hiroshi, one of his many restaurants in Honolulu, to talk about his love of wine, and of Hawaii, and how to approach pairing wines with the Asian and Pacific-Rim influenced foods of the Aloha state. Chuck also shares some great stories and his no-nonsense approach to wine, which you know we share here at CMN! We just let the recorder run as we had a hell of a conversation!

DKRestaurants.com

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

You know the saying, “You have to get up PRETTY early in the morning to pull one over on me”?? Well, We DID get up at 4 AM to make it to the Honolulu Fish Auction before it started! And there was no way anyone was going to pull one over on Brooks Takenaka, the manager of the fish auction!

This is one of the most unique experiences I had in Hawaii, while on the “So Much More Hawaii” tour sponsored by the Hawaii HTA. Most people know that you can enjoy beaches, luaus and mai tais in Hawaii, but they may not know about this aspect of Honolulu which makes alot of the rest of the party possible.

This is where the boats come into port and unload their catch every day, and starting a 5:30 AM, the buyers for all the restaurants in the city as well as wholesalers and reps from restaurants on the mainland and Asian countries put in their bids. Some days there are as many as 100 boats coming to port. On this morning, we had fish from just one boat, so it was clear that the prices would be dear for what fish they brought in.

In this first Quick Bite, Fish Auction Manager Brooks Takenaka gives us an exclusive sneak peek behind the scenes before they let in the buyers. Brooks explains how the process has gone from a simple one to a highly technical and computerized one. That said, the basic process works the same as it always has. His staff unloads the boat and lays out all the fish according to species. For the Tuna, they cut a few core samples and lay them out so the buyers can see the color, fattiness, and general quality of each fish before bidding:

After we get an exclusive sneak peek, the bell rings and they let in the buyers to do their work. We’re lucky to be there, and get to watch the action.

Special thanks to Melissa Chang, our local Honolulu friend, who was the brave soul who got up even earlier than us to drive us out to the Pier for the auction! She’s an amazing person, and writes a great food blog about the many cuisines of Honolulu, The Urban Mix Plate, and she led us on an amazing eating tour all around the city, which I’ll be posting soon!

ReMARKable Palate #200: Abalone Farming in Hawaii

If you can believe it, this is my 200th Show! No special programming, just more great talk with amazing people who make food. This week, I speak with Hiroshi Arai, CEO of the Big Island Abalone Corporation on the Big Island of Hawaii, a sustainable farm that cultivates the prized abalone, which has a huge market in Japan, China and Korea, and which is starting to enjoy increased popularity in the US. I posted 2 videos about the process, and here Hiroshi explains a little more about the abalone itself and how they grow it sustainably using deep ocean water.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

One of the most interesting things I discovered in Hawaii, while on the “So Much More Hawaii” tour sponsored by the Hawaii Tourism Authority, was the Big Island Abalone Farm, an operation on the Kona coast which farms prized abalone using sustainable aquaculture supported by deep sea water from the NELHA project (Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority), a state supported “pipeline” which brings pure cold water from from than 2,000 feet below the surface.

I spent the afternoon at the farm accompanied by Al Salomon, Facility Manager, who gave us a tour around their unique facility. In this video, Al explains the system and gives us insight in the sustainability of the process, which has added benefits in the form of an employee vegetable garden.

I also got to go behind the scenes into the state-of-the-art sorting area where the adult abalone which are large enough for harvesting are sorted by size and weight. This system uses non-toxic CO2 to lull the abalone to sleep long enough to transport them through the sorting process and back into the cold water tanks so that they don’t react negatively and toughen up. The abalone are kept alive throughout this process and even in transport.

I interviewed Hiroshi Arai, CEO of Big Island Abalone, about the project, the process and the tremendous market demand for abalone in Japan and other parts of Asia. I’ll have that audio interview on an upcoming episode of the ReMARKable Palate Podcast, as well as a more in depth “Main Course” video. For now, these are just “Quick Bites”.

While visiting Maui on the “So Much More Hawaii” tour, I was given a tour of Kapalua Farms by Gustavo Diaz, Operations Manager. He showed me many aspects of this diversified operation which is dedicated to sustainable growing of vegetables and pineapple. Although the farm is directly adjacent to the Kapalua Resort’s golf course, Gustavo explains how they maintain the integrity of the organic growing space:

Gustavo explained how the farm is overhauling their composting operation to be able to take on green waste from other areas of West Maui and turn it into organic fertilizer to feed their operation.

We ended our tour in the upper pineapple fields, where Kapalua Farms grows the famous “Maui Gold” organic pineapples. Gustavo explains the process, and how it’s a little more involved and labor intensive than so-called “conventionally” grown pineapple.

Well, the tour is over, and we’re all back in our respective homes. I’m back in New York City, and despite a couple days of rain, it’s sunny and spring-like again, and I’m revisiting all my fond memories of Hawaii. I still have quite a bit of material to release, which will be coming in little bits over the next few months. I’ll release more “Quick Bites” videos from my last few days on the Big Island and on Oahu this week, as well.

