The biennial Hawaiʻi Culinary Competition Expo and Salon was held on Friday, December 12, at Kapiʻolani Community College. The event, part of the Lyle L. Guslander Distinguished Visitors Program in Advanced Food Service and Hospitality Education, showcased student and professional talent through hot and cold food competitions. Because this competition is sanctioned by the American Culinary Federation (ACF), certified chefs from the ACF were brought to Hawaiʻi to serve as judges.
Chef and Professor Alan Tsuchiyama, coordinator of the event said, “I am grateful to work with, and have the support of, the dedicated faculty and staff of our culinary department which, without their help, this amazing show of culinary talent would not be possible.”
Viewers walking through the cold food salon saw intricate and delicate designs, like Josielyn Agas’s ivy vines on her Pastillage Lighthouse, which won a gold medal. Professional Chef David Brown’s, A Christmas Elf, was a crowd pleaser with incredible detail and color enhancements. For the hot food salon, Sharmaine Butac displayed her Tilapia Mousseline Roulade, which won her a gold medal, as did Wing Yin Luk for her Beurre Blanc Poached Fresh Water Tilapia.
For the team competition, Kapiʻolani Community College’s Team 1 won the silver medal, and Team 2 won the gold medal. Team Hawaiʻi will emerge from these two teams and will represent Hawaiʻi during the ACF regional competition in March 2015 at Las Vegas, Nevada.
The many sponsors of this event were HFM Food Service, Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts, Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Sheraton Waikīkī Hotel.
More on Lyle and Grace Guslander
The late Lyle and Grace Guslander recognized that while Hawaiʻi was geographically isolated, the islands offered incredible talent in the culinary and hospitality industries.
In 1989, the Guslanders made a generous donation to Kapiʻolani Community College to nurture a program that would attract world-renown culinary arts and hospitality leaders to Hawaiʻi to allow students and faculty to hone their skills and become global leaders in the fast-paced and rapidly changing industry.
Read the Kapiʻolani CC news release for more.
