Some people live to eat, while others eat to live. Many of us do both. Now that a new year is upon us, it is time again to tune into our bodies and focus on the nourishment that keeps us humming along on a radiant frequency. This issue we take an amazing journey throughout Hawai‘i and beyond to explore the stories that reveal a connection between the food we eat and how we feel.

Years ago, I went through a time when food healed me. Battling cancer, my body and spirit were depleted from chemo and radiation therapy. Knowing that I needed to eat, a friend would bring me raw food meals. From them I felt life returning to my body. The experience was profound; I had discovered that food is medicine.

But how do we eat to live? Award-winning organic chef and author, Renée Loux, shares with us the very foundation of cooking and eating well. Her advice? A well-stocked pantry (and she’s very thorough.) Macrobiotic chef and life coach, Leslie Ashburn, shares a simple game plan for optimal health—nothing drastic, she insists! I’m honored to have these women’s clear, strong voices in the magazine.

To explore the topic further we sent Mark “Gooch” Noguchi, a classically trained chef who has worked in many of O‘ahu’s top restaurants, out on a vegan “boot camp” to apprentice in different raw/ vegan kitchens. What he experiences opens his eyes to a new food paradigm, one where health and vitality are as much of a priority in preparing a meal as taste or presentation.

We all love to eat, which is why we had to share what Jeff Scheer is doing. This young, talented Maui chef is inviting folks to pull up a chair in his commercial kitchen for an experiential meal painstakingly created with locally procured ingredients. If you are passionate about local food, or simply love to eat, this is an experience that will indulge your senses.

Read, eat and enjoy. I wish you a very healthy, happy 2014.

Dania Katz
Publisher