Another reason to eat locally grown food

[Noelani Josselin]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

It's so wonderful to have a small garden. Recent months my children and I have been harvesting the fruits of our labor, mangos, papayas, lili koi, bananas, eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, green onions, string beans, Taro and sweet potatoes.
It's alot of work, but it quality time spent with the Ohana in the garden, in the kitchen and at the table!
and it saves us Money!
It is also great to “mahele” hookupus or gifts from our garden to neighbors who fish and hunt. It is reassuring to know that my Ohana’s food source is of the highest quality and is not tainted! (hey, OK , may be not the Ramen noodles...) It is also important to remember to Malama or take care of our “Ahu puaa” and our “Kai”/ (Land-Community and the Sea) and it will take care of us!

As for those franchise stores who have a "box" in every local town, these "boxes" make so much "trash" accesible from China or where ever its coming from! I prefer to shop at Foodland,Big Save, Kojima's, Sueok'as...Its great to see these local mom and pop stores banning together to compete against the franchise.

Fact is; I have been "conditioned" to visit these boxes at least every month for essentials"

Aloha,

Noelani Josselin
Wailua Kauai Hawaii

i will edit to say 48 instead of 24 hrs...airlines are have a minimum requirement of 48 yhrs..(call the airlines if you so desire)

as for the fish comment, forget it, it was meant to be a joke.

as for the 35% and up, no its not written in stone but then again it isn't your company.

i think if you really want to choose to understand the situation, then you would have to work in the industry itself.

k.....off to enjoy the rest of my Friday.
Cheers!

[tutusue]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

[...]I prefer to shop at Foodland,Big Save, Kojima's, Sueok'as...Its great to see these local mom and pop stores banning together to compete against the franchise.[...]

And, let's not forget Tamura's...on Oahu!!!

[Karen]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

Oh, that garden listed above sounds wonderful!

We have avocadoes, tangerines, banana, Lychee, a few potatoes and more herbs than I can name. I wish I were more of a gardener, am glad hubby's getting into it a bit more but for now I'll get to a community market when I can.

I'd dig having fresh tomatoes and bell peppers from my own yard. Oh, cucumbers, too. Do they also grow well here?

[MixedPlateBroker]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

I recommend the produce stand on the corner of Waialae and 9th Avenue. Good daily supplement to the weekly trips to Chinatown. Screaming bargains on fresh shiitake, basil and papaya (four varieties). And check out Kalihi for animal protein. There's a meat market on almost every block. Safeway's for canned goods and tp.

[kthor]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

China, which now exports more goods than the US, has a long history of adulterating food produced there with chemicals and practices that might be banned elsewhere in the world. With lax inspection at the Chinese end and insufficient controls at our end of the chain, the likelihood of human-based poisoning from Chinese-imported food products is fairly high.

Miulang

you know my aunt had a friend who come back from a trip in China sometime this year (2007), before leaving China she develop pain in the stomach and had diarrhea all the way when she got back home in CA. after several days she went to the hospital and they found some sort of worms in her system that no medical drugs and surgery can remove (not sure what type of worms)..aun't friend is now in Coma believe just happened this week due to the worms in her system ..

I don't think i'll head to china until the goverment can address the tons of problems they have..with more than 1.4 trillion dollars in reserve, you would think they'll do more to address this type of problems..

[Miulang]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

And if the FDA has its way, food safety in imported food is going to get even worse for us here in this country. The government agency would like to close 7 of the 13 labs it operates around the country! Why? They claim it's to "save money" and "become more efficient".

One way to protect yourself is to read labels more closely. There are new labelling laws that are going into effect that will tell you where the food is from. The only unfortunate thing is manufactured products (like packaged, canned or frozen prepared food items) won't have to list the countries of origin of their component parts. So buy "whole foods" and prepare meals yourself rather than buying premade food. That way you will always know what is going into the food you're putting into your body.

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

I'm so glad the Big Island is blessed with many farmer's markets where you can get three papaya or avacado for a buck. And they're all fresh.

[glossyp]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

I've stopped purchasing any item that will go on or in our bodies that is labeled "Made in China". What is amazing to me is how much of what is in our markets is from China. We'll always purchased as much locally grown produce as we can and find that the large Marukai on Dillingham has a really impressive selection of local produce at excellent prices.