Our “little bloggers tour that could” has attracted some mainstream press as well! I was quoted as the lead in a story for the June 7th edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

“Chef Mark Tafoya, a celebrated foodie blogger, had to suffer the discomfort of a 4 a.m. wake-up call to catch a Honolulu sunrise and witness Honolulu’s fish auction.

But his followers could have the pleasure of a near-firsthand experience without the discomfort. They could watch Tafoya peruse fresh catch on his Web site, culinarymedianetwork.com, or at the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s new blog site, www.somuchmorehawaii.com, or follow it in real time on Twitter (a free social media site that lets users post and follow short, 140-word updates). They also could access content on video-sharing networks like YouTube, Revver, Vimeo, Viddler and Facebook.

“It’s hard to say how many people were tuned into my trip to Hawaii because they all share,” said Tafoya, who was one of eight bloggers who were invited to participate in the state’s first all social-media travel tour, which visited major islands from May 27 to Thursday.

While Tafoya has 1,000 followers on Facebook, 4,500 tweeple (Twitter people) and about 100,000 hits a month on his Web site, content sharing gets the message out to many more, he said.

“That’s what makes social media so powerful,” said Christine Lu, who organized the tour for the Hawaii Tourism Authority and is the founder of Cilantro Media, a social-media boutique firm.”

Christine Lu, is the force of nature whose ambition helped to make the tour possible, and who graciously thought to include me! She worked with her contacts at the Hawaii Tourism Authority to pitch the tour and convince the powers that be that the power of new media would be useful to help the HawaiiHTA promote the islands.

We were featured on the front page of the June 5th edition of the Pacific Business News, which quoted Christine and credited her for her work on the tour:

“Along for the ride with Lu were seven full-time bloggers from the Mainland (assisted by local blogger L. P. “Neenz” Faleafine) whose trips to Hawaii were paid for by the Hawaii Tourism Authority and its marketing partners.

The bloggers’ junket was the most ambitious experiment by the HTA to exploit social media. Desperate to drum up new business, Hawaii tourism executives are finding that TV commercials, ads in newspapers and magazines and morning talk show chatter — i.e., old media — are no longer enough.

The HTA sees new media and online social networking as cheap, effective ways to reach a highly desirable market of young, smart, adventurous, and relatively well-off vacationers.”

David Uchiyama, from the Hawaii Tourism Authority, was interviewed on KHON2 News in Honolulu about the tour, as well. The TV station’s website doesn’t offer it’s video player as an embeddable player, but you can see the video HERE, or click the image below.

You can read more coverage of what we did during the week, as well as blog posts from the other participants, at www.somuchmorehawaii.com. My links are all accesible in our HAWAII section in the “Travel & Places” drop down menu at the top of every CMN page.

Here’s all the other folks:

@aricqueen
Aric S. Queen
A new-media producer focused on China who writes about value.
http://current.com/users/aricsqueen.htm

@leahlamb
Leah Lamb
A San Francisco writer and producer at Current.
http://current.com/topics/77529011_leah-lamb

@SheilaS
Sheila Scarborough
Travel writer from Austin, Texas, who specializes in the family market.
http://www.familytravellogue.com

@christinelu
Christine Lu
Founder of Cilantro Media and self-proclaimed “Geek Girl.”
http://blog.christine.lu/about

@blogworld
Rick Calvert, a conference/CEO specialist from Las Vegas, who founded Blog World Expo.
www.blogworldexpo.com

@shiralazar
Shira Lazar, from Los Angeles, pop media star of jaunted.com, who is known for being a “getaway girl.”
www.jaunted.com

@Genuine
Jim Turner, an adventure seeker from Firestone, Colo., who is the social media director of Blog World Expo.
www.onebyonemedia.com

@Neenz
L.P. “Neenz” Faleafine, a local blogger serving as a host and organizer and contributor of Hawaiian culture.
www.ponomedia.com

]]> http://gildedfork.com/newspaper-coverage-of-so-much-more-hawaii-tour/feed/ 0 http://gildedfork.com/rp198-poke-coffee-in-kauai/ http://gildedfork.com/rp198-poke-coffee-in-kauai/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:32:17 +0000 Chef Mark Tafoya http://www.culinarymedianetwork.com/?p=4787

ReMARKable Palate #198: Poke & Coffee in Kauai

This week, I’m in Hawaii on the first ever Social media tour of the Aloha state, along with a group of bloggers and media makers in different subject areas. We’re discovering all that lies beyond the typical tourist cliches in Hawaii. My first audio show from Hawaii takes me to the island of Kauai, where I go to a supermarket to discover poke with local foodie Jenny Fujita. I also speak with Marty Amaro of the Kauai Coffee Company, the largest coffee producer in the United States.

Theme Song: “Go Fish”, by Big Money Grip, from the Podsafe Music Network.

