Kea'au Shopping Center announces the 13th Annual Cook-Off on Saturday, May 15th. “A Taste of Puna” is the brainchild of Carl Okuyama, owner of Puna Fresh Foods, to promote the goodness of the District of Puna, and showcase our products, creative tastes, talents, and Aloha Spirit. All foodies and entrepreneurs are invited to compete in this fun community event.
This year, the community has come out to support the continuation of the event, with sponsors including Foodland Kea`au, Big Island Weekly, NativeFM, KBIG, and WikiWiki Mart, all of whom support fresh, local, and healthy eating!
We’ve got the best of the east-side ‘foodies’ as our judges; these folks are passionate about local fresh food and sustainability for Big Island. Our judges are : Richard Ha of Hamakua Springs Farms, (the tomato-man) Audrey Wilson, author of ‘What The Big Island Likes to Eat’ and contributing writer of the food column in Hawaii Tribune-Herald; Sonia Martinez, cookbook author and freelance food writer for several publications in Hawaii, including The Hamakua Times of Honoka’a and a contributing writer to Edible Hawaiian Islands Magazine, and last, but not least, Carl Okuyama, founder of the event itself, and longtime proponent of ‘all things Puna’!
Keaau Shopping Center invites non-professional cooks to compete in this fun event.! Information on how to participate and entry forms are available at Foodland and Ace Hardware, or here on the website. Recipes must contain ingredients grown or produced in Puna. For further information, call Valerie Ferrari at 935-6464.
We’ve got the best of the east-side ‘foodies’ as our judges; these folks are passionate about local fresh food and sustainability for Big Island. Our judges are : Richard Ha of Hamakua Springs Farms, (the tomato-man) Audrey Wilson, author of ‘What The Big Island Likes to Eat’ and contributing writer of the food column in Hawaii Tribune-Herald; Sonia Martinez, cookbook author and freelance food writer for several publications in Hawaii, including The Hamakua Times of Honoka’a and a contributing writer to Edible Hawaiian Islands Magazine, and last, but not least, Carl Okuyama, founder of the event itself, and longtime proponent of ‘all things Puna’! 
