You can’t be a “local” in Hawaii without loving plate lunches. A Hawaiian plate lunch recognizes just two food groups: meat and starch. Whatever the main dish — teriyaki beef, fried mahimahi or pork katsu (breaded pork cutlet) — it comes with macaroni salad AND two scoops of rice, with a nominal nod to vegetables by a bit of shredded cabbage, a lettuce leaf, or a few pieces of kim chee (Korean pickled vegetables).

This uniquely Hawaiian food expression is now gaining ground in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado — nine states in all. The mastermind is Honolulu’s Eddie Flores, who came to the United States as a 16-year-old Filipino immigrant and built a multi-million foodservice empire on a Hawaiian plate lunch franchise. [more…]

Recently, I had the pleasure of helping to plan a San Francisco food education tour for eight journalists from China, who were visiting the country as guests of the U.S. Potato Board. They were on the last leg of their American discovery journey and we had just two days. With so many fabulous food-related places to visit, we had to make some difficult choices.

We started at public relations agency Ketchum’s San Francisco office, where I gave an overview of food trends, including a look at the evolution of Chinese cuisine in the United States. [more…]