Love With Food at Hawaii Food and Wine Festival 2012
Fabulous sun, sand, and sea, paired with gourmet food and wine? It can’t get any better!
This September, the Love With Food team had the honor of participating in the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival 2012! It was an amazing four-day Festival featuring a roster of over 50 internationally renowned master chefs, culinary personalities, and wine and spirit producers.
Love With Food was invited to the festival to present our mission of discovering great food for a great cause to the world’s most venerated chefs, investors, and press. It was almost like an American Idol audition, only with more chewing and less singing. Love With Food’s founder, Aihui, thrilled the panel of celebrity judges and investors, which included such luminaries as Susan Feniger — award-winning American chef, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality; Roy Yamaguchi – leading chef in Hawaiian fusion cuisine; and Dave McClure - founder of 500 Startups.
Aihui, founder of Love With Food, being interviewed at the Hawaii Food and Wine festival’ 12
The panel of celebrity judges couldn’t resist snacking on the Love With Food boxes while Aihui presented
The judges were presented with the September edition of the Love With Food box, which was curated by popular health and wellness blogger Stephanie Quilao of Back in Skinny Jeans. Enticed by the gourmet snacks, the judges couldn’t resist munching on the delights in our boxes while Aihui carried on her presentation.
In between mouthfuls of Roasted Edamame from Sensible Foods, Chef Susan Feniger asked Aihui to explain Love With Food’s mission of “One Box, One Meal.”Of course, this means that for every box and every item purchased, Love With Food donates a meal to food banks all across America. Chef Lee Anne Wong was also impressed with our dedication to this cause.
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What is a food and wine festival without some gourmet treats? That goes without saying! Chefs Ming Tsai and Morimoto treated the audience to a live cooking demonstration, complete with sharp knives, local Hawaiian ingredients, and friendly rivalry. The pair engaged in humorous bantering while effortlessly preparing their dishes of freshly caught Hawaiian fish.
Chef Morimoto’s Italian-inspired Poke (Hawaiian raw fish dish)
Chef Ming Tsai’s Poke (Hawaiian raw fish dish) with strong Asian influences
Chef Ming Tsai and the Love With Food Team
After the entertaining cooking demonstration, we got to sample exquisite delicacies prepared by celebrated chefs from around the world! The featured chefs include the legendary Iron Chef, Hiroyuki Sakai, as well as local Hawaiian talent, Colin Hazama, the chef de cuisine at Kauai Grill Culinary.
Dish from Chef Hiroyuki Sakai from La Rochelle, Japan
Dish from Chef Colin Hazama from Sheraton Waikiki, Hawai‘i
Dish from Chef Colin Nishida from Side Street Inn, Honolulu
Dish from Chef Charles Phan from The Slanted Door, San Francisco
Poi, Polynesian staple food made from the corm of the taro plant
Dressed in the traditional Polynesian loincloth, poi was hand-pounded for the audience
We were thrilled to be part of the event, and definitely are looking forward to Hawaiian Food and Wine Festival 2013! We cannot get enough of the friendly people and amazing weather.
This trip was definitely a fantastic journey filled with epic gourmet discoveries! Stay tuned for the second blog post of our Hawaiian adventures to find out more about the local Hawaiian cuisine. ;)
Join Love With Food. Discover GREAT food for a GREAT cause
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