Hawaii Regional Cuisine which has been developed in the islands from "The Twelve Chefs of the HRC" on the Big Island since 1992.This had brought in ideas of the old back into the spot light, different parts of the food history,and put Hawaii on the map as a respected culinary destination. Hawaii Regional cuisine has been used to promote sustainable produce and local ingredients as a basis for new dishes in the restaurant. Hawaii Regional Cuisine had ended up taking old dishes and making them new in the homes of islanders. As a result a number of recipes have appeared that use traditional and historical tastes and techniques for local palates that are prepared in new ways.
The Twelve Chefs of the HRC have created restaurants being at the forefront of development and idea behind the movement by following its mission there have been many interpretations based on the dishes that came from each chefs menus. This could be cuisines that are more personal to the chef that mark where they are from or clientele and place Hawaii cuisine as an influence, some merged the cuisine of east meets west as Hawaii being a fusion melting pot, and some embraced the local culture that reflects societies day to day cuisine of the Hawaii residents. Each chef has had their own contributions of where the movement has spread to after meeting the 15 year mark (1992-2017). A few didn't promote so much and helped more in the background with their skills and offerings. They also had more of a network contribution to the movement to get its start, such as: Shep Gordon, Gary Strehl, Amy Fergusan. Peter Merriman is the catalyst of starting the ball of HRC to put the group together, but it took everyone to network the group to get the word out there. It wasn't until each person created their restaurants and ran their menus the way they wanted to in their kitchens that further effects of each chefs approaches would be seen. George Mavro's Cuisine approach is about bringing wherever the persons unique country and provinces flavors to the table with Hawaii as the focus influence. Roger Dikon brings his california french cooking to the table with hints of asian in it. But the general idea wasn't clearly stated until defined by Bev Gannon in an interview on how her style was an Hawaii-American Cuisine approach. Most of the HRC Chefs had followed this idea with dishes identifiable from its origins while working within the restraints of local ingredients. This keeps dishes separate and makes variations that are uninspired in appearance, but unique in taste. "Kalua Pork Enchilada Pie" that is an american dish with local dish kalua pork version, "Crab Pizza" that is an american dish with local crab. "Macadamia Crusted Mahi" that has local ingredients that are well merged, From her personal stand point Gannon has a customer consideration in familiarity of american cuisine, local comfort foods with Hawaii ingredients, and large portions. This was done to work for business survivability. Sam Choy was seen as the Hawaii Local Cuisine Pioneer, but Alan Wong took Hawaii Local Cuisine and shared his approach. It was all about taking old recipes that merged with hawaii local cuisine and hawaii variations of ethnic cuisines to make something new from the old plantations. These make dishes that have the heart and limitations to make dishes that seem to come out of that time period. "Ginger Crusted Onaga" is an example of a local stack that is a hawaii-chinese and japanese which borrows from already existing dishes, "Loco Moco" that is a classic local dish and is served contemporary at the Pineapple Room, "Ma'o Farms Sassy Greens" that shows the loyalty to the ideals of island sustainable ingredients. Alan Wong being previously a Kapiolani Community College teacher was known before as a teacher who had a way of passing on the skills, which has also made its values into the movement with many HRC chefs learning some of his tips and tricks of making the next generation of cooks. Roy Yamaguchi's Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine approach of having no boundaries of Hawaii and going all out into the ethnic merging of dishes to represent old tastes with high class contemporary in appearance while utilizing balance between both cultures cuisines. Yamaguchi's culinary knowledge in flavor balancing was so on point that around the world it opened the flood gates on the popular approach of the general idea of "Fusion Cuisine" of any two cuisines, and so is the most well known chef in the Hawaii scene. A great example is his "Frying Dragon Roll" that uses hawaii ingredients with japanese eel with sauces and america frying technique that merge well and are not separate tasting experiences in each bite. His involvement in HRC had brought many food writers to the Hawaii cooking scene for much of HRC's publicity. The only exception of who could keep Roy on his toes would be colleagues Jean-Marie Josselin and Mark Ellman. Josselins approach is using hawaii-french fusion while Mark Ellman's approach of making hawaii-latin fusion. Ellman shows his fused dishes in his restaurant Malao Ocean Tavern and separation of latin foods in another restaurant Fridas Mexican Beach House that are both successful on Maui. While Hawaii regional cuisine has taken a turn to define Hawaiian Cuisine in all its many sub-definitions: The broad term of Hawaiian Cuisine to define a geological region of the state, Hawaiian Regional Cuisine to define a geological region per island, Hawaiian Cuisine of the Hawaiian people and their traditional Hawaii Food, Hawaii Local Cuisine that targets influential foods up to the plantation era, Hawaii Ethnic Cuisine that targets ethnic cuisines that separate themselves from the local identity like hawaii-korean cuisine as an example. Components of Hawaii regional cuisine is going in its own path from Peter Merriman's original visions that made its way into the movement of the approach of Farm-to-Table before it was popular with chefs: Andrew Le, Mark Noguchi, and Ed Kenney. To the lesser known chefs and home cooks following traditional Hawaiian techniques passed on for generations and asking questions of where else the techniques themselves could take the cuisine. It's exciting to see where the next generation will take the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement!
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