Kapolei kids are ready to wow with an isle-inspired concoction

Enterprise is not exclusive to wheeler-dealers in suits seeking million-dollar deals or passionate visionaries with a cause. Sometimes the undertakers of enterprise come in more unassuming packages, distinguished only by great ideas and a powerhouse work ethic.

Consider, for instance, Joshua Danao, 15, and Kyle Villanueva-Kishida, 16, seemingly typical teens who are sophomore and junior culinary students, respectively, at Kapolei High School. But not so typically, the duo teamed up early last school year to create an innovative food product to compete at the state Career and Technical Student Organizations convention in February. Not only did their creation score gold, it was the highest-scoring gold.

This meant the boys are moving on to the national level, as in the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, or FCCLA, competition that takes place in early July in San Diego. The contest draws such high-caliber innovations that it garners the attention of the business world, with scouts making the rounds in search of ideas for investment.

The youths’ winning product? Something with as unassuming a veneer as the teens, but nonetheless an inventive take on a popular item: a healthy instant-noodle bowl. They named it Up Your Cup.

Originally, Danao and Villanueva-Kishida were tossing around ideas for veggie lasagnas and burgers, but Jeff Sampson, their culinary teacher and adviser for the FCCLA club on campus, advised them to think more locally.

“I told them to look around, that being from Hawaii would set them apart from the mainland. We eat all kinds of stuff here,” said Sampson. “At lunch, students would come up to me and ask if they could heat up their cup noodles in our kitchen. We watched people heat up cup noodles and cup noodles and cup noodles and cup noodles.

“Then they said, ‘We’ve got to do that.’”

The competition required that products have at least 10 grams of fiber, so the boys hit the books to bone up on nutritional values and hit the kitchen to test recipes. They were also responsible for market research and labeling, and created a sample bowl with graphically designed label and the instant noodles inside.

Most of the items in the bowl were relatively simple to adapt, they admitted. While they tested egg and wheat noodles, they settled on soba, which contains the most fiber of the three. As to vegetable toppings, the students started with the usual peas and corn found in most instant noodles, then added cabbage, carrots and onions. The soba and variety of veggies took them to 11.3 grams of fiber.

To process the items, they diced the veggies and cooked the soba, then dehydrated everything overnight.

The real challenge was the broth. The boys had taste testers try chicken and beef bouillon-based broths, but neither seemed to work. Then they experimented with Japanese katsuo dashi (bonito seasoning), which brought success.

“Hawaii’s more populated with Asians, so the broth was more connected to that. It fits our palate,” said Danao.

Not only did their bowl surpass the fiber requirement, it contained no cholesterol and much less sodium than a typical instant noodle.

“The sodium was only in the dashi,” said Danao.

Sampson, who continues to advise the boys as they refine their product for the nationals, took up advising such clubs as the FCCLA because he wants students to gain hands-on experience before deciding what to pursue after high school, particularly in terms of culinary education.

As part of his program, Sampson finds opportunities for students to volunteer at catering and culinary events, and he enters them in competitions. He arranges visits by food industry professionals, including chefs at the nearby Monkeypod Cafe and Roy’s Ko Olina and experts from the fishing industry.

Sampson himself has a long history of owning and operating restaurants — he owned venues in Guam and Japan and opened every Planet Hollywood in Asia — and developing products.

His bottled Chamorro finadene sauce, made for the restaurant, catering and Firehouse food truck businesses he runs with partner Eddie Mafnas, is legendary. Opportunities such as the FCCLA competition allow him to share his knowledge with students like Danao and Villanueva-Kishida.

“I teach them the things I like to do. It helps round out their education,” he said. “I want them to leave me as college- and career-ready as possible, with real-life experiences.”

Each year, Kapolei’s culinary program results in two or three students going on to culinary school. But Sampson believes any student with any career path would get something out of his classes.

“We teach life skills — cooking, cleaning, sanitation,” he said.

Not to mention the value of good, old-fashioned hard work.

For several months before their state competition, Danao and Villanueva-Kishida devoted free time every Friday after school to developing Up Your Cup. It was a win-win all the way around.

Not only was it fun — “We bonded,” said Danao — “we found an opportunity to benefit our community,” said Villanueva-Kishida.

BACK THE BOYS

Kapolei High School students Joshua Danao and Kyle Villanueva-Kishida will take their culinary invention, Up Your Cup, to a national food innovation competition sponsored by the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, July 3 to 7 in San Diego. They will be joined by teacher Jeff Sampson and three other students who are competing in another category.

Kapolei’s culinary students generated $1,500 for the trip by selling Spam musubi and acai bowls on campus, but that’s just a fraction of what they need to meet such expenses as airfare, hotel, student registration, uniforms and more.

Sampson has set up a Go Fund Me crowdsource account for folks in the community interested in supporting the students. To participate, visit gofund.me/ kapoleifccla.