Keiki in the Kitchen with Mika the Sous Chef

Keiki in the Kitchen with Mika the Sous Chef was inspired by a Lhasa Apso puppy the author bought her children two years ago and the educational programs of the Hawaiʻi Agricultural Foundation (HAF) and Hawaiʻi Food & Wine Festival (HFWF). Keiki in the Kitchen with Mika the Sous Chef is product of a collaboration between those two organizations.

Localicious Hawaiʻi, a HAF initiative which started in 2014, recognizes restaurants that support Hawai‘i’s local farmers, ranchers, and fishermen. The recipes in this cookbook were contributed by thirty-nine of those Localicious restaurant chefs. The name of the book, comes from a kid-friendly event HFWF also launched in 2014 that provides children with the opportunity to meet celebrity chefs from around the globe.

The cookbook teaches kids where food comes from and includes kid-friendly recipes to connect Hawai‘i’s children to the local agricultural industry.

As plantation life becomes history and traditional pineapple and sugar disappear in Hawaiʻi, it will become increasingly harder for local kids to connect with farmers and to know where their food comes from.

This book will spark an interest in Hawai‘i’s children to ask questions about our island food supply, learn more about local agriculture, and perhaps consider farming as a career.