maʻona

The blogging world was a different place when I started this site nearly six years ago, and I was a different person. When I launched maʻona in January 2005 to share my excitement for Hawaiian food and food in Hawaii, Facebook was restricted to college students and Twitter wasn't even a dream. New food blogs popped up on a daily basis, each with their own niche. Maʻona existed to share my excitement for food in Hawaii through recipes, restaurant reviews and diatribes on the politics of eating. Whole conversations and friendships sprouted around specific posts. I became a better person through it all.

Today, the energy and enthusiasm that once swirled around blogs has shifted to other mediums like Facebook, Twitter, and conglomerations like Chowhound. Many, many fantastic food blogs still exist, but those that have endured are the best of the best. The bar has been raised.

The writing has been on the wall for a while now: although my love of food continues to grow without bounds, I simply don't have time to write about it all with the research and care people came to trust from maʻona. There are only 24 hours each day, most of which is spent with family, on my web development/hosting business, coaching various kid's sports, and ... actually cooking (of course)!

I've taken the archives offline, but please contact me if you came hunting a specific recipe or review. I'd be happy to send it to you.

Thanks for reading — I hope it was worth your while. Mālama pono.

Alan Ritari

December 2, 2010

alan@maona.net

@aritari