ReMARKable Palate is a production of The Culinary Media Network. www.culinarymedianetwork.com

Our “So Much More Hawaii” tour continues with a stop on the Big Island of Hawaii, a wild and raw island full of surprises. I’ve always wanted to visit Volcano National Park, some of the still active Kileauea Volcano, and our guide Warren Costa, owner of www.nativeguidehawaii.com explains what we see.

Warren then takes us on a tour of the Thurston Lava Tube, a formation that leaves a tunnel with lava on the sides. Some stretch for miles, and the natives found many uses for them.

After visiting the Lava Tubes, we epxlored another caldera, then had a great picnic lunch provided by Warren, including my new favorite dish, POKE!

More videos from The Big Island coming soon!

We are treated to a cooking demo by Chef DK Kodama of Sansei Restaurant on the grounds of Waipoli Hydroponic Farms, which supplies many Maui restaurants with clean, hydroponically grown lettuces and greens.

We then visited with Rocky and Paulette Chenelle of Makawao Mushrooms, the ONLY sustainable mushroom farm on Maui.

At the end of the day, we ate at Chef DK Kodama’s Sansei Restaurant in Maui, where his chefs Lainie, Ivan and Royden treat us to an omikaze style feast of local fish and seafood.

I found myself by chance at the Holy Ghost Portuguese Church for their annual festival, which just happened to be taking place this weekend. I had to sample a homemade malasada, a Portuguese donut dusted with sugar, hot out of the fryer!

Watch this space for more Quick Bites videos from Maui!

I’m in Hawaii for the“So Much More Hawaii”, tour, sponsired by the Hawaii Tourism folks and Cilantro Media. These a few quick videos shot on my handheld camera. More to come later in full CMN fashion! This first video is from our arrival and the reception held at the Sheraton Waikiki’s Rum Fire outdoor terrace. See THIS POST by my new friend Melissa Chang, host of the Urban Mix Plate blog, for photos and description of the reception. Melissa is one of the local Hawaii bloggers who will be showing me the local food scene and introducing me to many of her chef friends. I include a short musical clip from MAKANA, a specialist in the unique Hawaiian “Slack Key” guitar style, who performed for us. There’s also a short bit from our first morning in Kauai, where I visit the herb garden of the Grand Hyatt Kauai. More to come as our trip progresses!

And here’s video of our Catamaran/snorkeling adventure with Captain Rick & the crew of “The Lucky Lady” of Kauai Sea Tours.

We were treated to a tour of what the locals eat here on Kauai by Jenny Fujita, and sampled a WHOLE bunch of great dishes, from Spam Musubi at the Lawa’i Store (like a maki roll with fried spam in the middle, and what I would dream about eating for breakfast every morning!), to 10 different kinds of poke at the Ishihara Market, and JoJo’s famous Shave Ice!

WATCH THIS SPACE for more videos soon!

I’m very happy to report that I’ll be going to Hawaii for the first time next week. I’ve been many places in the world, but never to the 50th US state, so I’m really looking forward to discovering the local food scene, beyond the typical tourist stuff.

The tour is sponsored by HawaiiHTA (www.GoHawaii.com), the tourism agency for the state, and will bring together a group of bloggers in different subject areas to learn about all the state has to offer. We’ll each have specialized itineraries to explore in depth the areas of our interest, while on a whirlwind tour of 4 of the islands!

The entire trip will be well documented, as there are a number of great bloggers attending, and we will be live tweeting, twitpic’ing, and posting videoblogs as the trip progresses, and whenever we can get to a good strong wi-fi connection! The other participants are:

Rick Calvert Founder, Blog World Expo www.blogworldexpo.com @blogworld

Jim Turner, Blog World Expo, www.onebyonemedia.com @genuine

Aric S. Queen, Value/Budget Blogger www.Uptake.com @aricsqueen

Leah Lamb, Eco Blogger, Current Green www.currentmedia.com @leahlamb

Shira Lazar, Solo Vacation/R&R Blogger www.shiralazar.com @shiralazar

Sheila Scarborough, Family Travel Blogger www.sheilascarborough.com @sheilas

And yours truly. I’m the FOOD guy!

I’ll be guided around the islands by local Hawaii Food bloggers:

Melissa Chang from the Urban Mix Plate Blog @Melissa808

and Melanie Kosaka from Share Your Table @shareyourtable

The Twitter hashtag will be #HawaiiHTA

I think it’s such a great way for Hawaii to promote what’s available beyond the cliche’d leis, luaus, and mai tais. I hear that they’ll even be creating a micro-site to bring together all the diverse media that will be produced.

This week I talk live from Maui, Hawaii. Wow is it beautiful! I talk about airline food. I know, there is no more airline food but we were in business class. There is still food up there and it is worth examining. I talk about the days I used to work on the airline myself. Next week, we?ll have a podcast about the food here on the island. It should be a little better than the airplane….I hope. Thanks for listening. See you next week!