I just arrived in Honolulu for a conference for the week yesterday, and I was hoping to find some fruits here. But so far, it has been a disappointment. I went to an organic coop (Kokua, on king street), but there wasn't much there. I look for organic fruits, local of course. Coming from California, I don't want to buy californian kiwis...
The guy at the store advised me to go to chinatown and to look for jackfruit, soursop, mangos, and coconuts, fairly safe to him. So today, I plan on going there.
Does anybody has an advise, or knows a place to go to? I saw another store on king street (down to earth), but it looked like whole foods...
I can only ride the bus, so I m pretty limited to the area around waikiki.
I know there is a farmers market on saturday, and I also saw that there might be some on wednesday on Mc Cully and at the old stadium park. Can anyone confirm that and tell me what they think.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
Aloha

I would love to try their Noni-fruit..

You could try this place: [www.kokuamarket.org]

I just looked them up online.

Kokua Co-op

2563 S. King St.
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 941-1922

Open daily, 8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

Kokua Co-op is a natural foods grocery store that is cooperatively owned by over 2000 consumers living in the Honolulu area. As a co-op, Kokua is operated for the mutual benefit of its member/owners. Our membership is voluntary and open to anyone. However, you don't have to be a member to shop at Kokua! Our product line features: A Complete Selection of Natural Groceries, Organic & Local Produce, Bulk Foods, Natural & Organic Dairy Products, Domestic & Imported Cheeses, Quality Beers & Organic Wines, Gourmet Deli Foods, Natural Poultry & Quality Health & Beauty Aids.

Thanks, I've been there just after I arrived, and again today. Very nice people, but their fruit selection is rather limited. Kind of sad for Hawaii I would say.

sgc, that's a bummer. I've been thinking of spending time in Oahu and have been researching food sources. I guess visiting the organic farms is the best bet, but you have to know where they are, and have transportation.

Some other ideas:

People's Open Market:
[www.co.honolulu.hi.us]
schedule: [www.co.honolulu.hi.us]

the schedule lists these 3 areas for wednesdays in Honolulu city area:

*Palolo Valley District Park
2007 Palolo Avenue
6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m.

*Old Stadium Park
2237 South King Street
8:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.

*Queen Kapiolani Park
Monsarrat and Paki Streets
10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.


Also can try China town as you said.

Here's some info on Chi town:

markets: [www.chinatownhi.com]
map: [www.chinatownhi.com]

Let us know how you get by!

lol, i just read your first post and saw you mentioned Kokua already, haha im a goof! Anyways... have fun, be safe!

I'm just coming back from chinatown, and I found some stuff there: jackfruit, soursop, sapodilla, ramboutan, logan and mangos, all local.
I also checked a farmers market this morning, but it was really small, and nothing appealing. I might try some of the ones tomorrow, but I'm pretty stocked right now...
First time I taste jackfruit. Pretty fun, it reminds me some bubble gum, both texture and taste, but only better. I like it.

Wow, I'm jealous, I've never had any of those, accept mangos. So how were the prices? From what I've read fruit in chinatown isn't as cheap as one might expect. You do any haggling?

Most fruits at chinatown are 2.99 a pound, and jackfruit are 3.99.
But the best store is were I went this afternoon: in the street. I just talk to a guy in the street while taking pictures of hawaiian cherries, and he indicated me a neighborhood with a lot of very big mango trees. So I went there, and it was great, I talked to a few locals, and got about 10 tree ripe mangos! I also picked a couple noni fruits, but they are not ripe yet.
For the ones interested, this neighborhood is just north of the honolulu zoo, and north-east of the alai wai golf course, in the hills above date street. And there are soursop trees also.
I love foraging!

Also it is not summer.

In Miami in the summer there is every kind of fruit, everywhere in yards , all tropical fruit, just like Hawaii.... but now, none.

If you have extra time in Hawaii, check out the Blossoming Lotus restaurant. I think their site is BlossomingLotus.com

Even for winter I m pretty happy with the fruits I can find around so far.
Today, I got more mangos from some guys in the street, and some star fruits. I also found mangosteen and atemoyas in a store.
While on a walk, I came across a noni tree with a ripe noni on it. At least it looked ripe. It was soft except on the very top of the fruit. But when I tried it, the hard part was not edible, and the soft part had an awful fermented taste. I just spit it. I couldn't eat it. Did anybody try fresh noni and had the same experience, or this fruit was bad? Because I don't feel like trying it again...
Not so long ago I tried safou, which has a slightly fermented taste, but nothing compared to the noni. I also remember the day a friend give me some noni juice, and it tasted really fermented to me, and I didn't like it. Maybe I just found the fruit I don't like ;-)

Raw Fruit Festival
[www.raw-fruit-festival.net]
Health, Fitness and Fasting Retreats in Spain
[www.fit-in-nature.net]

This morning I went to the farmers market at the kapi'olani community college, and everybody told me that was the best one in honolulu. For me it was a big disappointment. There were just a few farmers selling some greens, nad only one or two organic. Nobody was selling tropical fruits besides papayas and bananas, not organic, and dole pineapples... And all the other vendors were selling cooked food, or they were just veggies resellers, not farmers.

Raw Fruit Festival
[www.raw-fruit-festival.net]
Health, Fitness and Fasting Retreats in Spain
[www.fit-in-nature.net]

If I were you I would be so happy just to be in Hawaii!! You are lucky.. I mean I live in Miami, but still Hawaii is so beautiful

I just got back to San Diego, and my experience in Hawaii was wonderful.
As soon as I could get out of waikiki though...
The landscapes, biodiversity, fauna and flora, were so different, that was great.
I just found sad that they keep importing so many stuff from mainland foodwise, while they can grow pretty much everything year round, as I could see around.

so does that mean it's actually harder to be raw in hawaii?
L

I guess it all depends on what "kind" of raw you are. For me, mostly fruits with some greens, it was actually pretty easy to find some food, fresh and local. Even if I was excpecting more tropical delights, I'm just picky.
But if you look for gourmet kind of raw, it might be more difficult than in NYC ;-)

honolulu has slim pickings for exotic tropical fruit.

the best best is chinatown.

down to earth and kokua market are good too (have the basics, avos, banannas, mango, papaya). and sometime other things.

for fruit, I find the BIG island, the best. the farmers market in HILO has the most tropical fruit of any of the islands based on my two-dozen travels to the islands.

it is sad to hear this. they must have a lot of monocrops (sugar, pineapple). i was just reading about japanese plantation workers at the turn of the century. Pretty harsh, and never mind the fate of the Hawaiians... In many cases you can gauge how much the people have been exploited by how biodiverse the available produce is. Large monocrops equal mass exploitation. Take this example, costa rica has an amazing diversity of fruit, truly out of this world, then, go to honduras (same climate) and try to find more than a banana or other basic fruit. in some places i found no fruit, but, of course like the woman who began this thread, i learned that that is because people pick the fruit off their own trees. nevertheless it was a pitiful selection compared to costa rica. while costa rica also has banana plantations they do not exist on the mass scale they do in honduras and many more costa ricans own their OWN land. or they did last i checked, in 93 before the MASSIVE gringo invasion....Leila