News from the Deli

The staff of deli cooks and chefs, led by Keiko Sakuma-Neubauer, makes fresh high quality food daily for people with many different dietary choices. Two of the types of food available, unlike any other deli in town, are raw and macrobiotic items. Another wonderful feature of Kokua Market’s deli is that it’s the only deli that focuses almost exclusively on local and organic items, with an emphasis on locally grown produce. Anthony Natoli makes lovely raw salads; Alyssa Moreau makes the vegan gluten free treats; Tom Gibson, and Nicole Prince (before she left) made some great raw desserts and savory dishes.

Before returning to Oahu, Tom Gibson worked at Café Gratitude, a quite well-known restaurant in the Bay Area as well as Que Seraw Seraw, another eatery focused on raw foods. One of the wonderful new items he’s preparing are the Cacao Macaroons containing raw cacao powder now available in the bulk section. He says that these treats offer a great transition between cooked and totally raw foods. For chocolate lovers, raw cacao is the healing version of refined chocolate, rich with trace minerals. For those careful about the types of sugar they consume, the macaroons contain maple syrup, less processed than can sugar, but not an official “raw” ingredient.

The coconut flakes and the coconut oil are from the “tree of life”, otherwise known as the coconut palm. Having no cholesterol, coconut oil actually helps balance cholesterol levels. This oil is a medium-chain fatty acid, which the body can metabolize and convert to energy quickly. By weight, coconut butter has fewer calories than any other available fat. Tom says, “More desserts are coming.” Yum!