FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Local farmers dream in Slow Food

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

Five minutes among the tomato vines at Jeanne and Steve Vana's Big Wave Farm was enough to significantly increase my already considerable respect for farmers and farm workers. The heat that nurtures these tomatoes, branded "Waialua Vine-Ripe," wilted me within minutes despite a hat, sunscreen and the prospect of a refreshing lunch afterward, served under shady umbrellas with lots of ice-cold water.

The occasion was the second O'ahu outing for members and friends of Slow Food Hawaii, the group that seeks to nurture and materially support traditional and artisanal foods, from traditional varieties of tomatoes like the ones the Vanas grow on their farm off Kamehameha Highway to hand-made products such as cheeses and breads. Links are forged between producers and potential buyers at events like the farm visit recently.

This gathering was stage-managed by articulate and passionate Waialua-area food producers who served a multi-course meal of fresh vegetables in a variety of preparations and a shrimp and corn boil made with the first crop of Waialua white corn, local new potatoes and Kahuku shrimp. The meal finished with chilled yellow watermelon so silken that it tasted like sorbet.

While we ate, the farmers talked about their dreams and challenges. The common theme: The work is hard, and the financial reward is insufficient motivation. But most seemed to enjoy solving problems close to the elements.

Susan Matsushima, an advocate for sustainable agriculture and owner of Alluvion, a Waialua firm nursery, displayed a drawing of the pie slice-shaped ahupua'a (traditional land division) of Waialua, revealing the variety of agricultural endeavors from ma'uka (the heights) through kula (the fertile higher ground) to makai, the seaside.

In the mountains, Kamehameha Schools students are planting koa. Down the slope, Calvin and Kay Lum's North Shore Cattle Co. is producing beef. A handful of small farms grow corn, watermelon, tuberose, organic greens, coffee, dry-land taro and nursery plants. Closer to shore, there's papaya, lychee, bananas, tomatoes, asparagus, mango and poi taro.

"It really does start out with a vision," said Steve Vana, "then it's just making it happen." To contact Slow Food, call (808) 885-6085.