Big Island events celebrate local farming, poke
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
KOHALA COAST, HAWAI'I — It was a big weekend for food lovers on the Big Island, with Taste of the Hawaiian Range and the 13th Annual Aloha Festivals Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel Poke Festival both taking place.
The Taste of the Hawaiian Range, in its ninth year, is sponsored by the University of Hawai'i College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources to celebrate forage-raised animals and local agriculture. More than 30 chefs participated and 1,500 guests descended on the Hilton Waikoloa Village Sept. 24; the event occupied a large ballroom and an outdoor courtyard. Guests sampled creations made with locally grown meats, as well as vegetarian selections from local produce. An attractive aspect of this event is its ticket price, which has remained at $25 (advance) for the entire nine years.
We saw everything from tripe stew (chef George Mavrothalassitis) to "Kohala Mountain Oysters" (chef Daniel Thiebaut) and forage-fed poultry (Alan Wong's). Produce ranged from fresh figs from Waimea to Big Island-grown limes made into a thick, rich lime pie ("Makapala Mist Lime Pie" from Makapala Lime Co. in Kapa'au) and Volcano-grown wasabi (Yamashiro Farm).
It was quite a testament to the potential of Hawai'i agriculture and ranching, although pest, production and marketing issues still plague these developing industries.
The Poke Festival, like the Taste, is always something of a mob scene with folks jockeying for position to dive in for tastes of poke once the judging is done and the awards presented. The event celebrates a dish that started out simple — fresh raw fish, a little seaweed, some roasted kukui nuts, pa'akai (salt). Now they're making Poke Wellington, stuffing cream puffs with a poke mixture, cross-breeding poke with kim chee and ceviche.
By the way, this is the one originally founded with the aid of Chef Sam Choy, but he's moved on and will launch an O'ahu poke event at the Turtle Bay Resort in November.
In addition to the Poke Contest, the 7th Annual Poke Shoot-Out Golf Tournament was held Sept. 25. This charity golf tournament raised nearly $20,000 for the Kawaihae Transitional Housing Program on the Big Island.
Next week, I'll share recipes and lessons learned from both these events.
Meanwhile, here are poke contest winners, who vied for more than $15,000 in cash and prizes:
Best of Show: Collins "Buster" Faifai, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, who prepared a complex poke taco: a spicy, cumin-accented seared 'ahi mixture nestled in a "tortilla" made from a fried gyoza wrapper and topped with salmon poke salsa (sort of a take on lomi salmon). Faifai, the self-effacing banquet chef for the Hapuna, probably had a little advantage in that he didn't have far to go from his kitchen to the entry table. He won $2,000 with this sophisticated dish.
• Professional: 1st Place, Collins "Buster" Faifai, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel; 2nd Place, Claude Mangaguit, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai; 3rd Place, Val Gines, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
• Non-Professional: 1st Place, Margie Hanselman, Hilo; 2nd Place, Alexander Akau, Waimea; 3rd Place, James Del Mar, Kailua, Kona.
Overall Categories:
• Best Cooked Poke, Trini Castillo, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel.
• Best Poke Recipe Using Seaweed, Kazuyo Omata, Hilo.
• Best Poke Recipe Using Mac Nuts, Timothy Naughton, Grand Wailea Resort (Maui).
• Best Poke Recipe Using Soy Sauce, Kerry Kakazu, Honolulu.
• Best Poke Recipe Using Tofu, Jason Wood, Waikoloa.
• Best Traditional Poke, Polly Pagdillao, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
• Ali'i Award: Joeliene Schutte, Waimea.
• Aloha Festivals Award: Chester Sims, Laupahoehoe.
