HILO, HAWAII - EA ECOVERSITY
A culture-based career education program is holding their first free Kanaka Culinary Explosion event on November 9th, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Nani Mau Gardens in Hilo.
This free community event will introduce participants to creative dishes featuring Hawaiian staples blended with locally sourced foods. The first-of-its-kind, Kanaka Culinary Explosion encourages its attendees to be immersed in Hawaiian culinary and traditions. Participants will learn from award-winning professional chefs, Hawaiian food experts and cultural practitioners on how to create healthy, delicious Hawaiian fusion foods. In addition, vendors specializing in Hawaiian and local foods will share how to use their products to prepare tasty dishes for the holiday season.
“The Kanaka Culinary Explosion will give kanaka of all ages opportunities to learn about
Hawaiian cuisine and become more comfortable integrating Hawaiian foods into their upcoming holiday menus,” said event organizer ʻIʻini Kahakalau.
“We are excited to share some of our recipes perfected over the past decades that are both healthy and delicious, along with educating the public about Lā Kūʻokoʻa.”
Taking place two weeks before Lā Kūʻokoʻa, Hawaiian Independence Day, Kanaka Culinary Explosion extends this invitation to learn how to curate a highly original Hawaiian-focused holiday menu using Hawaiian staples and locally sourced ingredients. Food preparation will include how to make taro stuffing, kōʻele pālau, or mashed sweet potatoes and lūʻau biscuits.
This free event is sponsored by EA Ecoversity’s Kanaka Culinary Arts Program and also supported by Kū-A-Kanaka, a Hawaiian owned and operated social enterprise located on Hawaiʻi Island, the Kamehameha Schools Kaiāulu program, the Chef Hui jus to mention a few.
EA Ecoversity is Hawaiʻi’s first independent, culture-based post-secondary education and career
training program. Its genesis was inspired by the international Ecoversities movement, which consists of 200+ organizations in over 40 countries. The program’s mission is to provide a culturally-based learning, training education to ka lāhui Hawai‘i. Their vision is to have an independent, self-sustaining Hawai‘i where native Hawaiians thrive and prosper
“EA” stands for “Education with Aloha”, but also means “sovereignty” in Hawaiian. This way of education, which is at once ancient and modern, emerged as a result of over 40 years of research by the founder and president, Dr.Kū Kahakalau, the first person in the world with a Ph.D. in Indigenous Education.
To learn more about EA Ecoversity and their social enterprise sponsor, Kū-A-Kanaka, go to
www.kuakanaka.com/eaecoversity
Basic Hawaiian is scheduled for start-up in Spring of 2025.
Contact:
Pōlanimakamae Kahakalau
Executive Director EA Ecoversity
Phone: (808) 769-4646
Email: info@eaecoversity.org
