There were six kids to feed, and everyone always got at least a little bit to eat.
But there were nights when Paul and Jeff Vigilla and the rest of the family on the farm at Panaewa in Hilo would go to bed with stomachs growling, not empty, but nowhere near full.
“We always had something,” Jeff says. “My dad’s mission was that we would always have something to eat.”
That could be a challenge on a day when the hogs tore up the sweet potato patch that was supposed to provide dinner. Or when there weren’t enough ti leaves to sell to buy milk, the food stamps were gone, and it was still weeks before the next government surplus box was due to arrive.
So maybe that night’s dinner would be a small bowl of fatback stew, a concoction that Jeff bluntly describes as horrible.
“There was no meat in it,” he says. “Like chicharron, but making a stew out of it.”
“Yeah, there were times,” Paul says. “Sometimes we went to bed and we would like to have more to eat.”
THOSE CHILDHOOD memories inspired the brothers to become chefs. After working around the world, Jeff is now in Honolulu and Paul in Kona. Their past family struggles are also a big reason the Hawaii Foodbank is a passion project for Jeff.
“That’s my ‘why,’” Jeff says. “Somebody fed my family, now I have the chance to feed others.”
For the fourth year, he is a co-chair of the team planning and executing the Great Chefs Fight Hunger fundraiser, March 14 at the Foodbank’s Mapunapuna warehouse.
“My passion is to feed people, but also to feed them well,” Jeff says. “Really, it’s in the spirit of giving back. I’ve done it in other places, but in your home state, it’s special.”
Like Paul and two other siblings, Jeff’s first restaurant job was at the Hilo Bay Hotel restaurant, where he started at age 15 as a dishwasher. Then came McDonald’s and Dairy Queen. And, later, after graduation from Hilo High School, Jeff worked 10 years at various hotel restaurants in Honolulu.
“Everywhere from Pagoda to Sheraton to the Ala Moana,” he says.
The he went to work for Ritz-Carlton, starting in San Francisco. He opened Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, then worked at other five-star resort restaurants, often opening them, in South Korea, Cancun, Jamaica, Washington, D.C., and Florida. He’s come a long way from serving up fast-food french fries and soft serve, as his resume also includes classic training in France.
In 2009, he returned to Hawaii again, this time as executive chef at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, retiring from that position after starting his company, Chef Point of View, in 2014. He is now executive chef at Viaggio, and a Realtor.
Meanwhile, Paul became a mess sergeant in the Army, which took him to Korea, and other countries, too. Upon retirement, he went to culinary school at the University of Hawaii’s West Hawaii campus, and is now chef at Kohana Iki, a private golf resort in the Kona area.
ON ONE recent day, the Hawaii Foodbank smells like the kitchen of an Italian restaurant.
“I guess we just got a big shipment of garlic,” says Jeff. “And onions.”
It’s just a typical day, where at any given time you might smell or see any kind of food product. Other items, from paper towels to baby car seats, also come through the 23,668-square-foot facility. (Another, smaller, Hawaii Foodbank is on Kauai.)
A million pounds of items, mostly food, are donated and distributed each month. Donations are sorted, and picked up by or delivered to agencies that help feed 1 out of 8 people in Hawaii.
“We want to make sure what we send out is wholesome,” says Jeff, who has also volunteered to help sort cans of food. “We need to make sure nothing is tainted.”
JUST AS the foodbank can be a blessing for the needy, the government surplus box that the Vigilla family received regularly was like Santa’s bag of gifts. It often brought milk and cheese — staples for most families — that were more like exotic delicacies for the Vigillas. The farm had pigs, ducks and chickens, but no cows.
“That box became really important to us,” Jeff says.
The Vigilla family worked on a co-op farm, sharing the work and the crops with other families. The farm provided sustenance, but not always enough for a family of eight, the brothers say.
Their parents, Paul Sr. and Primrose, did their best. Paul Sr. was often working overseas, or unable to work. All of the children toiled on the farm from an early age.
“Even as toddlers,” says Paul. “I remember everyone helping.”
Jeff grew up wanting to be an architect, but found that goal out of reach.
“To be an architect you gotta go school, to go school you gotta have money,” he says.
He’s found a way to scratch that itch, though; his new consulting company designs and redesigns kitchens.
According to Paul, when they were growing up on the farm, Jeff always had a second kind of hunger, and still does.
“His Hawaiian name is Kekula, and that means ‘school’. He always wants to move forward, thinking of something new or a little different. He wants to create things,” Paul says of his younger brother. “I’m like that, too. Can’t be stagnant.”
Jeff describes Paul as a role model.
“He still is,” he says.
Both say their work ethic comes from the struggles of their childhood.
“Growing up on the farm, you had food, you just didn’t have a lot, or a lot of variety, and the food stamps didn’t last long,” Jeff says. “It was a challenge, but we got past it and we’re blessed.”
IT TAKES A TEAM TO SCORE A WIN
Great Chefs Fight Hunger is the flagship of the Hawaii Foodbank’s annual fundraising events. Its captains are co-chairs Pam Davis and Jeff Vigilla, plus Beverly Santos, the foodbank’s director of food drives and events.
The crew? Hundreds of workers and volunteers who turn a warehouse into a five-star dining and entertainment experience. “Many hands make light work,” Vigilla said.
Big-name chefs from many of Hawaii’s top restaurants are recruited for their signature dishes. “Half of them, I don’t even finish the sentence before they say, ‘We’re in,’” said Davis, publisher of The Oahu Concierge.
The chefs receive a stipend for the food they provide, but many don’t accept it. They also provide meals at their restaurants for the event’s silent auction.
Holding the gala at the actual warehouse is a key component, the organizers said.
“For a lot of our guests, it’s their first time here, and they’re shocked at how big it is,” Santos said.
That ties in with the event’s goal of raising awareness of hunger in Hawaii.
“They see how the struggle is real,” Vigilla said. “It’s food, fun and education, but most importantly it’s having people aware and support, not just this one event, but others, whether it’s the golf tournament, the walk for hunger or sorting cans.”
Davis, Vigilla and Santos have worked together as the event’s leaders the past four years.
“The three of us have thrived as a team ever since, grown together and grown the event,” Davis said. “We are constantly looking at how we can improve on what we have done to make it even better the next time.”
The foodbank operates solely on donations, President Ron Mizutani said, and must be ready for crises like last year’s federal government shutdown or natural disasters such as the flooding on Kauai.
“We have to be prepared for the unexpected,” Mizutani said.
GREAT CHEFS FIGHT HUNGER 2020
A benefit for the Hawaii Foodbank featuring food from 30 restaurants, beverages, music and a silent auction
>> Where: Hawaii Foodbank Mapunapuna Warehouse
>> When: March 14, 6 p.m. general admission, 5 p.m. VIP admission
>> Cost: $200 general admission; VIP prices start at $250
>> Info: 836-3600 or hawaiifoodbank.org
FEATURED RESTAURANTS INCLUDE:
>> 12th Ave Grill
>> Basalt Waikiki
>> Chef Chai
>> Eating House 1849 by Roy Yamaguchi
>> Herringbone
>> La Vie
>> Mariposa at Neiman Marcus
>> Morimoto Asia Waikiki
>> Ruth’s Chris Steak House
>> Senia
>> StripSteak Waikiki
>> TBD
>> Kahala Hotel and Resort
>> Tiki’s Grill & Bar
>>Ya—Ya’s Chophouse & Seafood
