u/MonkeyKingCoffee

"A new challenge path appears, Thrifty! No more pay-to-win! All Mr. Store content is disallowed in this path, and so is some other really expensive stuff."

https://wiki.kingdomofloathing.com/Thrifty

I'll be interested to see what reward, if any, drops upon completion.

A user reached out asking for guidance finding local fruit and veg. And finding it in a way that benefits the people who GAF about the food chain.

Here's my provisioning advice. This is how I shop for food.

1. Big Island Abalone. First on the list. The most interesting food source on the Big Island. Tourists fly here from Japan just to eat these ocean snails. The Japanese variety we're growing is nearly extinct off Japan's waters. So the price difference is several thousand dollars per pound. The only way you can get some is to go to the farm, which is just south of KOA airport. No restaurants have it on the menu. Just the little food truck at the farm. "What can I do to help Hawaii?" Ask for Big Island abalone at seafood restaurants state-wide. Demand it.
2. The two local grocery stores. That's Locavore in Hilo and Farm House in Kainaliu. Locavore has more stuff. They're also closer to the ranches so they have a meat department. But it's all about getting produce from nearby farms at both places. You're not going to find any Costco mangoes or Filipino pineapples. It's all Big Island, all the time. The only problem is that hyper-local means you never know what's going to be in stock. Most supermarkets only care about consistency. They want avocados ALL the time. Who cares what they taste like? This is the opposite. "Maybe we have avocados. Maybe not. But when we do, they're the best."
3. The good farmers markets. None of the "open every day" markets are good. That's where Costco fruit is sold at Hawaii prices. The Saturday markets in Keauhou and Waimea (three of them -- Waimea is best visited on Saturday for this reason). The Sunday markets in Captain Cook and Hamakua. Here's the full list. Just avoid the ones that are daily or nearly-every-day. https://www.lovebigisland.com/farmers-markets/
4. Choicemart for fish. They only sell local catch. Whole ahi is reliably $5/pound. Also the fish market in Kawaihae and Suisan market in Hilo (which sells the best inexpensive poke - but they close at 3 pm.)
5. Individual farms/ranches: Punachicks. Ancient Valley Farms. OK Farms. There are a lot of farms. You can google "[my favorite food] farm Big Island" and something is likely to turn up. If they welcome visitors, that puts your food dollar directly into the hands which grew it.
6. Roadside stands. If you see someone at the side of the road with a big sign reading, "Ahi" or "Smoke Meat" or "Kalua Pig" -- pull over. That's as good as it gets on the Big Island. There are a few which are semi-permanent. But I'm not going to list any (not even privately) because the State and county likes to run these people off. We had a fish guy in Keauhou who sold top quality at half the price of the supermarkets. And he was run off because the supermarkets couldn't compete. Now we don't have a fish guy in Keauhou. And that's a shame.
7. The other local supermarkets: KTA and Foodland/Sack-N-Save. They sell some local produce. And if you see "Da Bux" it means that item was grown/raised/caught somewhere in Hawaii.
8. The mainland markets. This is where you get the stuff that is either unavailable or ridiculously expensive elsewhere. Maple syrup, for instance. It's $50 a pint at KTA. It's $15 for a half-gallon at Costco. If you have a serious maple syrup addiction, head to Costco. They're also the best for alcohol.

Finally, timing matters. Mangos are a summer thing. So are white pineapples. Guava is four times a year. But there aren't any available right now. My guava trees are just starting to flower. Coffee is harvested from summer through January. With most of it happening Aug-Nov. Lychee and rambutan are spring and early summer. Papayas, avocados and citrus is basically all-year. But there can be some weeks in between avocado harvests (none of the species ripen at the same time.)

And here's the restaurant list I constantly refer back to:

https://www.reddit.com/r/VisitingHawaii/comments/1qaicyg/the_big_island_restaurant_list_repost/

V3 cam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXKuUyKt8mc

V1 cam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HggWKlZv9yk

How long until it starts in earnest? Minutes? Hours? Days? That's Kilauea being Kilauea. But from personal experience, when it's like this there is minor lava glow and it's still rather impressive.

I expect the next episode will start and also end in the next day or two.