Given America’s insatiable appetite for everything related to food, from reality cooking shows to the social media obsession of making each meal a photo op, the idea of creating a new food program on TV is daunting, to say the least.
But the crew behind "Family Ingredients" may have discovered a recipe for success: Find a cherished family dish, trace its cultural or ethnic roots to the source, and put Hawaii at the center of it.
Their folksy approach, complete with hidden stories and facts from the islands, proved to be such a great selling point that PBS ordered eight 30-minute episodes that will air nationally in mid-2015.
It’s the first series from Hawaii created for a national, prime-time PBS audience and "a huge" opportunity," said Dan Nakasone, a producer and researcher with the series.
The audience producers could tap into is amazing: 217 million Americans watch PBS annually, he said.
"For us it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell some of Hawaii’s stories through food," said Nakasone, a 62-year-old sustainable food activist with an extensive background in advertising and marketing.
"It’s all about featuring the different ethnic groups that came to Hawaii," he said. "Food is the bridge to their motherland. We trace the origin of a dish back to the motherland."
The series, which will be produced by Juniroa Productions, will include a hefty dose of travel, said Nakasone, the idea man on the show. When "Family Ingredients" shot its pilot — which aired locally as a one-hour program in May — the producers followed local chef Alan Wong to Japan. But it also took a hyper-local approach. The show explored Wong’s hometown of Wahiawa, including the Honda Tofu Factory, which has made the popular food staple for nearly 100 years. It also visited Petersons’ Upland Farm, where Wong’s mother bought eggs when he was a boy.
"Family Ingredients" was conceived by Heather Giugni, a local filmmaker with 25 years of experience. Her eye has always been on the islands, from documentaries —"Under a Jarvis Moon," "One Voice" and "Daniel K. Inouye: An American Story" — to producing the live broadcasts of the Kamehameha Schools Song Contest and the Merrie Monarch Festival.
But Giugni, 59, wasn’t "a foodie person" when she got the idea, in 2011, that became "Family Ingredients."
She had asked an L.A. director what projects were getting funding, and his response was mothers, babies and anything that had to do with food.
Back home, Giugni’s idea stew included a dash of Anthony Bourdain, host of culinary and cultural adventure shows on the Travel Channel and CNN.
"I thought that’s what I am going to do," she said. "I’m going to tell the story of our community, and I am going to use food as a pathway in."
Giugni firmly believes there are enough stories to sustain a series based in Hawaii, especially when travel is a part of the tale.
"Every person has a story, and often they don’t even realize they have a story," she said. "You can find every community that moved here has brought something. There are amazing stories. There are amazing people who have lived here and shared their food and life here."
Honolulu chef Ed Kenney, owner of town restaurant in Kaimuki, serves as host of the show. The 46-year-old Kenney said he never aspired to be on television and rejected Giugni’s offers about a dozen times before he said yes. A trip to Japan won him over. Kenney had never been there.
But the show’s focus on the simpler side of food appealed to Kenney because it was a stark departure from what cooking has become, he said.
"What food TV has really turned cooking into is this competitive spectator sport," he said. "It is the complete opposite of what many chefs do. I think we cook to bring people together and feed people and tell stories."
Although Kenney, son of entertainers Ed Kenney Jr. and Bev Noa, was born and raised in the islands, "Family Ingredients" is introducing him to unfamiliar cultural history.
"I hope they are able to capture that this is a kind of awakening for me," he said. "I am Hawaiian, Chinese, Filipino, Irish, Swedish, German. I kind of portray Hawaii in that ethnic, poi dog way. But I think it is pretty common that many of us who are born here are not familiar with all our ethnic background. I’m looking forward to learning about them."
AND that’s a wrap …
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
