PRESS RELEASE
Watermark Publishing announces the release of The Hawai’i Farmers Market Cookbook-Volume 2: The Chefs’ Guide to Fresh Island Foods. Edited by Joan Namkoong, this companion volume to the original Hawai’i Farmers Market Cookbook contains more than 75 recipes featuring locally-sourced ingredients by 18 of the Islands’ top chefs. The cookbook will debut at the Kapi’olani Community College Farmers Market on June 26, with additional book events planned to follow. (See attached schedule.)
Sam Choy, Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi and 15 other culinary stars share their secrets for cooking with fresh Island foods, including preparation tips and advice on selecting the best local ingredients. Namkoong acknowledges, “Asking chefs for recipes can be a bit dicey-they do like to use a lot of ingredients, some of them very unusual, and there are often many steps to their dishes.” So she instituted a key rule for the chefs, making these recipes home cook-friendly: their assigned local food item or items and no more than other five ingredients, plus cooking oil, salt, and pepper.
The Hawai’i Farmers Market Cookbook Volumes 1 and 2 were created under the aegis of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation (HFBF). HFBF president Dean Okimoto is particularly excited about the release of Volume 2: “The restaurant community is a vital link to the agricultural community. Farmers support chefs, chefs support farmers; it’s a win-win relationship that’s economically and socially sustainable. And it’s a crucial ingredient in our Hawai’i Regional Cuisine.”
Where Volume 1 provided market-goers a guide to the wide variety of local fruits, vegetables, meats and other Island-produced items, Volume 2 heads straight into the chefs’ kitchens where each was assigned an assortment of Hawai’i-grown ingredients to work with. The results are astounding. Some recipes showcase a single local ingredient; others are a mélange of Hawai’i products, proving our Islands can produce a delightfully delicious and wide-ranging selection of foods.
The weekly HFBF farmers markets now number seven, and occur on three islands, having grown from the first market established in 2003 at Kapi’olani Community College by Okimoto and Namkoong. All products at HFBF farmers markets must be Hawai’i grown and produced; no mainland produce or flowers are allowed. This ensures that consumers enjoy local growers’ freshest and finest products and helps preserve sustainable agricul¬ture as a vital part of the Island lifestyle.
The HFBF was organized in 1948 by a group of Windward O’ahu farmers. Formally incorporated in 1950, HFBF today consists of 1,600 farm and ranch families in 11 county chapters throughout the state of Hawai’i. HFBF is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to analyzing the problems affecting farming families and formulating action to ensure the future of agriculture and promote the well-being of farming and the State’s economy.
Joan Namkoong is a foodie and freelance food writer based on Hawai’i Island and co-editor of The Hawai’i Farmers Market Cookbook-Volume 1.
The full-color photographs throughout the book are the work of food photographer and Kapi’olani Community College chef-instructor Adriana Torres Chong.
The Hawai’i Farmers Market Cookbook-Volume 2: The Chefs’ Guide to Fresh Island Foods will be available for $15.95 at farmers markets (look for it at the HFBF info booth), bookstores, online booksellers or direct from the publisher at www.bookshawaii.net.
For further information please visit the following official links:
A review of this book is forthcoming on Hawaii Book Blog. Stay tuned!
