Hawaii Food & Wine Festival’s chef series spotlights Oahu chef Ed Kenney this weekend
The second annual Hawaii Food & Wine Festival will get under way on Oahu in three weeks. Want a sneak peek at the culinary creativity slated for the four-day event that will feature some 50 top-notch chefs? If so, check out the fest’s ongoing chef series at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu.
Chef Ed Kenney of TOWN and DOWNTOWN restaurants on Oahu will be featured in a cooking demonstration set for Sat., Aug. 18. Assisted by his son, Duke, Kenney (pictured, right) will be making his famous pa’i’ai, (a hand-pounded, thick precursor to poi) flatiron steak, tomato and watercress recipe. Admission to the event is a $5 donation to benefit the Hawaii Agricultural Foundation. Reservations are not required, and seating begins at 11:30 a.m. on a first-come, first-serve basis at Macy’s department store.
The chef series, which started about a month ago, will wrap up with Mark Noguchi (pictured, below) of Oahu’s Hanohano Heeia on Sat., Sept. 1 and Nancy Silverton of Mozza, Los Angeles, on Sat., Sept. 8. For more information about the series, click here.
The Hawaii Food & Wine Festival will held Sept. 6–9, with events The MODERN Honolulu, Halekulani, Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, Ko Olina Resort with Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa, and JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa, and the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. The fest is a benefit for the Hawaii Agricultural Foundation, the University of Hawaii’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific, Leeward Community College Culinary Arts Program, Paepae o Heeia and Papahana Kuaola.
The fest’s theme, “Taste Our Love for the Land,” was established at last year’s inaugural Hawaii Food & Wine Festival. The theme is inspired by the ancient Hawaiian tradition of ahupuaa — a mountain-to-sea system in which everything necessary for survival could be grown, gathered and exchanged locally.
In addition to signature dining events, the festival will spotlight cooking demos, wine tastings with top sommeliers, culinary workshops, industry seminars and field excursions. Click here for the fest’s daily schedules.
Hawaii chefs Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong, both James Beard Award-winners, are serving as co-chairs for the festival. For more information about the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival, click here.
