Oh So Ono! Celebrating Locally Grown Fare at “Taste of the Hawaiian Range”

The Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island’s Kohala coast was the setting for last night’s 15th annual Mealani’s Taste of the Hawaiian Range and Agricultural Festival. I attended the event with Debbi Mahilum.

Hawaii 24/7 Recap

There’s a great recap of the event and background of the festival on one of my favorite local news blogs, Hawaii 24/7. If you’re interested in the history of “Taste of the Hawaiian Range” and want to know more about the chefs who participated, take a look at Karin Stanton’s informative post.

I don’t want to duplicate Karen’s post here, but I was excited to see Hawaii 24/7′s  photo of the Grilled Top Round Beef on Seasoned Couscous with Cucumber, drizzled with Cilantro-Lime offered by North Hawaii Community Hospital–this was our last “taste” of the evening and it was good enough to make us rethink our top picks!

My Favorite “Taste”

Although the line for Town restaurant’s goat sausage was the longest throughout the evening, my favorite was the Jawaiian Wild Boar with Passionate Mango Barbecue Sauce, Papaya Slaw and a Taro Roll by the Hilton Waikoloa Village. A little bit fancy and a little bit “local style.” Just right for an event on a Waikoloa Beach Resort lanai where hand-wash stations dotted the scene alongside booths featuring creations by some of Hawaii’s best restaurants!

Slide Show and Other Highlights

Besides sampling some pretty amazing food (including beef tongue from Keauhou Beach Resort, kalua pork from Pau and lamb from Roy’s Waikoloa) I also had a chance to meet Kanoa Miura of Aloha Mondays catering. Kanoa was responsible for the Hearts of Palm and Pineapple Salad I wrote about after the OK Farms luau. He gave me a little insight into the recipe, but I’m not sure I have quite enough information to try it on my own yet!

(Working on getting the slideshow back… technical difficulty!)