Growing and Eating Locally

“He Aliʻi Ka ʻĀina, He Kauwā Ke Kanaka” (The land is the chief, the people are its servants) is an ʻōlelo noʻeau (proverb) to describe the relationship between Hawaiians and the land. Before Western contact, Hawaiians lived in an integrated ahupuaʻa, or land management system, that was efficient and sustainable. As a result, the people could depend solely on the land for sustenance.

“It was basically a point of self-sustainability,” says Dr. Noa Lincoln, an ethnobotanist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a Native Hawaiian. But as time changes, so does the land and its produce, he notes.

Check out the full story on Hawai’i Sea Grant.

Image below: Courtesy of GoFarm Hawai’i