In my generation, while in grade school, basil came out of a bottle all dried up. There was not a caprese salad around with the fresh basil leaves, tomatoes and mozzarella slices. Fresh basil wasn’t a thing yet. It wouldn’t be until a couple of generations forward that basil would become common. Children learn from their parents and upbringing, the food of the house and where they buy it from.
Kids are cooking more than before. They are being exposed to many more ingredients and dishes, they have technique, they know more about local ingredients and farmers. I watched the finals of MasterChef Junior, and got hooked on it because the third semifinalist was an 8-year-old girl that could barely carry a whole salmon to her station! The eventual winner was a 10-year-old Taiwanese girl. She said that practice and resiliency were her keys — that’s a fifth-grader making dumplings and scallion pancakes already.
I met Keanu Flores at a Localicious cooking competition for kids. He was in 11th grade and I was one of the judges. Keanu took first place in his division, grades nine-12. I enjoyed his dish of mahi mahi in a thai curry sauce with fresh pineapple and kaffir lime leaves. I thought to myself, “Wow, at that age, I was still trying to conquer boiling water for instant S&S saimin!”
After the contest, I spent some time talking to Keanu and his mom. I was impressed with how Keanu cooked; his quiet demeanor reminded me of myself. I told him that I thought he had great potential if he chose to continue cooking and that if I could help him in anyway, please call on me.
Some months went by and, out of the blue, Keanu reached out to me. His school is Halau Ku Mana, (public charter school), and his senior class project is to choose a subject and a mentor. Keanu wants to open a restaurant one day and is curious about the restaurant industry as well as what goes into becoming a chef. I think it’s great that he already knows what he wants to do and is eager to find out more in pursuing his dream. He asked me how he could get into the industry and I replied, “You are already in the food service industry, Keanu, you work at Subway.” He started this past January and in a little over half a year, he’s worked up to become a lead. Getting his first job is great in many different ways. The worst-case scenario is that he realizes that this is not for him, but then again, it might be a good thing to find that out. The best-case scenario is that he likes it and wants to get another job that will teach and challenge him further.
Each generation learns more than the previous one. Exposure, awareness and the accessibility to any information today versus yesterday is mind-blowing. Entering competitions and cooking contests can be quite intimidating but you grow from them. Events like Localicious are opportunities for learning. The Hawaii Food & Wine Festival is more than the events you attend and participate in. Part of sustainability is to ensure, inspire, educate and give opportunity to children so that one day they may become one of the next chefs or farmers in Hawaii.
Chef and restaurateur Alan Wong has wowed diners around the world for decades, and is known as one of the founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. Find his column in Crave every first Wednesday. Currently, Wong is dba Alan Wong’s Consulting Co.
