At his True Leaf Farm, he depends on chef-friendly ingredients like edible flowers, micro cilantro and squash blossoms, which grow quickly and reliably in greenhouses fitted with hydroponic technology. Before a storm, he can quickly dismantle the operation; even if he loses all his plants and the soil is full of salt water, with power for the well he can be up and running again in a week.

But rebuilding most farms is a slow process, and neither public nor private relief funds have been sufficient to restore the momentum that local agriculture had before the storm.

After Puerto Rico’s financial crisis in 2006, local agriculture officials began to offer new incentives for farmers, out of concern for the island’s food security. The Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture helped establish about 1,700 new farms. In 2017, agricultural imports still stood at 80 to 85 percent, but progress was being made toward the official goal of 70 percent.

Since the hurricanes, forward-looking farmers are stepping up efforts to close the gap. And chefs say that what is now available is better and more diverse than ever before.

New restaurants like Vianda, Caña, and Paulina Escanes’ bright new cafe are highlighting traditional dishes on menus and using newly available local ingredients. “Eggplants with thin skins, persimmons that are silky and sugary, organic eggs, local bread,” she said. Her agricultural and artisanal suppliers are listed on the menu — a routine sight in trendy culinary destinations, but a revolutionary one on this island, where farming has a complicated history shaped by exploitation.

“Puerto Rico is an incredibly fertile, lush place, but because of its colonial status, it was organized for industrial agriculture,” said Von Diaz, a writer who was born in San Juan and raised in Atlanta.

Her cookbook, “Coconuts and Collards,” published last year , tells her own story, flavored by the Caribbean and the American South, and that of the island’s food. For generations, vast tracts of the island were used by outsiders to grow profitable crops like tobacco, sugar cane and coffee — none of which provided food to those who live here.