Honolulu Weekly

Tour da Food / Every time you go to Maui, does eating out means going to Sam Sato’s? That need for a Proustian fix can keep us from trying new things. On your next Valley Isle trip, consider booking Bonnie Friedman’s Tour da Food. The product of a chocolate-making Brooklyn family, Friedman has been a Maui resident for 27 years, and been part of the food scene for all of it. She’s also done just about every job connected with print and broadcast media–from working as a producer at CBS (yes, Walter Cronkite was her colleague) to writing ad copy (she’s won three Pele Awards). She co-authored D.K. Kodama’s two cookbooks, owned a gourmet catering company and is a certified pastry cook. This means she knows every nook and cranny that involves food on Maui–from farmers to shop keepers to restaurateurs. Then there’s Friedman herself, who still has a childlike enthusiasm for food even though she’s seen–and eaten–it all (she’s even eaten at El Bulli).

You can choose from three tours. While all of them include a mix of venues–any combination of a bakery, supermarket, ethnic food market, ice cream manufacturer and snack shops–each one has a main meal choice. The Tuesday tour centerpiece is breakfast at the Old Wailuku Inn at Ulupono (where innkeeper and Lahaina native Janice Fairbanks prepares a family recipe and talks story about the foods of her Japanese-Filipino childhood). Wednesdays and Thursdays the theme is “Lunch Like a Local, Maui-Style” and focuses on the plate lunch and ethnic eateries. Then there is the Upcountry Maui customized tour for one to three people, available Monday through Thursday. Tours start in the morning from Kepaniwai Park Heritage Gardens in ‘Iao Valley.

And this article doesn’t reveal the destinations, because Friedman doesn’t want to let the culinary cat out of the bag. Let’s just say she goes beyond the roster of places that appear in guide books year after year.

The tours aren’t cheap–$280 for two people, $375 for three and $440 for four, but you get your money’s worth. All tours include transportation back to Kepaniwai Park, one main meal, snacks, a goodie bag and a list of additional eating recommendations.