Hawaii: The Bounty of He'eia I

October 02, 2012

Kamehameha Schools Presents "The Bounty of He'eia", an excursion of the Hawai'i Food and Wine Festival. This outing was brought back by popular demand and I'm glad they did, I missed out last year. The first part of the day was held at the He'eia Fishpond, located on the Windward side of O'ahu.

We headed over to the He'eia ahupua'a and Paepae o He'eia. Ahupua'a is a land division, often extended from the mountains (mauka) down to the ocean (makai) and provided everything needed for a sustainable lifestyle.

The ancient fishpond known as Paepae o He'eia was our first stop. Run by a private non-profit organization is dedicated to the caring for the fishpond. Paepae o He'eia works in partnership with the landowner, Kamehameha Schools, to manage and maintain He'eia Fishpond for education and also the community.

Hi'ilei Kawelo welcomed us to
Paepae o He'eia.

We began this beautiful morning together before

heading out to see the 88 acre fishpond.

The fishpond is located next to Kane'ohe Bay

and fresh water is from the He'eia stream.

Fresh water and salt water makes for an

ideal place to raise fish, crabs, and limu seaweed.

This 600 year old fishpond is encircled by a 1.3 mile

seawall made from rock and crushed coral.

Hard to believe that something 600 years old

is still in operation today,

talk about old skool craftsmanship...

At 1 of the 6 inlets

In a nutshell, here's how a fishpond works:

Small fish swim in from the ocean through the gates into
the fishpond. The fish feed on the plants and grow to sizes
too big to fit through the gates. When the tide changes,
they want to swim towards the ocean. The inside pond
gate is opened and fish swim into the inlet and the gate
is closed behind them. You can take the fish you need.

Can it get any easier?

OR you can go into the ocean

and try to catch fish that way.

But why?

This is why fishponds are so valuable

and sustainable...

Audience Participation Time!

Who here has cleaned fish before?

Hello, is this thing on???

We're getting our instructions on how to clean

moi OR we don't get to eat lunch.

Moi is one of the fish raised at the fishpond.
They were harvested the day before.

Moi is a Pacific Threadfin and is found in
tropical to subtropical waters throughout the world.
Moi was once reserved for the ali'i (Hawaiian royalty)
and one of my favorite fish from Hawaii.

Scraping off the scales

Although I have experience prepping fish,

everyone participated and did a good job.

Guess they wanted to eat...

After the fish was scaled and cleaned,

they were salted and wrapped in ti leaves.

The moi was then packed for a trip up

to Papahana Kuaola

to be steamed for lunch

Now that the 'audience participation' portion of the event was over...

Time for pupus! (appetizers)

Lots of local goodies...

Local ahi, limu, inamona, and

chili pepper water

at the 'create-your-own-poke bar'

If you've followed me in the past, you know I love

poke and even competed in the Sam Choy's Poke Festival

on the Big Island years ago. Poke in Hawaiian is "to slice

or cut" and is a raw seafood appetizer. Today, most

poke you'll find consists of cubed tuna, marinated with

salt and small amounts of soy sauce, sesame oil, limu

seaweed, inamona (roasted crushed kukui nuts),

and chili pepper.

Photo by Lindsay Chambers (O'ahu Visitors Bureau)

Local ahi, limu, and tomatoes

So ono!

I would have been fine just eating
poke today, but I knew that more
food was being prepared at the
next stop...

When you live on an island, sustainability is a way of
life. Rather than to reinvent the sustainable wheel,
we should continue to learn what the ancient Hawaiians
did to survive and keep these food sources for
generations to come.

Join me for
"The Bounty of He'eia" Part II
at

Papahana Kuaola

Congratulations
Kamehameha Schools
on their 125th Anniversary!

Mahalo!

Kamehameha Schools

Paepae o He'eia

Hawai'i Food and Wine Festival

Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau

O'ahu Visitors Bureau