Ryan Pointer
Sustainable You Hawaii – The Musubi Truck
Nestled in Kapa’a town, the Musubi Truck has garnered attention for its unique spin on a longstanding Hawaiian staple: the musubi. SPAM, a protein that found its way into the diets of Hawaiians during the 1940s wartime, evolved into a culinary mainstay, and by the 1980s, it was being crafted into SPAM musubi by local innovators like Barbara of Jonihana, after whom the Musubi Truck is affectionately named. As Nicolette, one of the craftspeople behind the Musubi Truck, shared with Amanda Smith, host of Kauai TV, “Spam came to Hawaii in the 1940s during wartime, and it quickly became the main staple protein for locals.” Nicolette illustrated how the truck has shifted from the classical SPAM, rice, and nori composition towards something more gourmet, yet still anchored in tradition.
While the Musubi Truck pays homage to the traditional SPAM musubi, known colloquially as the OG Spam musubi, its offerings veer into innovative territories. An example of this innovation is the Ahi Katsu Musubi. Nicolette detailed the process, stating, “We got fresh fish from local fishermen. We have a slew of them that keep in touch with us. It’s panko’d and fried and then tucked into the rice and wrapped with the nori with a little furikake again on top and a katsu sauce.” The meticulous crafting of each musubi, from careful rice pressing to adroit nori wrapping, yields a harmonious blend of crunchy and soft textures, warmly enfolding the palate.
Contrastingly, their Ahi poke bowl, which Nicolette described as having “cold, crisp Ahi on the warm rice with the furikake, Hawaiian salt, just a touch of it so that you taste it every other bite,” is a different kind of culinary experience yet still revered by both tourists and locals. The juxtaposition of the cool Ahi with the warmth of the rice provides a notable variation, establishing the Musubi Truck not just as a one-note wonder but a place where tradition and innovation harmoniously reside side by side.
The truck, while primarily a food service entity, extends its influence beyond the culinary realm through community involvement, particularly via their “Feed Our Keiki” program. Nicolette shared with Smith, “Since we’re close to the skatepark and the middle school, they all come flowing through here, and we’ve really become a place for them that’s safe.” Through the program, children in the vicinity, either from the skatepark or the school, are provided with a nourishing meal, comprising of the original Spam musubi, chips, and a drink. The initiative is not just about feeding the youth but also about providing a safe and welcoming space, weaving a tapestry where sustenance and community converge.
In a realm where food, tradition, and community interfuse, the Musubi Truck finds its niche, offering not merely a meal but an experience, a connection to the roots and evolution of Hawaiian culinary arts, and a warm embrace to the community it serves. This synthesis of culinary innovation, respect for tradition, and community integration delineates a unique path in which the Musubi Truck navigates, meandering through the tastes and spirits of Kaua’i, crafting not just food, but narratives enveloped in nori, sprinkled with furikake, and imbued with the essence of aloha.
Sustainable You Hawaii – Nani Moon Mead
Nani Moon Mead, positioned in Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii, underscores its expertise in crafting mead—an alcoholic beverage originating from fermented honey. The business integrates a diverse assortment of local ingredients, prominently Hawaiian honey and various indigenous tropical fruits, spices, and herbs. The resultant beverage is a reflection of the Hawaiian terroir, enriched by the locale’s characteristic biodiversity. An apparent commitment to sustainability and the reinforcement of local agriculture echoes through the meadery’s practices, given their exclusive use of Hawaiian honey and local produce in crafting their meads.
In a conversation with Amanda Smith, Stephanie from Nani Moon Meadery elucidates, “Basically, what mead is is an alcoholic beverage that’s made from honey. We make mead because we can get all of our ingredients locally. So we get honey from our own hives and fruit and spices from our local farmers, so you’re left with a product that’s 100% Hawaiian and tropical.” This underscores the meadery’s intent to embed itself in practices that favor local production and sustainability, whilst producing a beverage intrinsically tied to its geographical and cultural context.
When visiting Nani Moon Mead, customers find a tasting room, where a range of meads, distinct in their flavor profiles, are available for exploration and purchase. They have meads that range from the brightly tropical to those imbued with richer, spicier notes. Mention of several meads, such as Pineapple Guava Sunset and Winter Sun, indicates a palette inspired by and derived from the local environment. Furthermore, the tasting room is not only a space for sampling but also serves as an informative stage, where aspects of mead production and ingredient details are divulged to the visitors.
Navigating through the assortment of meads Nani Moon Mead offers, Stephanie outlines, “We do have seven varieties of our commercial meads, which you’ll find on our menu as well as sometimes seasonals… We highly recommend the royal flight, and that can be enjoyed for two people or for an ambitious one person, and that’s a two-ounce pour of all seven of our commercial varieties.” A snapshot into a few of the meads—like the Ginger Spice, which “is made with Kauai honey, star fruit, organic raw ginger, and organic spices,” or the Winter Sun, formulated with “local raw honey, star fruit, and passion fruit,”—provides insight into the thoughtful fusion of local ingredients.
Moreover, the meadery is described as ensuring a meticulous blending of traditional mead production practices while engaging in collaborations and close workings with local beekeepers and farmers, maintaining a singular emphasis on ingredient quality and genuineness. The resultant mead offerings are notably crafted to create not merely a beverage but an experience that encapsulates Hawaii’s vibrant and distinctive environmental attributes.
Stephanie’s comments in the video about various meads provided insights into the myriad of options available to patrons. Regarding the Cacao Moon, she remarked it is “made with local macadamia nut blossom honey and chocolate and vanilla, both grown on the north shore of Kauai, so it’s semi-sweet and just super beautiful and smooth.” Another variant, Deviant Behavior, presents an intriguing blend, being “made with Kauai honey, Hawaiian chili peppers, and pineapple.”
She wraps up the interaction with a note that for customers who traverse the tasting journey and wish to take a piece of it back home, “We do tastings and we do full bottle purchases here, so you can either come in and buy a few bottles or you can come in for a taste and leave with bottles. We do ship to the mainland, so if you come in and want to take anything home with you, we can provide that shipping option to select states.”
Nani Moon Mead is not merely a business entity but a confluence where local agriculture, sustainable practices, and the creation of a uniquely Hawaiian beverage intermingle, contributing to a sustained local agricultural practice and a distilled, bottled experience of Hawaii’s indigenous flora.