Student’s recipe judged state’s best
A dish of opah and scallops served on a bed of local vegetables took top honors for Mid-Pacific Institute junior Krislyn Miyagawa in the statewide Buy Local, It Matters recipe and cooking contest. The first-ever competition was open to Hawaii high school students.
Five finalists — one from Hawaii island, one from Maui County and three from Oahu — were selected from 70 entries, and the final five cooked their dishes Friday for three judges at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. They included television journalist Pamela Young, Sharon Hurd of the state Department of Agriculture and executive chef Darren Demaya of Ka‘i Market restaurant at Sheraton Waikiki.
Miyagawa will shadow Demaya in his restaurant kitchen. Joining her will be two other winners: Kenny Nguyen, a senior at Keaau High, who cooked a shrimp dumpling with abalone mushrooms; and senior Kiana Simmons of Molokai High, who made Beef and Pesto Roll with Sweet Potato Mash.
Nguyen’s and Simmons’ dishes will be featured at Ka‘i Market.
The contest, a joint effort of the state Department of Agriculture and UH’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, was created to encourage youths to use local ingredients in the kitchen.
Kohala Center gets USDA kids’ grant
The Kohala Center Inc. has been awarded a $99,991 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm to School program for a curriculum that aligns agricultural learning with nutrition education. The curriculum is for students kindergarten to eighth grade.
Kohala Center, in Kamuela on Hawaii island, will also work to increase the capacity and impact of the Hawai‘i Farm to School and School Garden Hui, which the center organizes. The hui supports capacity-building, resource development and sharing, professional development, and policy development and advocacy for organizations involved in green education.
Kohala Center’s award was one of 82 national grants, which ranged from $14,600 to $100,000.
USDA’s Farm to School program is made possible by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.
