(Watercolor of the Akaka Falls Inn by Wanda Boyer)
E komo mai!...(Welcome!)
At Akaka Falls Inn Cooking School we are committed to showcasing the best of our Island!
We have combined our love of food, cooking, gardening and plants, and the islands' multi-ethnic heritage to offer you the best of the Big Island for a unique culinary experience.
We invite you to visit with us and " talk story " Aloha!
Up to 20 years ago, you would have been welcomed at the Akaka Falls Inn with the above words! The sentiment and welcome are still in our hearts even if the building no longer exists.
The Inn was located in the charming and historical Akita Building on the main street of the quaint Village of Honomu, an old plantation rain forest community just north of Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawai’i. The building housed our Bed & Breakfast, Cooking School, Deli, Gourmet Gift Shop and a sustainable Tropical Botanical Garden in the backyard.
Guest from all over the world made themselves at home at our Inn while attending our cooking classes, which were conducted in a relaxed atmosphere, typical of the laid back approach to life for which our islands are famous.
Our principal objective had always been to stress locally grown fresh ingredients. The abundance and variety of exotic fruits and vegetable found on our island as well as the diverse Asian and Pacific Island ethnic groups,which makes for an exciting merging of cuisines which has been coined as “Pan-Ethnic fusion”
Our island has the year around growing conditions and diversity of farmers to produce the wide range of produce needed to meet this new trend.
(Backyard Bounty)
"I ola no ke kino I ka ma'ona o ka 'opu"
(The body enjoys health when the stomach is filled)
From 'Olelo No'Eau- Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetic Sayings, by Mary Kawena Pukui
(my son Anthony when the Inn participated in a Bridal Fair showcasing our Cooking School)
Although the Inn has not existed for many years, the spirit that drove us to serve the food we shared is the same that guides us to this day…stressing locally grown fresh ingredients and sharing the incredible abundance of produce grown on this island.
A fire in July of 2000 destroyed the old building. Unfortunately, circumstances were not auspicious to rebuilding the Inn.
(continues tomorrow)
