A FREE week-long bilingual culinary adventure where youth explore the flavors of Hawaiʻi by creating healthy, delicious meaʻai with traditional and local ingredients using both traditional and modern cooking methods.
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YOUTH:
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between the ages of 10 and 17
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who are excited to learn how to prepare ʻono food while learning Hawaiian language
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who are able to follow rules and instructions
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who commit to participating in all 5 day camps, as well as the Hōʻike on Friday evening
* We are not able to provide one-on-one support or supervision.
If your child needs special attention, an adult may have to attend.
* No culinary and Hawaiian language background required.
Food
Introduce youth to Hawaiian and local ingredients as they prepare traditional and contemporary dishes while building practical culinary skills that strengthen confidence, creativity, and everyday life skills.
Language
Encourage Hawaiian language use through hands-on learning in a fun, engaging environment, showing youth that ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi is easy to learn and incorporate into daily life.
Culture
Deepen youth understanding of native foods by exploring the stories, songs, ʻōlelo noʻeau, and cultural knowledge connected to them, helping students recognize that these foods carry history, meaning, and identity beyond the kitchen.
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Friday July 10, 2026
4 P.M. to 6 P.M
Join us at Kō Education Center for the Kanaka Kitchen Hōʻike, where our young chefs will proudly share what they learned with family and friends through a special presentation and tasting of the delicious meaʻai they prepared.
Meet the
Kanaka Kitchen Kumu
Makana Oliveros-Kahakalau and ʻIʻini Kahakalau, a husband-and-wife duo, bring over 30 years of collective culinary experience, serving delicious and distinctive Hawaiʻi-inspired cuisine that has nourished thousands of kanaka.
Raised in families where food was both sustenance and tradition, Makana and ʻIʻini have been hunting, planting, harvesting, and preparing food since childhood. As cultural practitioners, they weave ʻike Hawaiʻi and pilina into their work, sharing the deep familial connections to food through stories, chants, songs, proverbs, and ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.
One of their greatest joys is passing on this knowledge through fun, engaging, and interactive experiences that connect people to culture, community, and ʻāina.
