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Following their presentation and demonstration, the morning will also feature tasting stations by Chef Wong and his culinary team, the Pagoda Floating Restaurant, Nalo Farms, an assortment of gourmet chocolates by Choco Le‘a, gourmet coffee by Pavaraga Coffee and more. As a special gift, each guest will also receive a choice of Chef Alan Wong’s The Blue Tomato: The Inspirations Behind the Cuisine of Alan Wong OR Arnold Hiura’s Kau Kau: Cuisine & Culture in the Hawaiian Islands.

A founding chef and renowned master of Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine, Alan Wong is known the world over for his creative, cutting-edge cuisine. A 1996 winner of the James Beard Award, he is a tireless ambassador for Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine and a leader in America’s farm-to-table movement. Chef Alan has served as a judge on the Top Chef television show and made guest appearances on the Food Network, the Travel Channel and the Public Broadcasting System. He worked previously at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Lutèce in New York City and The CanoeHouse on the Big Island of Hawai‘i. In 1995 he opened Alan Wong’s Restaurant—now Alan Wong’s Honolulu—and, in 1999, The Pineapple Room by Alan Wong, also in Honolulu. Chef Wong also owns and operates Alan Wong’s Amasia in Maui in the Grand Wailea Resort and has license operations with the Watabe Wedding Company for the Honu Kai Lani Reception Facility in Ko‘Olina.

In December 2010, Wong released his newest cookbook “The Blue Tomato - The Inspirations Behind the Cuisine of Alan Wong” (Watermark Publishing), which was recognized in 2011 with the Ka Palapala Po‘okela Book Award for Excellence in the Cookbooks category and in 2012 with the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Cookbook Award in the Chefs and Restaurants category. More than a decade after publishing his much-acclaimed first cookbook, Alan Wong’s New Wave Luau, Hawai‘i’s master chef has new stories to tell and fresh recipes to share. The Blue Tomato: The Inspirations Behind the Cuisine of Alan Wong features 70 memorable dishes representing the best of Chef Alan, his innovative menus and the creative chefs and staff members who make up the next generation of the Alan Wong’s Restaurants family. With stunning food photography and more than 200 individual recipes, The Blue Tomato reveals a glimpse into the inner workings of the award-winning chef’s restaurants and philosophies. Here are updates of time-proven favorites, inventive new ideas and contemporary twists on the multi-ethnic dishes of Hawai‘i. 

                Author Arnold Hiura is an independent writer, editor and media consultant based in Honolulu. He is a partner in MBFT Media, which provides communications and creative services to Hawai‘i companies and community organizations. He previously served as editor of the Hawaii Herald and curator for the Japanese American National Museum. Born and raised in the sugar plantation town of Papa‘ikou, about five miles north of Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, he spent several years researching Hawai‘i’s culinary traditions to compile Kau Kau, which received the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association’s Ka Palapala Po‘okela Award of Excellence in Cookbooks.

In Kau Kau (the traditional all-purpose pidgin word for Island food), author Arnold Hiura explores the history and heritage of food in Hawai‘i, with little-known culinary tidbits, interviews with chefs and farmers, more than 70 recipes ranging from local plantation classics to Hawai'i Regional Cuisine, and a treasury of rare photos and illustrations. Hiura also co-wrote Chef Alan Wong’s cookbook, The Blue Tomato.