Maui’s signature farm-to-table experience offers a taste of the futureby Todd A. Vines - Edible Hawaiian Islands (Spring 2008)To use the vernacular of the islands, James McDonald was “stoked.”
The executive chef at Maui’s award winning I’O and Pacific’O restaurants was contemplating what to sow next at O’o Farm, a diversified organic wonderland established in Maui’s rural Waipoli neighborhood to provide for his popular Lahaina establishments.
“I’m always excited when I open up the seed catalogues and start looking for different things to grow,” said McDonald, a Philadelphia native who has been crafting in Hawai’i kitchens for almost 30 years. “It’s a little akin to reading a Playboy. I’ll leave it at that.”
The arrangement is one few chefs anywhere enjoy; eight acres of virgin soil at Maui’s fertile 4,000-foot elevation planted to stock the kitchen; entrepreneurial partners such as restaurateurs Louis Coulombe and Stephan Bel-Robert; a celebrated venue to showcase, quite literally, the fruits of team’s labor.
The private venture is the first of its kind in the state, operating for the sole purpose of supplying the restaurants. A dense wattle forest when it was acquired in 2000, the land has since been turned into a major source of the restaurant’s daily necessities; herbs, fruits and vegetables, including a myriad of leafy greens totaling some 200 pounds – or about 80 percent of the restaurants’ needs – each week.
“My chefs and I are constantly changing dishes in order to incorporate all of the fun items we grow,” said McDonald. But this more than just your average vegetable patch.
The minds behind O’o have managed to infuse island farming with a sense of romance, opening the operation’s doors to visitors seeking a new way to connect with the land of sand and sun. Weekly interactive farm tours began in early 2007 and have proven so popular a second tour was added earlier this year. One need not be a foodie to take something away from the experience. Groups are kept relatively small – rarely more than 20 people – allowing for a personalized excursion where guests can pick, peel and sample exotic edibles in a stunning, Upcountry setting. The two-and-a-half hour culinary safari culminates with a gourmet lunch of fresh fish and farm vegetables, most of which are attached to the earth until just minutes before the meal.
The farm’s simple moniker – which means to “mature or ripen" in Hawaiian – is revealing. Not only does it capture the ethos of the farm, but its place on the forefront of one of the hottest travel trends in the Aloha State.
A Growing IndustryWhile agricultural or “ag” tourism is one of Hawai’i’s fastest growing niche markets, it’s far from a new concept. Encompassing a broad range of farm- and ranch-related activity, from tours to meals to actual accommodations, some small operations have been supplementing their income with the practice for decades.
While agtourism remains small potatoes on the enormous platter that is Hawai’i’s $12 billion tourism industry, recent numbers show clear signs of growth. Agricultural tourism-related activity in Hawai’i was valued at $38.8 million for 2006 according to the Hawai’i Department of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Statistics Service Hawai’i Field Office, a 14 percent jump from the $33.9 million reported in 2003.
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