Ben Taylor and Tamo Wong wore looks of satisfaction, the kind people get after working hard and seeing the fruits of their labor. Or, in their case, tasting the fruits of their labor.
The duo, seniors at Kaiser High School and partners in a special culinary project, eagerly tackled a tray of Mexican Tamale Pies, muffin-like savory bites fresh from the oven, which they had whipped up during culinary class.
“It’s a cornbread muffin base with beef, peppers and garlic,” they said enthusiastically, talking over one another.
“You bake the cornbread, then indent the center with a shot glass and add cooked beef, cheese and enchilada sauce. Then you broil it,” Taylor explained. “It’s sweet and savory.”
The students are half of the Kaiser team participating in the Hawaii Agricultural Foundation’s new program, Young Entrepreneurs, in which students create products using local materials. Along with seniors Cassidy Hollenbeck and Amaya Hammer, they have perfected two recipes, the tamale pies and Horchata Mochi, which Hollenbeck and Hammer are charged with producing. The dishes reflect the event’s theme, the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead.
The program requires the group not just to develop products, but a business plan as well, for selling their items Sunday at Keiki in the Kitchen, the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival’s annual family event. One of 14 student businesses from 11 public high schools, Kaiser’s group will sell their creations at the Made in Hawai‘i Market Place for Kids by Kids.
On the way to writing their business plan, “we learned about things like mission statements — I didn’t know businesses had them,” said Hollenbeck. “It’s been interesting.”
Beyond the kitchen, the team tends to matters such as marketing, packaging, design, signage, pricing and revenue. The business lessons round out their culinary education, building skills they may use later in life, said Denise Yamaguchi, executive director of the foundation.
“It’s one thing to make cookies and another thing to make cookies, sell them and make a profit,” she said. “This program gives teachers and kids better perspective on what they’re doing in the classroom. This is the other side of cooking as a professional, which may not be taught in all culinary programs. That’s why so many restaurants open and close.”
To start the ball rolling, the foundation provided training sessions for teachers, many of whom have no business background and needed help teaching those skills.
A high school teacher provided a lesson on creating a business plan, then all the teachers took an excursion to the Made in Hawaii Festival, where they were able to talk to vendors and see how booths were set up with signage. Those experiences counted as professional development for the educators.
The foundation also provided each team with up to $1,200 in start-up funds.
“We didn’t want teachers or schools to pay anything out of pocket,” said Yamaguchi. “The point is for them to sell their items and keep the profits at the school.”
Participating schools come from all over Oahu, plus one each from Maui and the Big Island. Not all are producing food items. Konawaena High School is selling apparel with a Kona coffee theme, while Olomana School is crafting coaster sets from avocado tree branches.
“I thought this program was a good opportunity,” said Justine Perkins, Kaiser’s culinary instructor. “It was a good experience for us to all work together to create a business plan. It provided lots of real- world experience. In culinary, there’s not a lot on the financial side; it’s mostly focused on the cooking aspect, so we struggled together.”
With the help of Kaiser business teacher Elizabeth Ben, the team’s plan came together.
But good sales build on a good product, and the process of arriving at one started with lots of recipe research. After selecting six potential dishes to sell, the team cooked, tasted, shared opinions and “came to a meeting of the minds,” said Perkins, whose expertise includes working part time as a baker at Kakaako Kitchen.
“We tried to find dishes that would hold well,” she said. “They wanted to do a cheesecake, for example, but I told them Keiki in the Kitchen is outside and it’s hot. Cheesecake wouldn’t hold up.”
The team also was interested in mochi. But how do you take a Japanese dessert and turn it into something with Mexican flair?
Hollenbeck and Hammer said they started with a butter mochi recipe and adapted it.
“We took out the coconut milk and replaced it with horchata. Horchata is rice milk with cinnamon and sugar,” said Hollenbeck.
After five or six evolutions, they settled on a recipe pumped up with extra helpings of vanilla and cinnamon, plus rum.
“It was interesting learning about the different cultures and fun to make (horchata and mochi) into one dish,” said Hammer, whose cross-cultural interest was surely fueled by the Japanese cooking lessons she’s received from her grandmother.
Those sessions are a rare treat because her grandmother lives on the mainland, she said. “Every time I see her, we make dinner all the time.”
Hollenbeck said three years of culinary classes have provided practical knowledge on topics such as kitchen sanitation and safety, as well as boosted her capabilities.
“Culinary class makes complicated recipes do-able,” she said. “Without them, I would probably be baking box brownies, but instead I can make Horchata Mochi.”
Wong, meanwhile, cooks Vietnamese food with his mother and said the classes teach him about other cuisines. “We learn a lot of life skills here,” he added.
Plus: “We get to eat,” said Taylor.
Perkins is all good with that. “I really enjoy working with kids. They’re fun, not jaded, and that’s nice to be around,” she said.
“They like me because I feed them,” she added lightheartedly, after hearing how much her students enjoy her teaching. “I see Ben (Taylor) even on days he doesn’t have class because he knows there’s food here. And I have visits from kids looking for extra food who aren’t even in my class, but I get to know their names. I feed their stomachs and make my way to their hearts.”
Keiki in the Kitchen Family Sunday
Includes Made in Hawai‘i Marketplace for Kids by Kids, “Best of Eat the Street” vendors, fitness challenges with celebrity chefs, trick-or-treating, Localicious keiki cooking contest:
THE ART OF DELICIOUS
The Hawai‘i Agricultural Foundation is seeking artistic students for the 2020 Localicious Hawai‘i Art and Poetry Contest.
Through Nov. 29, students in kindergarten through eighth grade may enter an original piece of artwork or poem about a favorite dish made with a locally grown, caught or raised product. The contest is meant to motivate students to learn more about the food they eat and our local food system.
Each grand prize winner earns a $100 gift card and a class party with a top Hawaii chef, plus their work goes into the 2021 Localicious Hawai‘i calendar.
This year, Carly Miyamoto, an eighth-grader at Highlands Intermediate whose winning artwork was titled “Chicken Katsu & Homegrown Grilled Veggies,” won a class party with chef Alan Wong, who brought chicken katsu bentos for the class.
Find entry forms at 808ne.ws/ localicious.
KEIKI IN THE KITCHENPresented by the Hawai’i Food & Wine Festival
>> When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
>> Where: Victoria Ward Park, Kakaako
>> Cost: Free
>> Info: Schedule and map at hfwf.me
