When Kapolei resident Melveen Yoshihara had her kitchen renovated last year, she didn’t anticipate the effect the project would have on her 12-year-old son, Achilles, who took one glance at the shiny new cooking space and felt a stirring in his culinary soul.

With his mother’s help, Achilles began learning how to cook, starting with bacon and eggs, pancakes and other cornerstones of the day’s most important meal.

The apprenticeship in eggs and bac-ey proved one heck of a wakey-wakey for the Pearl Harbor Kai Elementary student, who began spending less time in front of his video game monitors and more hovering over his mother’s stovetop and watching “MasterChef” and other foodie programming.

“I like cooking because when I see a smile on someone’s face because they ate something I made, it makes me really happy,” Achilles said.

Then, a few months ago, Melveen heard about the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival’s Localicious Hawaii Recipe contest for keiki chefs and thought it would be a great opportunity for Achilles to test his newfound cooking chops. She knew her son’s natural shyness would make him disinclined to participate, but she also knew that he’d been pining to stay at Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa, and the prize for winning the competition just happened to be a two-night stay at the resort. Sure enough, Achilles was down for the challenge.

In keeping with the contest’s emphasis on locally raised and produced ingredients, Achilles, whose father is an avid fisherman, settled on an entree of macadamia nut-crusted mahimahi with pesto using fresh, local mahi from a Waipahu fish market, macadamia nuts from Hamakua, salt from Hawaii island and pesto made on Maui.

The recipe made the cut, assuring Achilles a spot in the finals at Bishop Museum, where he would prepare his dish in person for three local chefs in a program emceed by celebrity foodie Adam Richman.

To prepare, Achilles and his mother spent several weeks refining the recipe and experimenting with different cuts and cooking times.

“We cooked the dish twice a week until the contest,” Melveen said, laughing. “Mahimahi is the last dish I want to eat right now.”

Achilles arrived at the competition with a vocal entourage of family and friends and proceeded to prepare his dish with an ease and composure that surprised even Melveen.

“Knowing how shy he is, for him to go up in front of all those people and be so well composed made me so proud,” she said.

More anxious than he let on, Achilles finished his entree with time to spare and spent a few minutes ensuring that his plating was as perfect as he could make it, all the while worrying that the fish might be overcooked or undercooked.

“When the judges finally tried the food, they seemed to enjoy it,” Achilles said. “There didn’t seem to be any concerns. They didn’t make any faces that made it seem like they didn’t like it.”

In fact, the judges awarded Achilles first place in the contest, a result that left Achilles feeling like he may have stepped into one of those Disney movies he enjoys so much.

“At first I thought I was dreaming,” he said. “My stomach hurt and my legs were shaking but I was very excited and very happy. That night I was still trying to process it. I couldn’t really sleep.”

Achilles said he’s eager to develop another recipe and enter another contest. He’s even thinking about becoming a professional chef, maybe even opening his own seafood restaurant.

“When I cook, I get to share my ideas with food,” Achilles said. “I like knowing I can make things that I can share with my family and friends. I’d like to inspire people, especially my sister (Qingston, 8), to start cooking.”

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.