Kalo Challenge

Cooking teams assemble near the stage as awards are 
presented and teams are  recognized for their efforts.

Ka Hana Noeau, a mentoring and leadership development group hosted their 4th Annual Sustainability event at the Intergenerational Center at Kamehameha Park in Kapaau.  This year's special ingredient is kalo which has been raised by several Kohala families in part of a sustainability demonstration project that has been on-going in Kohala for the past couple of years.


Several "celebrity" teams made of of representatives of the Governor's Office, County Council, Kohala Boys, ILWU, Mayor's Team and others prepared a variety of dishes from pastas, stews, and dumplings competing for selection as "Most Savory," "Most Creative," "Most Aromatic," "Best Presentation," and the "People's Choice" awards.

Rep Cindy Evans, Mark, Rep Jerry Chang,
Rep Heather Guigni, Trustee Robert Lindsey.
and Councilman Dennis Onishi

Participation had grown each year with six teams participating in the chicken cook off in the first year to a field of eleven teams this year participating in the Kalo Challenge.  These dishes have also been increasingly harder to judge as the judges bring a number of differences and expectations to the table.  Judging on such a diverse number of criteria also adds complexity to the challenge of balancing of diverse tastes, eye appeal and textures.  An additional category which was much more straight forward was based on sustainability.  This was measured by the cooking team's use of a variety of items that were brought in by local farmers and placed on a table for use by the teams.  The OHA Team led by Trustee Robert Lindsey took this recognition by utilizing sixteen ingredients from the table in their entry.