August 6, 2023: Cultural Food Traditions Project: Hawaii
Thank you to chefs Lily and Koa, moderator Dante and Aaron and the City Slickers Farm crew for a wonderful and delicious evening!
We brought back 2019’s Cultural Food Traditions Project dinners, starting with two talented chefs from Hawaii, Lily Rockholt & Koa Mendes. Guests joinedus at City Slicker Farm in West Oakland at 4pm on Sunday August 6th.
Our focus was on climate change and the ways it is affecting people and their foodways — whether through forcing migration or changing growing and harvesting practices due to heat, flooding, or stronger storms. As the planet warms, our cultural foodways are in peril, and we need to talk about it.
And, as usual, we sat together and shared delicious food & drink while we have these conversations.
Slow Food = joy + justice
Full description:
For the first in our newest series, we visited Hawaii. A series of islands that many California's say they know well, it's a place of deep indigenous knowledge, people fiercely connected to the land and a community that has influences from Japan and the US and Philippines and China and yet still maintains an identity all their own.
Our chefs for the evening were Lily Rockholt and Koa Mendes.
Lily is of Okinawan descent, representing generations of movement from Japan to the Hawaiian Islands. She is lead chef at The Cupboard in SF and recently completed her degree in Conservation and Resource Studies with a focus on food and foodways. Her personal pop-up, All Pau Berkeley, is an homage to her fondest culinary experiences in Hawaii.
Koa grew up in his ancestral home of Hilo and moved to the mainland recently, working his way through a variety of kitchens as line cook, pastry cook and sushi chef. The memories of family cookouts and culinary knowledge passed down through generations guides him as he explored his mixed heritage of Filipino, Portuguese, Chinese and Native Hawaiian through food.
Our moderator for the conversation was Dante Kaleo, a musical artist, climate activist and former Ecology Center Farmers Market manager.
Slow Food East Bay’s Cultural Food Traditions Project series of events celebrates the cultural food traditions of immigrants, refugees and displaced people, learning how food helps people stay connected to homeland and also engage with new communities. Attendees will be inspired by stories from chefs and community organizations, learning how diversity and migration have helped in the development of our food system.... And, frankly, make it delicious!
Speaking of delicious, the menu for the evening was our chefs’ take on a plate lunch:
Pupus - light bites, all vegetarian
BBQ - both pork and vegetarian options
Rice, Mac Salad and Noodles
Pickles & Ferments
Sticky rice with Mango, Butter Mochi and maybe a little Guava too!
And to drink, plentiful fresh juices (with or without alcohol!) and beer
Pricing: We're committed to being and building an inclusive community while also making the event sustainable for the chefs. Everyone is welcome at our table and to help that happen we offer sliding scale tickets prices which include dinner, drinks (alcoholic & non) and stimulating discussion. For this event, pricing was as follows:
$90 — A portion of this ticket subsidizes someone who can pay less.
$75 — If you earn a living wage this ticket helps the chefs do the same.
$45 — Join Us! We are grateful that you choose to spend your money on this important work and are excited to have you at the table!
Those who felt inspired to come but for whom $45 doesn’t work were encouraged to email us at slowfoodeastbay@gmail.com
As our political discourse gets more polarized, it becomes ever more important to have places where we can have meaningful connection discovering inherent connections to one another. Guests left the evening with both their bellies and minds full, after enjoying a night of delicious food paired with equally delicious conversation.
