Let's face it, I have a great job. As the social media manager for Urbanspoon, I get to spend my days posting food news on Facebook and Twitter, looking at diners' photos, and interacting with bloggers. Yes, it is a sweet gig. However, there are days that make my job even better!
Last weekend, our friends at Hawaiian Airlines invited us as their guest to attend the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival in Honolulu. The four-day festival co-founded by Roy Yamaguchi and Alan Wong showcases over 50 internationally renowned master chefs, wine producers, and culinary celebrities. Throughout the weekend, there were a variety of cooking demonstrations, tastings, and panel discussions. 
Since I love to eat and travel my trip started the minute I got on the plane, because Hawaiian Airlines' head chef is Chai Chaowasaree. Chef Chai owns Singha Thai Cuisine, located in Waikiki, and Chai's Island Bistro located at Aloha Tower Marketplace. When traveling nowadays it seems like simply getting ANY food on your flight is a luxury, but the meals on Hawaiian were filled with local ingredients. We had several options, including pulled pork sandwiches and chicken teriyaki with pineapple. I have to admit that I bought the premium dinner option on the flight back to Seattle – and then proceeded to eat the complimentary dinner immediately following. And of course, what flight to Hawaii would be complete without a complimentary mai tai!
It would be easy to go on and on about every bite, sip, and conversation I had over the weekend, but instead I'll offer just a few highlights.
Enter the MODERN Dragon
The festival opened at the MODERN Waikiki with Hawaiian Airlines' event "Enter the MODERN Dragon." This event featured a range of talented chefs serving Asian-inspired dishes, and was named for 2012, the year of the dragon in Chinese astrology. The event's star of the evening was Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, who also has a restaurant in the MODERN hotel.
As the sun set on Waikiki, we sampled everything from fish tacos to sake - each taste more delicious than the last, light and irresistibly fresh! There was one personal issue. I am a Food TV nerd. I love Food TV – so I was totally star-struck and admitted my lack of coolness at one event, telling a food writer, "isn't this exciting – it is just like Top Chef!" She was quick to point out she does not own a TV, and I timidly recoiled.
The rest of the weekend involved expert panels on food culture, restaurants, and cooking demonstrations. Two of my favorite sessions:
Get Wild and Raw in Hawaii with Masaharu Morimoto & Ming Tsai
Many of us have seen Morimoto on Iron Chef. He comes out of the smoke with arms crossed like a true Samurai warrior – silent and skilled. He is easily one of the more intimidating characters on the show, but don't be fooled by the Iron Chef exterior. He is charming in person. His co-presenter, Ming Tsai, is the host of Simply Ming on PBS. Watching these two masters at work was thrilling. Not only were they chatting away and expertly deboning a fish at the same time, but their passion for food and for their friendship became evident. Both had a lightness of heart as they presented. Ming Tsai teased Morimoto that he had one of the longest lines at the reception the evening before because his food was so delicious, but that Ming had taken another approach – he just chose to work slowly so that a line would have to form for him, too. We had the luxury of tasting each of their fish dishes.
Battle of the Food Geeks: Silicon Valley Startups vs. Roy Yamaguchi, Todd English, & more . . .
This session was a perfect fit for Urbanspoon, combining our love for both food and technology. The panel included David McClure of 500 Startups, Christine Quinlan of Food & Wine Magazine, and Chefs Lee Anne Wong, Susan Feniger, Sang Yoon, and Roy Yamaguchi. They listened and questioned entrepreneurs who described their food-based startups.
Urbanspoon was one of the first food apps, but we still see ourselves as a startup in many ways. So, we have a sweet spot in our hearts for each of the companies who presented. For the most part, each company was a different type of home delivery service, offering everything from gourmet food samples to paleo diets for CrossFit athletes.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Aihui Ong, the founder of www.lovewithfood.com, one of the day's presenters. Love with Food offers home-delivered gourmet food samples, and for every box or product you buy, they donate a meal to a food bank. Since their launch they have given away more than 10,000 meals to hungry families. We bonded over the fact that both Food With Love and Urbanspoon have strong connections to food bloggers. I had the opportunity to ask her what advice she would give to new food bloggers. Aihui suggested, "Write about a particular niche. Regardless if you are a vegetarian or if you love desserts just make your food colorful and creative!" I couldn't agree more.
I had a wonderful time attending the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival this year. Again, special thanks to our host Hawaiian Airlines. To see even more pictures and videos from the festival, check out this album on our Facebook page.
And as we say goodbye to summer here in Seattle, I am personally hoping to scheme my way into another sunny, warm, and exotic food trip soon. If anyone knows of another food festival in paradise -- send an invite my way!
Source: http://www.urbanspoon.com/blog/102/Hawaii-Food-Wine-Festival-2012.html
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