Culinary Classic 2023

Māla‘ai was delighted and honored to continue to grow our partnership with Mauna Lani by being a sponsor of their inaugural Mauna Lani Culinary Classic. A three-day food festival featuring James Beard Award-winning talent at Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection, Waikoloa. In addition to having celebrity chefs visit our students in the garden, we hosted an exclusive silent auction during the Chefs on the Beach event, a surfside bash honoring local chefs, purveyors, and music.

Providing our students with the opportunities to meet professionals in the filed of Culinary Arts and allowing them to have one one one experiences is a major mission of ours at Māla‘ai. Giving the students space and role models to look up to if they are interested in cooking is a huge step in helping achieve those dreams. We have done this kind of thing in the past and we hope to continue for the future!

The chefs who came to visit the garden and cook with our students was a huge hit! Celebrity chef’s cooked alongside a class of 14-7th graders. All 14 students had the opportunity to cook with Andrew Zimmern (of Bizarre Foods), Tiffany Derry (Top Chef series), Jonathan Waxman “Best Chef: New York City”, and Master Mixologist Manny Hinajosa. Students made fresh fruit mocktails, spicy chicken sliders, fish tacos and grilled garden vegetables.

Our silent auction was an eventful evening filled with lots of laughter, lots of conversations and tons of `ono (delicious) food. We raised over $20,000 for our cooking programs, afterschool programming, summer internships and more! Expanding and sharing our vision for sustainable food systems in education with so many, has allowed us to create connections beyond oceans. We gained some new friends and supporters along the way and we hope to continue this ever important work in providing nutritious and delicious food grown by and for our keiki!