Chefs’ efforts make positive difference

Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi and the peers they welcome each year to the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival allow us to treat ourselves to prettily plated indulgences that take our taste buds to heaven and back. The event also gives us a chance to rub shoulders with celebrity chefs we watch on food channels.

But there’s substance behind all this style.

Seattle restaurateur Tom Douglas, a James Beard Award winner and past festival chef, for instance, is fighting to save a salmon fishery in Alaska. Douglas has brought attention to a proposed mining project that could destroy salmon-producing streams in the region.

“He evolved to the level of lobbying Congress in response to the mines,” said Denise Hayashi Yamaguchi, executive director of the festival. “He’s a great example of promoting sustainability.”

Douglas’ efforts are detailed in his own words in “Taste Our Love for the Land,” a collection of recipes and stories from 31 chefs who have participated in the festival.

Yamaguchi says the festival itself was built on the theme of sustainability, and the book shares that vision, discussing Hawaii’s ancient and contemporary relationships with its environment.

Sections on the ahupuaa system, ancient and modern aquaculture, today’s sustainable farming and ranching endeavors, fisheries and a few restoration projects serve as the framework of the book, which is divided into sections of land and sea.

Other chef endeavors: Chef Jason Fox’s Commonwealth restaurant in San Francisco donates $10 from the sale of each tasting menu he produces to local charity. In five years the venue has donated more than $300,000.

Past attendee Michel Nischan launched Wholesome Wave, which has made fresh, locally grown food affordable and accessible to underserved communities across the nation since 2007. His work supports social justice, healthier communities and a cleaner environment.

Then there’s TV chef Cat Cora, who aims to reduce world hunger with Chefs for Humanity; Michelle Bernstein (Michys, Miami), who teaches youths socialization skills and nutrition through cooking; and Jose Garces (Luna Farm in Pennsylvania), who started a foundation to ensure that his state’s immigrant community has access to medical, educational and nutritional services.

Yamaguchi says in continuing to care for our local food supply, it is important to see what’s being done elsewhere.

“We can look at other places and what people are doing for other communities,” she said. “It’s a sharing of ideas.”