Hawaii's Tropical Farmer's Market - America's Heartland

When you're on vacation, it's always nice to learn about favorite foods from that area. Here in Hawaii, you have lots of choices unique to island culture. And here on the Big Island, you also have a chance to meet some special farmers growing some special crops. It may not be listed in the guidebooks, but this regular Wednesday farmers market on the front lawn of the Sheraton Keoho Bay Resort draws vacationers and locals alike. The attraction? Fresh fruits and vegetables, unique island produce, and a chance to meet the farmers of America's 50th state. And this is my rainbow chard. Eric Lelinsky is a regular visitor to the market. How are you guys doing today? Great. This is going to be nice for a salad tonight. As the executive chef of the resort's Kai restaurant, Eric looks for fresh foods that highlight the efforts of local producers. We've got some romas today. Oh, you've got beautiful romas. We've got some persimmons, which are a low-acid tomato. I come down here and use it for my specials. You know, I do a special. Usually, I work with the farmers down here. I come down and see what they have. I use their local produce and fruit into the dinner special that we have on Wednesday night. Yeah, I think we're good. I think we're good for the day. All right. Wonderful. Well, thank you very much. You're very welcome. There's another side to Eric's shopping excursions. He uses the market to educate visitors and locals about what they're buying and how to prepare it. Like I said, this is a real simple rustic salad. It's a wonderful thing, you know, using all the local products that are grown right here. There's no carbon footprint, nothing. You know, it's only delivered from an hour up the road and comes right here to my property. Earth Matters Farm is one of those, just an hour up the road. The farm's crops include corn, carrots, and tomatoes, as well as exotic varieties of kale, tutsoi, and chard. Organic farmers Greg and Gail Smith say that living on an island creates a special challenge in providing enough food for local needs. We import over 90 percent of our food, and that must change. And so, as a small-scale farmer, we hope that we can be an example so that can be part of what the change is made. But raising crops in Hawaii brings challenges not faced by some other heartland producers. Where my farm is, it's basically a lava rock where we had to build all our own soil. That was always a struggle. But now that it's established, it's doing really well. It's a challenge to maintain organic farming with the insect problems, but we do the best we can with that. Greg and Gail say their connection to consumers is as important as their crops, and their weekly presence at the farmer's market strengthens that opportunity. One of our customers called it the avatar broccoli. For me, it's important to have a connection with the consumer, to be able to be the farmer and selling direct to the consumer. There you go, my darling. Have a wonderful day. Meanwhile, Eric's dinner menu will include a number of the items gleaned from today's market. It's very important that all the hotels and restaurants in the areas and all around the Big Island that use local products and support our farmers and support our local agriculture. When they come to Hawaii, they want to try Hawaiian vegetables and Hawaiian fruits and things like that. Living here in the islands is a beautiful place. It's warm year-round. I get the best produce. I can't complain. There's no better.