My Hawaiian “Food Thoughts”

Despite the fact that I’m on vacation in Hawaii snorkeling with the dolphins, hiking next to wild horses and biking on the Ironman course, I still can’t turn off my “nutritionist brain” so I thought I’d share some of my nutrition observations.

1. The portions are smaller than what I expected (this was a good thing!). Living in NYC, I’m used to jumbo sized sandwiches and entrees in restaurants. I was pleasantly surprised  to see moderate sized portions in most of the restaurants.

2. Restaurants close early. No late night dining in Hawaii! After meeting up with our friends we arrived at the restaurant at 8:15 pm.  Too late – it closed at 8 pm. Luckily we found one of the “late night” spots, called Huggos, that served until 10 pm.  This is late for Kona! It was a great place right on the water. Check it out if you are ever in Kona. (pic is of Jamie, Nicole, Dustin, me and TC at Huggos)

3. If you forget to buy food for dinner, you can’t just pick up the phone and order in. Restaurants don’t deliver in Kona! The only place that we could find that would deliver was Dominos Pizza. Dried out … barely edible … yuck!  Note to self …. I am not in NYC right now and can’t dial for dinner.

4. While donuts are not on my top 10 favorite food list, I must say that Hawaii has yummy homemade donuts called Malasada filled with different kinds of fruits or chocolate. Check out this link. Yes – even nutritionists eat unhealthy at times!

5. I had one of the best fast foods meals I’ve ever had and one of the worst while driving around the Big Island (which I learned is the size of Connecticut).  Best: Tex
Drive -In in Honakaa. (see pic on the right of our group ordering lunch) Chicken and veggie wrap. Worst: didn’t catch the name … but dirty burger joint with flies, bugs and nasty burgers (we all had low blood sugar and needed to eat ASAP!)

6. Hawaii is the place to be if you like raw fish (one of my obsessions). Poke is a Hawaiian specialty consisting of raw fish and other ingredients such as sesame seeds, green onions, soy sauce, etc. It turned out that there is excellent poke take-out restaurant called  “Da Poke Shack” located right under our hotel room.  Many different kinds of poke are served. If you are ever in Kona, check it out!   Here is a recipe for poke.

7. There is an abundance of local markets selling delicious Hawaiian fruits including mangoes, papaya, starfruit, dragonfruit, bananas, guava. Makes the NYC fruit/veggie carts look a little shabby.

8. Starbucks move over  – I have found a new favorite coffee! Kona coffee is delicious and rich tasting (and smelling) I bought several pounds.

9. The food in Hawaii is not cheap!

Stay tuned for my post on my brother Dustin’s ironman race!