Kapolei culinary students whip up global lunches

At Kapolei High School, culinary arts students are taking diners on trips around the globe via their World Caf Restaurant Project.

Since April 14, student teams have been presenting cuisine from 23 countries at lunch for family and friends. The project ends Thursday.

Three countries have been featured each day. The countries: France, Ethiopia, Germany, Poland, Pakistan, Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Cambodia, Morocco, Russia, Egypt, Guatemala, Indonesia, India, Spain, Greece, Cuba, Israel, Malaysia, Portugal and Peru. The U.S. menu was Cajun.

On April 17, teams cooked multicourse menus from Portugal, Israel and Peru. Portugal’s team served bacon- wrapped dates, fish stew, spicy rice and custard tarts, while the Israel team made hummus, chicken skewers, couscous salad and tahini cookies. Peru’s team delivered stuffed peppers, pickled onion and a caramel dessert.

Culinary arts teacher Cynthia Pratt invited food industry professionals to assess students in safety and sanitation, knife skills, cooking methods, table settings, and the quality of the dishes.

Teams also wrote reports on the farming, natural resources, culture, and sometimes even politics, of the countries. They included practical information such as food costs and recipes.