A culinary celebration was held Wednesday at Kealakehe High School’s new Real Life Learning Center Pavilion.
Students in Karen Sheff’s culinary arts class held a street food competition, creating dishes with the help of chefs from the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Hawaii Community College at Palamanui and Krua Thai Cuisine.
About 80 $10 tickets were sold to students and staff who enjoyed samplings of food from China, Korea, Thailand and Spain, and France. Ingredients from the adjacent school garden were also used.
“It is a chance for Kealakehe to showcase the culinary program,” said Sheff who is retiring after 21 years at the school.
Those lucky enough to secure one of the limited tickets voted on a scale of 1 to 10 in categories including table setting, oral presentation, food quality and presentation and overall food opinion.
Sheff had been working on creating the center, which houses five gazebos on concrete pads, for five years.
“I got grant money for the gazebos five years ago, but had to wait on permits and red tape before it could be built,” she said. “Then COVID came.”
The center was put together collaboratively with auto/metals, building construction, natural resources and culinary programs.
Sheff said the culinary program prepandemic competed in many festivals, giving students a chance to be side-by-side with top restaurants. Wednesday’s event was the first time her students could show off their skills since COVID restrictions were lifted.
The center, located on the south side of campus will be used for culinary, STEM, physical education, agriculture and health and nutrition programs. Sheff said there were plans to expand the center.
She called the event her last hurrah.
“We’ve come a long way. When I took over the program the only thing culinary students were learning to make was musubi,” she quipped. “I just hope they will be able to find someone who will continue my vision.”
