Business Monday: Big Island chef delivering organic meals while supporting local farmers, ranchers

Big Island chef Jasmine Silverstein plans to make waves in the health-conscious culinary scene and has dived headfirst into her new meal preparation and delivery business called Meals in a HeartBeet.

“I like to say that we are locally sourced, but globally inspired,” Silverstein said.

Her mission is to provide delicious flavorful, organic and nutritious meals while supporting local farmers and ranchers along the way.

Meals in a HeartBeet, which was named after Silverstein’s 10-year old catering business, HeartBeet Catering, serves clients in several locations, including Keauhou, Waimea, Honokaʻa and South Hilo. 

“I have been running a catering business that focuses on dinner parties for high-end clientele and weddings, but our catering is not feasible to everyone and I have been wanting to serve the local community in some way,” Silverstein said. “I started to get requests for a meal prep and delivery service, and things finally aligned for me to start last summer.” 

While Silverstein’s schedule already was packed with her work as the owner and head chef of HeartBeet Catering, running an event venue near Waipiʻo Valley and working her family’s business Sweet Cane Cafe in Hilo, she said she has been dedicated to her new venture.

She and her team cook meals every Sunday in a commerical kitchen in Honokaʻa and deliver them on Monday.

Meals In A HeartBeet has a strong focus on gluten-free, dairy-free and allergy-friendly dishes that are also packed with flavor. New menus, with featured meals from around the world, are put on the website weekly.

Next week, clients can order Indian butter chicken curry with cumin rice and spiced vegetables, Kaua’i shrimp risotto with lemon pistachio broccolini, and local grass fed ground beef taco salad with chipotle lime cashew sauce.

“I have been very inspired by different cuisine and in Hawaiʻi, there is a deep love of sharing one’s culture through food,” Silverstein said. “It’s the best way to get to know a place and people enjoy the variety.”

In her spare time, Silverstein experiments in the kitchen by using ingredients from her organic garden to dream up new recipes made without wheat, soy, genetically modified, or refined ingredients.

Her clientele includes busy professionals, new and expecting mothers, kupuna and active folks who go to the gym everyday. They are looking for convenience and quality meals.

Clients must order a minimum of three meals. Every dish is crafted to retain moisture and flavor, which makes microwave reheating easy. 

The meals cost $25 per serving for subscription service, in which Meals in a Heartbeet offers a weekly recurring purchase of three different omnivore dishes, with the choice of 1 to 4 individually packed servings of each meal, that are delivered.

There also is a one-time purchase option that offers meals in single serving compostable containers for $28 a serving.

“While some people think they are expensive meals, there are also people who think it’s a deal,” she said. “It may sound expensive if you think of food as just lunch and dinner, but this is quality food that is delivered to the doorstep.”

With Hawaiʻi relying on more than 80% of its food to be shipped from the mainland and other countries, Silverstein is hoping to make an impact on the food system by supporting small, local farms that help sustain the environment and people’s health.

She also has passion for “good, clean food” having been raised on an organic farm in Puna.

“Food is the biggest way we impact our environment and health,” Silverstein said. “We truly don’t know what kind of pesticides or chemicals have touched the food when it comes from the conventional farming industry and the impact these farms have on the environment and our health are cascading.”

Each week, Silverstein offers a dish that features beef or lamb from Hamakua, freshly-caught local seafood from the Kona Coast, and pasture-fed chickens from a local farm, Punachicks.

Punachicks was a small, family farm with a mission to supply the Big Island with a consistent supply of clean chicken and is now one of the larger poultry producers that strictly follow organic methods for the entirety of the chickensʻ lives, said co-owner Emily Taaroa.

“It is great seeing our contracts grow with small businesses to bigger businesses like the hotels. There is a greater desire for healthy, sustainably-grown food and we’ve grown a lot the past two years because of it,” Taaroa said. “We’ve grown so much in the past few years and have little wiggle room for new clients since we’re processing over 1,400 chickens a month, or nearly 20,000 a year for clients,” Taaroa said. “It is great seeing our contracts grow with small businesses to bigger businesses like the hotels. There is a greater desire for healthy, sustainably-grown food out there and we see that.”

Silverstein and Taaroa also believe that island residents deserve more options for food choices and every dollar spent is a vote for the type of food system to be perpetuated for years to come.

“The truth is that we live in a global food system and it is somehow still more affordable to get stuff shipped in, but it is beautiful when you think about all the farmers here doing the hard work,” Silverstein said. “Farming is the hardest job of any profession and I hope to reward them for their work by turning their produce and meat into something we can all enjoy.” 

Silverstein hopes to see Meals in a HeartBeet grow to four times its current clientele this year, so she can start truly making an impact on the food system and the health of Hawaiʻi Island.

Along with more clients, she hopes to expand her reach to Puna and Kaʻu and deliver multiple days a week.

“If I’m able to place more orders with small farms, I can help them grow. And when they expand, too, there is a difference we can make in where food is sourced,” Silverstein said.

Taaroa added: “Everyone’s choices have a profound impact on the community and local economy, and we hope the farming enterprise continues to do something meaningful for the local community.”

Punachicks has a drive-through farm stand from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Wednesday and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Sunday at their property in Kurtistown. For more opportunities or information, visit the Punachicks website.

To learn more about Meals in a Heartbeet, place an order or start a subscription, visit the Meals in a Heartbeet website. All meal orders must be done by 5 p.m. each Thursday for the delivery the following Monday.