Plate lunches feature local healthy options

Feb 11, 2025

If you stop by L&L Hawaiian Barbecue in Kihei, you now can have healthy options with your plate lunch. Instead of two scoops of rice or mac salad, you have a choice of sides, including steamed or mashed locally grown taro or sweet potato. The plate lunches were featured in a story on Hawaii News Now in January. 

Hawai‘i ‘Ulu Cooperative has been working with L&L restaurant franchises individually to facilitate wider adoption of this new concept of incorporating the local starches into plate lunches. 

"We are very excited about this new partnership and are currently working with individual L&L locations to add Hawaiʻi-grown starches to their plate lunch options. The community can help by seeking out locally grown ʻuala or kalo at their neighborhood L&L and requesting that they add it to their menu if itʻs not already there." said Dana Shapiro, CEO of Hawai‘I ‘Ulu Cooperative.

To see more about how taro and sweet potato are being incorporated into the plate lunches, watch the story.