Taste of the Hawaiian Range Foodie Highlights

Feeding the crowd at Taste of the Hawaiian

You know it's going to be a good party when a line of chefs file into the ballroom a few hours before go-time, each toting a case of beer. This line happened to be led by Mark "Gooch" Noguchi, champion of food sustainability and, although he lives on Oahu, supports Big Island events whenever he's able.

Thirty five chefs cooked up dishes for the crowd to enjoy at Taste of the Hawaiian Range on October 4 at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Each chef was assigned a different cut of meat, most worked with locally raised grass-fed beef, while some chefs tackled goat, sheep, lamb, and feral pig. Food was served from booth displays, both inside the ballroom and outside near the water.

Although rain poured on the long line of waiting, hungry guests right at the start of the event, they were not deterred. Big Island folks know how blessed and precious rain is in Waikoloa so they soaked up it right along with the thirsty plants.

Upon check-in at the event, guests are given a map showing where each chef would be serving food as well as which cut of meat they would be working with. I spent a good 15 minutes studying the map, circling my top choices as it was highly unlikely 35 samples were going to fit in this belly. Below, my favorite dishes, in no particular order.

Tripe gyros from Blue Dragon

Beef tripe gyros with ho'i'o salad from Blue Dragon restaurant. Located in Kawaihae, on the west side of the Big Island, Blue Dragon is known for solid food, a commitment to using local ingredients, and live music under the stars. Now, I'm not normally a fan of tripe, but these guys worked some magic, the gyros were crunchy and full of flavor.

Meatloaf by East Hawaii Community College

Both East and West Hawaii Community College culinary programs were represented, and I hate to say this because I really wanted to like the West side's dish better, but the charming bacon wrapped meat loaf made by students from the East side campus was a smart, creative dish and was my favorite among the two campuses.

Gnocchi with oxtail ragout by Four Seasons Hualalai

From the Four Seasons Hualalai Beach Tree restaurant came a homey gnocchi dish with oxtail ragout. I wanted to curl up in a corner with a blanket and a big bowl of this gnocchi.

Skirt steak from Chef Noguchi

Chef Noguchi, mentioned above, made us a beef skirt steak with beets, beet puree, and inamona served in a lettuce leaf. It was nice to have some veggies in the mix.

Lamb chorizo by Chef Kenney

Ed Kenney, of Town restaurant, also made it out from Oahu. Chef Kenney made lamb chorizo with pickled beets and muddled cucumber. As usual, amazing yet simple flavors.

Other highlights was the Squash and Awe booth by Anna Peach, a guerrilla farmer in Waimea growing heirloom squash varieties, and the hard working students of Kanu O ka Aina, Kamehameha Schools, and UH Hilo for making it a zero waste event. All paper products were recycled and food scraps composted.

Hope you can make it to the Big Island's best foodie event next year.

Cooking With Grass-fed Beef

At the Taste of the Hawaiian Range agricultural festival on Oct. 4 at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island, Chef Hubert Des Marais, of the Fairmont Orchid Hawaii, led a grass-fed beef cooking demonstration. He had all sorts of tricks and tips for cooking the sustainable Hawaiian meat product.

To read about these great tips and get the recipe for the meatballs above, visit HuffPost Hawaii to read the rest of my article. Mahalo! 

Favorite Grass Fed Beef Recipes

Beef tongue tacos made with Hawaiian grass fed beef

I'm headed off to the Taste of the Hawaiian Range today, a celebration of Hawaiian agriculture highlighting grass fed beef. Luckily, several different cuts of grass fed beef can be found in many locations on the Big Island and is served at many restaurants. If you'd like to try cooking with it at home, I've got some recipes for you to try below.

Grass Fed Steak with Kona Coffee Marinade (scroll down to find the recipe at the bottom of the post).

Liver and Onions with Alii Mushrooms and Sauteed Chard

Shredded Beef Tongue Tacos (my personal favorite)

Southwestern Meatballs with Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce

Grass fed steak with coffee marinade

Ka'u Coffee Festival Ho'olaule'a

Iced mocha from the Flyin' Hawaiian

The Ka'u Coffee Festival's big event was held on May 4th in Pahala. Crowds of people from all over the Big Island and beyond gathered to enjoy the best coffees Ka'u has to offer.

There were plenty of coffee samples, ono food, crafts from local vendors, music, dancing, and the "Ka'u Coffee Experience," a sampling of coffees prepared in a variety of different methods by brewing experts.

Clouds for days but no rain

Who knew there were so many different ways to make coffee? The coffee experts carefully weighed the beans before grinding, brought the water up to specific temperatures before brewing, and showed us that the size of the spigot matters when pouring water over coffee grounds. The most unique brewing method was the cold brew; ice slowly melts and drips through a coffee filter to create a special drinking experience 12 hours later. Now that's caffeine commitment.

Cold brewed coffee

We enjoyed a teriyaki beef plate made with local beef by the 4-H club and an iced mocha from the Flyin' Hawaiian coffee truck. Our favorite coffee of the day (although it was extremely hard to choose) came from Rusty's Hawaiian with great, fruity flavors.

4-H'ers say, eat local!

If you missed it this year, mark your calendars for next year's Ka'u Coffee Festival held in spring in Pahala.

Taste of the Hawaiian Range Highlights

Serious eating.

The Big Island's ultimate food festival, Taste of the Hawaiian Range, was held on Friday, September 21 at Hilton Waikoloa Village.

This lucky girl won a ticket via a Facebook drawing and I can't believe this was my first time attending. I have really been missing out.

Food booths are in green. We couldn't possibly try them all, but we made a valiant dent.

Dustin and I ate our way through dozens of food booths celebrating grass-fed beef, lamb, mutton, and goat.

Utensils, cups, and plates were all recycled at the event. We made sure to reuse our forks as we ate our way through. 

Town Restaurant's shepard's pie with mutton

We were surprised to learn that blueberries are being grown in Volcano, grass-fed Portuguese sausage can be found at our local grocery, and that the gaminess of mutton can be a good thing.

I was even served by Food Network Star participant Ippy Aiona. Star struck!

The best dish of the night was served by Kamehameha Schools, tacos made with steamship round that had been basking over flames all day. Other notables were the beef heart by Aloha Mondays, and the beef cheek lau lau style by the Fairmont Orchid.

Kamehameha Schools amazing steamship round. 

Not only was it a pleasure to witness the incredible creativity of all the restaurants and chefs that participated, but we learned so much and were inspired by the efforts of our community to make eating local a priority and furthering the efforts to make the islands sustainable.

Buy local, it matters!

Other fun write-ups about this event:
Damon Tucker
A Sari-Sari Life

PS: Happy Sustainable Sunday!