[Miulang]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

I've stopped purchasing any item that will go on or in our bodies that is labeled "Made in China". What is amazing to me is how much of what is in our markets is from China. We'll always purchased as much locally grown produce as we can and find that the large Marukai on Dillingham has a really impressive selection of local produce at excellent prices.

That's an excellent start, but that still won't protect you completely if you buy anything that's manufactured in the US from component parts/ingredients that might have come from outside the country. The pet food disaster is one example: food was made in this country and Canada, but the tainted gluten was imported from China. The pet food labels wouldn't have China anywhere on them.

Also, you're lucky you live in Hawai'i and can get fresh tuna, mahimahi and swordfish. Stay away from the frozen stuff because it might have come from China and could contain higher levels of mercury than is safe. Frozen shrimp from Asia could contain antibiotics or salmonella.

Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

Stay away from the frozen stuff because it might have come from China and could contain higher levels of mercury than is safe.

Good thing the labels in the local supermarkets where I shop tell me where the frozen fish is from.

Not like you would know, from thousands of miles away in Washington.

Again, stop playing Chicken Little. It's annoying.

[LikaNui]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

That's an excellent start, but that still won't protect you completely if you buy anything that's manufactured in the US from component parts/ingredients that might have come from outside the country.

Or it just as easily might not have.

Stay away from the frozen stuff because it might have come from China

Or, it might not have.

and could contain higher levels of mercury than is safe.

Or, could not.

Frozen shrimp from Asia could contain antibiotics or salmonella.

Or, you know... could not.

Conjecture. Projection. Ifs, ands, maybes. Speculation.
Be afraid, people. BE VERY AFRAID.
The sky might be falling.

[kthor]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

the only thing is, many of the fresh fish, lobster, crabs in hawaii's supermarket aren't grown locally. Many of those came from Chinese/Korean fish dealers in China/Korea. scary

[Miulang]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

Here are some interesting reasons why just reading a label may not completely tell the story about where a package of food came from:

Countries of origin always are labeled if they're high prestige - though not always clearly. Take olive oil. A side trip to the oil aisle shows a row of glowing yellow and light-green oils, many labeled "Imported from Italy." But a careful reading of the back label shows that while the bottles may have come from Italy, most of the oil inside comes from Spain, Greece and Tunisia, with some Italian oil thrown in....

The islands near the bakery are overflowing with fresh-baked bread, rolls and croissants. And while they were baked here - Lempert peeks through the door to point out the ovens and the rising racks - they weren't actually made here, a guess confirmed by one of the hair-netted employees wheeling out fresh loaves.

The dough "comes in either chilled or frozen, and it's baked off here," he says.

There are two clues to whether the market actually makes its own baked goods. "If you don't see mixers or flour on the floor, it wasn't made here," Lempert says.

That said, the ingredients are almost certain to be from the USA, simply because we grow a lot of wheat that becomes flour, as well as producing all our own milk and eggs, he says...

No chicken is imported, and given the size of the U.S. meat industry, you might think that everything but prosciutto comes from the USA. But a call to the American Meat Institute reveals that about 16% of beef is imported, much of that coming in as trimmings that go into ground beef.

"They come from all over the world. An American who eats a lot of hamburger will be eating imported beef," says Dave Ray of the American Meat Institute. But "these aren't steaks, cuts, chops and ribs," which would be American-raised.

Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

the only thing is, many of the fresh fish, lobster, crabs in hawaii's supermarket aren't grown locally. Many of those came from Chinese/Korean fish dealers in China/Korea. scary

You got any links to back up your BS?

Many? More like some. Ever get on a plane and actually spend some time here? Ever been to the fish auction?

Here are some interesting reasons why just reading a label may not completely tell the story about where a package of food came from:

Back to bloating your post count, I see. What does that link have to with locally-grown food?

[Miulang]

Re: Another reason to eat locally grown food

This has everything to do with what you guys eat. Most of your stuff is coming from somewhere else. The majority of the food you consume is imported from somewhere else.

Contaminated frozen catfish, etc.

US food imports rarely inspected

US bans fish imported from China

House Congressional panel on food safety report from 7/17/07

Miulang