A Food Experience with Chef Ravi Kapur
Food is the great connector – it brings us together with our friends, families, communities. It also connects us to our environments through the ingredients, and to the broader world to the people who cultivate and produce the food that we eat. So, to explore the ways in which food connects us in Kaua’i, it only makes sense to feature a chef who has a real connection to the place – a chef like Ravi Kapur.
Although currently based in San Francisco, where he runs the successful Liho Liho Yacht Club and Good Good Culture Club, Chef Kapur was born and raised on Oahu. Coming from a family with a diverse background, his mother is Native Hawaiian-Chinese and his father is Indian, Kapur’s culinary style has been shaped by the experience of bringing together and connecting his own family’s stories and history with the present space and environment around him, whether it be on Hawaii or his experience on the mainland.
Telling the stories of our past and connecting it to how we experience our communities and learn to connect with each other is part of how we seek to build common ground on Kaua’i.
This is why we were excited to host a group of students from Kaua’i Community College alongside Chefs Kapur and Kevin Keovangphen (also of Good Good Culture Club), on Saturday for a street-fair inspired menu, accompanied by live music by Bronson Aiwohi featuring Keawe Smith. While students had the opportunity to learn from a renowned chef, Kapur says being around the next generation of chefs inspired him to think about his own role and influence and how he can have an impact on the younger generation.
In addition to being inspired by the students, Chef Kapur remarked that in creating the menu for both events, the access to “best in class” local ingredients made the process easy. The menu featured produce grown on the Common Ground campus, as well as ahi, uku, and shrimp caught in local waters; and venison and beef from the Island’s ranchers. Additional local sources highlighted in Chef Kapur’s menu included pork and chicken from `Aina Ho`okupu O Kīlauea, vegetables from Growing Strong Farm, Moloa`a Organica`a, and Buena Vista Gardens, goat cheese and vegetables from Kunana Dairy, and ulu saimin noodles from Cozy Bowl.
Knowing where our food is coming from, honoring the things that are local to our community and making them the best that we can is part of what we are trying to build at the CG campus. Hosting events like those with Chef Kapur, which highlight the ingredients available on Kaua’i and involve students from local schools, and supporting local businesses through our work at the incubator – these are more of the ways that we are trying to build connection and common ground.
We encourage all of you continue celebrating the incredible ingredients available on Kaua’i by supporting our local vendors:
`Aina Ho`okupu O Kīlauea
Growing Strong Farm
Moloa`a Organica`a
Buena Vista Gardens
Kunana Dairy
Cozy Bowl
