In light of the upcoming special legislative session scheduled to start on October 28, a symposium on the religious exemptions to the proposed marriage equity bill will be held on Wednesday, October 9, 2013 at the Hawai‘i State Capitol Auditorium beginning at 5:30 p.m. The symposium will broadcast live on ‘Olelo channel 49.
Avi Soifer
Moderated by Avi Soifer, dean of the William S. Richardson School of Law, the panel discussion will describe the religious exemptions in the proposed marriage equity bill and will discuss possible amendments. The panel includes Andrea Freeman, assistant professor of Law at the William S. Richardson School of Law; James Hochberg, attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom and president of Hawaii Family Advocates; and Lois Perrin, legal director of ACLU of Hawaii.
Many folks think that the “Taste” is all about eating food from 6-8 pm, however, before the taste even begins there is a lot of preparation done by many groups and folks to make this one of the most successful food events in the State of Hawaii.
The line to get in
The Festival provides a venue for sustainable agricultural education, encouragement and support of locally produced agriculture products.
It’s not all about meat!
The premiere ag-tourism event is a partnership between CTAHR, Hawaii Cattlemen’s Association, Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council, Kulana Foods, UH-Hilo CAFNRM, County of Hawaii Dept. on Environmental Management and community volunteers.
Kamehameha Schools is a Sponsor of the Event
Sponsorship also includes the Hawaii Tourism Authority, the Hawaii County Research and Development, Hawaii Community College Food Service & Culinary Program and KTA SuperStores. The quality and growth of this event are rooted in small business participation, sponsorship and in-kind donations.
Miss Kona Coffee was on hand.
At 1:30 there was a nutrition seminar geared for culinary students and food industry professionals that was presented by Justin Yu, most recently chef/owner of The Whole Ox. The Kaka‘ako restaurant creates its menu based on the availability of meat while using entire grass-feed beef and pig carcasses, one at a time.
Students learn from the best
Yu, a native of New York City where he did whole animal butchery, came to Hawai’i this spring, after working at well-known eateries like Hawker Fare in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Chef Yu shares his insights for using whole animals and locally sourced products to create food in a sustainable way.
At 3 there was a seminar on how to gook grass-fed beef which had a staged cooking demonstration that featured Hubert Des Marais, executive chef of The Fairmont Orchid, Hawai’i, who instructed students how to prepare two cuts of grass-fed beef: boneless brisket and tongue.
Chef Hubert brought more than 35 years of culinary experience in the hospitality industry spanning four continents. He has garnered numerous accolades, including being named one of “America’s 10 Best Chefs” by Food and Wine Magazine and has appeared on the Food Network and cooked at the James Beard House on numerous occasions. A proponent of food sustainability, chef utilizes food prepared by local ranchers, farmers and aquaculturists while purchasing beef by whole animal carcass. At the end of the seminar, samplings of the meats were available for the students.
This was my favorite from Hualalai Grille (Beef Skirt served w/ Lobster meat)
At 5 the pre-taste began where the media had a chance to talk to the farmers and the cooks about what they had prepared without the mad rush of having to deal with the general public that came in at 6.
Chefs putting the finishing touches on some plates
I made it a point to eat as much as I could between 5 and about 5:40 hitting up about 15 booths of food that ranged from Beef Tri Tip served by Aloha Mondays to Kalua Pork served by Mahina Café.
Kalua pig in wonton shells, sweet potato on haupia. Underneath the Kalua there was a little dash of poi.
This year, I told myself I would try something different and I was going to try and eat the recipe that contained the Rocky Mountain Oysters that were served by the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
I met the chef and he assured me they were edible!
I actually had about 10 folks willing to pitch in to the Hawaii Island Food Basket if I were to complete the task of eating a cow ball and being able to suck it down.
This was a real cow ball… but it’s now how they were served.
Chef Peter Pahk sliced up the oysters and then grilled them Korean style with organic lettuce, jasmine rice and Ko Choo Jung dipping sauce.
The Oyster Display
I was expecting them to taste a little bit like Korean Chicken but boy was I in for a major surprise.
Sliced and Diced Rocky Mountain Oysters!
I don’t know what happened and everyone says its mind over matter when eating things like this… but the second I took a big bite of the concoction and started to chew… the back of my tongue just closed up against my throat and I got this instant sick sensation and I felt the need to puke. I tried my best to swallow it down… I just couldn’t do it.
Thankfully I didn’t swallow it because I probably would have heaved it up. I did my best to discreetly cover my mouth with my hand and I spit it out into my hand and then dumped it into a recycled food bin that was set up for pig slop.
Thankfully these were nearby!
I quickly went to the drink station and drank about 4 cups of soda. I couldn’t shake the taste from my mouth so I quickly went to the dessert station and had some sweets to try and take away the bitter taste that I had in mouth.
Opening Pule
At 5:45 Kahu Danny Akaka offered a Pule Hoʻomaka (Opening Prayer) inside the ballroom and then at 6:00 he moved outside and blew the “Pu” (conch shell) and untied the Maile celebrating the beginning of the 18th Annual Taste of Hawaiian Range.
The official opening to the public
A little history about Friday’s agriculture showcase is that it started in 1996 as the Mealani Forage Field Day and A Taste of the Hawaiian Range. During the day, Mealani hosted an on-site Forage Field Day with tours of the forage gardens, educational seminars for ranchers and food producers, plus presentations by top, ag-related speakers, such as Jo Robinson, best-selling author of “Pasture Perfect” and eatwild.com. In the evening, Taste sampling was enjoyed by the public in the Kahilu Town Hall. The event soon outgrew the location in Waimea and moved to it’s current location at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.
My son caught this picture of my wife and I walking down the corridor.
I got a chance to talk to one of the organizers Fern Gavalek and she stated that she thought the crowd was a little larger then last year but they haven’t got the official numbers in just yet. Last year there was over 2,000 people in attendance including folks that attended the event, student volunteers, student chefs and restaurant staff folks manning the booths.
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