KCC students head to Orlando to compete for culinary excellence

By Darius Kila and Jolanie Martinez
HNN Interns

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - It has been nine years since Kapiolani Community College's Culinary Competition brought home the gold. Now they are headed to the Cook. Craft. Create. American Culinary Federation (ACF) National Convention and Show in Orlando, Fla.

Student chefs Jeremy David, Richard G. Lee, Kimberly Lim, Qihao (Sam) Tan, Sean Uyehara, Christian Rae Wong and KCC's Lead Chef Instructor Jason Peel, will be competing as "Team Hawaii." They are just one of four regional teams in this weekend's competition held at the Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.

When asked about representing the 50th state this weekend, "It is always cool to represent Hawaii, I am from Kauai. Representing Hawaii feels good."

On day one of the competition, the team will create a cold food buffet platter utilizing a market basket filled with rabbit, peas, corn, red lentils and Habanero chilies.

On day two, the team will have 90 minutes to prepare a four-course meal, including a seafood starter, salad, main course and dessert.

"It's a whole different ball game, but it's really exciting," student chef Christian Rae Wong said.

Wong also said, "I think we have a pretty good shot. We worked hard.We had a few months of just constant working staying till 6, 7 o'clock at night every day. It's hard, but we're doing good, I think."

The goal of the competition is to raise the standards of culinary excellence and professionalism, nurture creativity and provide a showcase for individual skills, techniques and styles as well as a means of earning ACF certification points.

"As far as supporting the team it cost a lot of money to travel and any support is good. We do it through the culinary department where we host dinners and fundraise constantly," Peel said.

Peel also added, "I just wanna win, win for Hawaii, win for KCC and all the schools here."

KCC won the ACF National Championship in 2009 and advanced to nationals in 2013.

Follow Hawaii News Now for updates on KCC's journey to Florida