Family Ingredients

Hawaiian hula dancer, cultural practitioner, and sustainable hunter Anela Marie Kawehikulaonalani Evans shares the love and respect she has for her island home. Join Family Ingredients as we follow Anela from the hunting grounds of Lana’i Island to the largest hula competition in the world, the Merrie Monarch Festival.

Utilizing indigenous ingredients and food traditions to create a brilliant contemporary cuisine is at the heart of an emerging indigenous food movement among young Native American chefs. Tashia Hart, culinary ethnobotanist, shows Chef Ed Kenney how to take indigenous ingredients to create a contemporary dish.

Valerie Kaneshiro, a mixture of Japanese and Native American, was raised on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe reservation in Wisconsin, her mom’s ancestral home. Forced to leave her home at 15, disconnected from her Indian roots she so loved, Valerie tells a story of loss and rediscovery and all the lessons learned while sharing an ingredient to a cultural dish found in Wisconsin and Hawaii.

Different varieties of fiddlehead fern are used in traditional Ojibwe and Hawaiian dishes. Chef Ed Kenney takes a tour of a family farm on Kaua‘i to learn about the Hawaiian variety, pohole, and how to harvest it.

Sustainable agriculture is making a comeback at the Lac Courtes Oreilles Community College in Wisconsin. Hawai‘i chef Ed Kenney visits the college and learns about their successful efforts in rehabilitating the soil to grow organic, tapping into their heirloom Native American seed bank.

Hawai‘i chef Ed Kenney talks story with Aunty Lei to find out what it was like growing up on the island of Lāna‘i. In Hawaiian they call her elder or “kupuna". She shares her stories joyfully and we are a better community for it.

Laulau, a traditional Hawaiian dish, is usually made with pork or chicken. However, Hawai‘i chef Ed Kenney learns how to make laulau with venison from Anela Evans, Lāna‘i sytle. The magic of a pressure cooker cuts down cooking time by hours!

Handmade Vietnamese rice noodles are still made in Vietnam. Learn how this family run business sticks to tradition to produce delicious rice noodles doing it all by hand and not by machine!

Many cuisines have pork belly dishes. Find out about the unique technique and ingredients that go into roasted crispy pork belly, Vietnamese style.

On their culinary adventure, Hawai‘i chefs Ed Kenney and Andrew Le learn how to make che lam, a Vietnamese style mochi made from rice and Pandan. Pandan is used in Vietnam for many things including tea and seasoning. Can you describe what its flavor is?

Hawai’i chef Andrew Le reunites with family in Ho Chi Minh City, sharing stories and food memories over a hot bowl of pho.

The deceivingly simple broth of pho has layers upon layers of flavor. Join Hawai‘i chefs Ed Kenney and Andrew Le when they discover the complexity of pho at an unassuming yet well renowned soup shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.