PUHI — Seventeen chefs from Kaua‘i’s resorts and restaurants honed their culinary skill to create a variety of dishes utilizing local products Sunday. Doors to the Kilohana Carriage House opened to an eager crowd anxious to sample the latest creations
PUHI — Seventeen chefs from Kaua‘i’s resorts and restaurants honed their culinary skill to create a variety of dishes utilizing local products Sunday.
Doors to the Kilohana Carriage House opened to an eager crowd anxious to sample the latest creations by Kaua‘i’s chefs who were assisted by culinary arts students from the Kaua‘i Community College at the Garden Island Range and Food Festival.
“We do several agricultural functions like this on the Big Island,” said a representative from the Kamehameha Schools-Big Island who was working on Kaua‘i when he found out about the event and came to find out more.
“The success of an event like this is not just the celebration of locally grown products, but the education of people who support it.”
The statement ties in with the vision of the Garden Island Range and Food Festival which states on its website that it provides a venue for education, encouragement and support of locally produced agricultural products through social, cultural and scientific exchanges featuring a diverse array of talents brought together for the purpose of developing an ethos of compatibility, tranquility and sustainability with this land.
Duane Shimogawa of A‘akukui Ranch and the event chair was joined by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. in presenting two $1,000 scholarships to KCC culinary arts students who were stationed among the field of chefs.
Leland Lam-Yuen and Kiana-Leigh Matsuyoshi were the honored recipients and received congratulations from Shimogawa and Carvalho during the presentation.
November starts the beginning of the 2012 Makahiki season, the event program states, and in accordance with the gathering of people to honor the ancient Hawaiian new year, the Key Club of Kaua‘i High School hosted a variety of Makahiki games for the youth to enjoy while their parents indulged in the samplings set up throughout the lu‘au pavilion. Meanwhile, Keola Alalem and friends serenaded the event with Hawaiian music.
Visit www.kauaifoodfestival.com for more information on the Garden Island Range and Food Festival.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
