KCC Farmers Market, Honolulu - Foodie Mecca

No matter where you travel, farmers markets are a great place to get a taste of local flavor. But the farmers market at the Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu takes tasting to an entirely different level. On our recent trip to Hawaii, we were fortunate enough to be in town on a Saturday and give you a first-hand look at this local food mecca. Full of locals stocking up on produce for the week and bus loads full Japanese tourists, it's one of the largest and busiest farmers markets we'd ever seen. They don't just sell produce, flowers and coffee, but almost every vendor has something to eat. From boxed breakfasts and smoothies to grilled pizza or vegan mushroom poke, there's lots to try and sample.....and sample we did. Come along with us on our eating adventure.

The first thing we noticed was the sound of music wafting through the market. Apparently we were in for a treat, as slack key guitarist Makana was playing that morning. Be sure to hit play for some audio to accompany your visual feast.

We took a moment to absorb the crowd in front of us and made the immediate decision that coffee was in order. As you can probably tell from my photo, I really needed some caffeine.

Luckily, it's the first booth you pass when you walk into the market. We picked up two cups of the Kona Market Blend from Koko Crater Coffee Roasters. Excellent brew, but in the future I'd save the coffee for later in the visit. We quickly learned that a cup of hot coffee takes up valuable hand real estate.

What to try first? Well the most obvious choice, naturally, abalone. Ok maybe not so much, but we're adventurous eaters and we naturally gravitate to something we've never tried before.

We waited patiently for their smallest portion, two half shells of deliciousness from Big Island Abalone. We couldn't decide on a condiment, so we topped them with everything. That included some shoyu, lemon juice and some herbed butter. (You may be tempted to skip the hand-mixed herbed butter a tub that suspiciously looks like a I Can't Believe It's Not Butter tub. Ignore that voice in your head, and slather some on. Judging from the near empty container, it was a good call.) What did abalone taste like? A mix between a clam and a scallop, but with a distinct flavor all its own. What I liked best was its size, unlike other puny shellfish, you get a few bites out of an abalone.

Curiosity satisfied, but now we were giddy with excitement. Smoothies, baked goods, tropical fruit....what to try next?

We paced ourselves and eyed up some jumbo avocados, red carrots and more varieties of papaya than we could count.

And then we spotted our next snacking contender. The gorgeous tomatoes from North Shore Farms and that pizza that the blogs won't shut up about and everyone around us had a slice of it. Luscious red and orange tomatoes grown on the north side of Oahu in Waialea on top of a creamy basil pesto. And lets not forget the fresh mozzarella or the fresh basil on top. Heaven on a plate and now we've joined the "bloggers who won't shut up about this pizza" club. It was good, I'd even go so far to say as it was better than pizza in Italy.

What's next? Time for something sweet. We quickly glanced past the oh-so-tempting beignets, arancini and fried polenta and dove headfirst into the lumpia. Fried, spring roll-like concoctions with a variety of choices. We skipped over the savory options, which included pork, shrimp and thai veggies and went straight for the banana. In hindsight, I wish I had also tried the haupia (or coconut pudding.) But, I had yet to be converted to the haupia fan club.

I could have eaten my weight in these fried pockets of goodness. In fact, I'm kicking myself right now as I write this. But, alas, there was more food to try.

Being the BBQ snob that I am, I was on the lookout for the Hawaiian version, kalua pork, the entire morning. And leave it to the culinary students from Kapiolani Community College to satisfy my craving. They were serving pulled kalua pork on taro roll sliders with the requisite coleslaw on top. They immediately stole my heart (and my stomach.) Oh, let's just get to the pork.

It was perfectly cooked. Moist, tender and full of flavor. The purple taro buns were a colorful complement and uniquely Hawaiian experience.

After finding pork mecca, we decided to take it easy for a bit. After all, there was still a lot of food to try. So, we took another stroll around the market to give our appetites a chance to rebound.

We would have made a big mistake if we didn't take advantage of all the fresh tropical fruit available at the market. There was plenty of fruit to sample; we devoured a big container of freshly cut pineapple, tried apple bananas for the first time, and lusted after some of the more exotic specimens like Dragonfruit.

Dragonfruit, we discovered, is just as fun to eat as it is to look at. While we couldn't try any at the farmers market, we ended up having some at dessert later that evening, so we didn't miss out on the experience. It's unlike anything I've ever tasted before, not overly sweet and a firm texture. (Like a tropical beet.)

After wearing ourselves out, we stopped in the shade and enjoyed a taste of a strawberry mochi, from the Made in Hawaii stand. We couldn't have enjoyed this treat if it weren't for the forethought of Rebecca Pang, who showed up extra early to secure the coveted confection (which sells out, so get it early.) The strawberry in the middle was absolutely perfect: sweet, tart, and firm.

We tried to go back in for one more round, but our stomachs weren't having any of it.

We made a feeble attempt to try one of the breakfast selections, biscuits with a mushroom gravy. It was good, but we couldn't come close to doing it justice. We ended up enjoying the savory mushroom gravy, but skipping most of the biscuit. I felt guilty, but our pre-game snacking kept us from being able to clean our plate. We instead settled for wandering, ogling more produce, and picking up some red alaea salt and coffee to take home with us. And, well there was still a tiny bit of room in our stomachs for a ginger soda and a smoothie, since you can't walk through the farmers market empty handed, now can you? The pineapple smoothie was Hawaii in a cup and I had to fight Kelly to get my share.

As the farmers market began to wind down, we realized that we had been there for over three hours. We checked our map one last time and grabbed a second cup of this golden pineapple ambrosia for our our hike back down the hill.

And if that wasn't enough for you, there's even more food photography here:

Looking back at our trip to the KCC Farmers Market, it was one of my favorite things we did in Hawaii. It was a great tour of local flavor, a one-stop shop for everything good to eat on the islands. If you're in Honolulu, it's worth your time to head up past Diamond Head on a Saturday and get your own taste of the best that Hawaii has to offer. Just bring a friend, because you'll need someone to share in your gluttony.