Dishes and drinks inspired by wild pig and strawberry guava, apple snails and lilikoi, mango and Samoan crab will be on display at the Waipa Foundation’s third annual MAKANA: Eat The Invasives dinner on Saturday, Sept. 28.
World-class chefs will partner with hunters, fishermen and farmers to highlight cooking with invasive species and other ingredients sourced from Waipa and neighboring farms to create one-of-a-kind dishes. The event will honor Waipa Foundation’s mission of preserving the aina, community and local foods as examples of healthy interdependent relationships between people and earth’s natural resources.
And there’s beer, too.
Waipa Foundation is again partnering with Kona Brewing Company for the gathering, a pairing that’s been ongoing since 2016.
They’ve been partnering with Waipa Foundatin since 2016, when the Eat The Invasives event was hosted in connection with the launch of their Hanalei Island IPA — made with lilikoi and guava.
In 2017, the partnership celebrated the inaugural MAKANA: Eat The Invasives event, which evolved since its 2016 inception when chef Michael Madigan served a six-course meal to patrons in the atrium outside Waipa Foundation’s kitchen.
That first meal in 2016 featured Tahitian prawns paired with strawberry guava, jackfruit bellini cocktails, tilapia and pigs hunted from Kauai’s mountains.
In October 2018, just a few months after April floods devastated Kauai’s north shore, the MAKANA: Eat The Invasives festival sold out and raised more than $20,000 to go toward Waipa Foundation’s mission, managing the 1,600-acre ahupua‘a of Waipa as a living learning center.
April 2018 floods closed Kuhio Highway for more than a year, and Waipa Foundation served as a hub for local families and farmers that were trying to re-establish after property and crops were lost in the floods.
The 2019 festival features chef Gavin Onishi and chef Mark Oyama of Mark’s Place, chef Mark “Gooch” Noguchi of Pili Group (from Oahu), chef Adrian Marcelo of the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas, chef Michael Young of Rumfire Poipu Beach, chef Chloe Soreyand of Truckin Delicious, private chef Jessica Lindman and the Waipa keiki, with signature libations by Cas Schwabe of Akamai Juice.
Practitioners involved include Paepae o He‘eia ‘Ohana (He‘eia, Oahu), The Chandler ‘Ohana, and Waipa hunters and mahi‘ai.
The event also features a silent auction and live entertainment from Project Kuleana.
Cost for the MAKANA: Eat The Invasives event is $80, $135 for VIP Admission tickets. Table sponsorships are available.
The gathering is Saturday, Sept 28, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Waipa Foundation grand lawn, just outside of Hanalei. Tickets are available at eventbrite.com.
Info: waipaonline@gmail.com or 639-1815
