Members of Team Hawai'i, the competitive Kapi'olani Community College team due to vie with three other teams in the American Culinary Federation's Student Team Competition next month in Florida, was honored Sunday with memberships in the prestigious Chaine de Rotisseurs, and will make its final public appearance July 1 at a special event at Whole Foods in the Kahala Mall.

The Chaine, an organization of serious food enthusiasts, rarely conveys memberships on students but the honor, given at a celebration at a private residence Sunday evening, recognizes the six students' seven months of effort and their gold medals in the western regional competition earlier this year.
The Whole Foods event July 1 is still in the planning stages but will feature cooking demonstrations by members of the team. It will also be a fundraising opportunity (competition expenses beginning with the state event all the way through next year's regionals could top $100,000) with the store contributing as well as donations collected from those in attendance.
The competition is important for these students, who are benefiting from a broad spectrum of experiences not just in cooking but in time management, menu development, teamwork, marketing, fundraising and public relations, according to chef-instructor Alan Tsuchiyama. But it has implications also for the Kapi'iolani Community College culinary school and culinary training in general in the state, said team leader chef Frank Leake. It has the potential to attract new students, positive attention from outside the state and an influx of funds for projects such as the new Culinary Institute of the Pacific being developed on the site of the old Cannon Club at Diamond Head.