Wai?anae, Hawai’i is a place of abundant natural beauty—and home to some of the highest rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the state. In an effort to help community members reconnect to the land and reclaim their health, FoodCorps service members like Tasia Yamamura are teaching young people how to grow and prepare real, healthy foods. This is Tasia’s story.
By Tasia Yamamura
I have a love affair with ?ulu, also known as breadfruit. ?Ulu is a round, football-sized fruit with a bumpy, green exterior and nutritious, starchy interior. When I applied to be a FoodCorps service member, one of the questions on the application was “If you were a vegetable, what would you be and why?” I answered, “While it is somewhere between a fruit and a vegetable, I identify with the humble, local fruit ?ulu because one tree has the capacity to feed and sustain many people and I aspire to serve my community in a similar way.”
I chose to join FoodCorps and teach kids about nutritious food because I’ve seen firsthand how food can transform your body and your life. Growing up in a household with more traditionally Japanese foods, I didn’t eat a lot of dairy or wheat. So when I went to college and began to diversify my diet (you remember what you ate in college?!), I couldn’tunderstand why I had perpetual stomachaches that never seemed to go away. It took six years until it finally clicked that my dairy and gluten consumption was the culprit. I began to incorporate more whole foods into my diet and the difference was astounding. My stomachaches disappeared, and I felt renewed and whole again. Now I am a firm believer in the healing power of food. This experience motivates me to share this knowledge with others who suffer from diet-related health problems, starting with the littlest ones in our community.
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