From The Napa Valley Register
Monday, October 10, 2011

Lu‘au at Lincoln:
Hawaiian George Kahumoku brings a show -- and dinner -- to Yountville

When Grammy Award winner George Kahumoku arrives in California from Maui, Hawaii later this week, he will be bringing more than his guitar. Kahumoku‘s cargo also includes 450 pounds of sustainably farmed, homegrown ingredients from his Kealia Farm for a Hawaiian lu‘au feast he will prepare for concertgoers this coming Sunday at Yountville‘s Lincoln Theater.

A multiple Grammy winner for slack key guitar, Kahumoku will perform with his son Keoki Kahumoku. The concert is at 7 p.m., but the complete Hawaiian experience of music, hula and a typical Hawaiian lu‘au feast begins at 5 p.m.

In addition to being a performer, Kahumoku is a song writer, high school and college teacher, storyteller and writer, as well as a farmer.

"I grew up in a family that was sustainable," George Kahumoku said via

telephone. "The only thing we shopped for 50 years ago was sugar and salt. Everything else we raised ourselves. We were fisherman and hunters. We raised our own food."

Those traditions continue today. "My grandfather raised enough food for 1,000 and I now raise enough for about 100 people," he said. "This morning I was picking leaves, washing them off and parboiling in preparation for the lu‘au in Napa... I‘m getting ingredients together now, parboiling the taro leaves, put them in a pot, boil them with a little bit of baking soda to keep a light green color, soak in cold water to stop the cooking."

On the Kahumoku family farm in Maui, the family raises pigs, goats, sheep, cattle, ducks and chicken year-round. The star of the Napa lu‘au feast, however, will be a whole cooked Maui pig that will be cooked underground for more than 12 hours.

The bounty of the farm is vast and varied; Kahumoku reports that he grows 30 varieties of sweet potatoes, nine types of bananas and 60 different taro plants which are used to make poi. "We pound the taro so that it‘s not itchy," added Kahumoku.

With a large family, Hawaiian farming is more than a tradition; it is part of the lifestyle and the family life, he said. "I raise enough for our family, then we sell some and donate some to the homeless on Maui. I also have a whole extended family of farmers and growers nearby. We share food, technology and sometimes labor. We try to be self-sustainable. Most of what we eat, we grow."

Kahumoku, who has been to Napa many times, has prepared traditional Hawaiian feasts for groups as large as 2,000 attendees in locations across the mainland United States and Canada. The Lincoln lu‘au menu, which includes traditional dishes, as well as a fusion of cuisine from regions in close proximity to Hawaii, will be made from ingredients from the Kealia Farm as well as California. It includes:

• Farm-raised, slow-cooked Maui pig and Napa cabbage with Nakalele Alae Hawaiian salt;

• Organic chicken with taro leaves and coconut milk;

• Lomi salmon, Maui sweet onions, heirloom brandywine tomatoes and green onions;

• Opihi limpet shell fish with Alae Hawaiian salt and seaweed;

• Steamed sweet potato;

• Steamed rice;

• Pa‘i ai Lehua mauoli, O'opu kai and Mo‘i kalo Poi from the Kahumoku farm

• Poke raw ahi with lipoa and limu kohu seaweed;

• Sweet Maui onions, green onions, oyster sauce, sesame seeds, sesame oil with hot chilis with soy and ginger-brown sugar sauce;

• Grilled teriyaki chicken with Yoshida sauce, green and sweet onions, garlic and ginger;

• Tossed green salad with ginger sweet-sour oriental sauce dressing;

• Haupia coconut creme pudding.

Beverages include homemade hand-squeezed passion fruit, guava purée and Tahitian lime juice served over crushed ice.

At the following concert, Kahumoku said, "We will share our stories about growing up in Hawaii and our culture. Love songs and family songs." His wife will dance hula.

"I think that the thing is that romantic feeling that people have about Hawaii," he reflected. "In reality, though, it‘s a very hard life.

"This will be a good gathering of people who love Hawaii and love our food," he added. "You don‘t have to buy a ticket to see us in Hawaii, we will be there in the Napa Valley."