Buy Local Kauai Food
Buying local Kauai food provides many advantages. With the recent push in Hawai’i to move away from the dependence on imported food and return to a self-sufficient model of local food production, farmers’ markets are available around the island. These markets promote local farms and the freshest, locally grown produce.
Buying locally grown food means more for the local economy. Buying locally grown food makes for a wonderful story about the farmer who brings local fruit to market or the baker who makes local bread. Knowing part of the story about your food is a personal way of enjoying a meal.
Locally grown produce is fresher. While produce that is purchased in a big-box store has been in transit or cold-stored for days or weeks, produce that you purchase at your local farmers’ market has often been picked within 24 hours of your purchase. This freshness not only affects the taste of your food, but the nutritional value which declines with time. Locally grown fruits and vegetables also have longer to ripen. Because the produce will be handled less, locally grown fruit does not have to be “rugged” or to stand up to the rigors of shipping. This means that you are going to be getting fruits and vegetables that were allowed to ripen until the last possible minute. Local food just plain tastes better.
Buying local food keeps us in touch with the seasons. By eating with the seasons, we are eating foods when they are at their peak taste, and the most abundant, and the least expensive. Local food translates to more variety. When a farmer is producing food that will not travel a long distance, and will have a shorter shelf life, and does not have a high-yield demand, the farmer is free to try small crops of various fruits and vegetables that would probably never make it to a large supermarket. And supporting local providers supports responsible land development. When you buy local, you give local farms and pastures an economic reason to stay open and undeveloped.
See our Kauai Events Calendar for times and locations of local farmers’ markets.
