Born and raised on Maui, Chef Isaac Bancaco’s connection to the ‘āina and his relationships with local growers and fishermen runs deep. Voted 2014 Chef of the Year by Maui No Ka Oi magazine, Bancaco has worked in kitchens at renowned restaurants across the country from Los Angeles to Boston. Happily back to his roots in the Islands, Isaac was the Executive Chef at the Andaz Maui Resort at Wailea on Maui, where he tapped into the Hawaiian tradition of sharing food by introducing people from around the world to the delicious offerings from both land and sea that Maui has to offer.

Island-born Ed Kenney is the chef and founder of TOWN, Kaimukī Superette, Mud Hen Water, and Mahina & Sun’s – restaurants guided by the mantra, “local first, organic whenever possible, with aloha always.” He also founded FoodShed Community Kitchen which provides incubator kitchen space for small local food-centric businesses. In 2016 he hosted PBS Food’s national food/travel/genealogy series, Family Ingredients. Ed also sits on the Board of Directors for the Kōkua Hawaii Foundation and is a member of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Blue Ribbon Task Force.

Mark “Gooch” Noguchi, born and raised on Oʻahu, cooks from an ‘āina-based perspective, connecting food to its source and building community. This approach, learned from hula Halau o Kekuhi, influences his work, which includes past restaurants He`eia Kea Pier and MISSION Social Hall & Cafe, and now Pili Group, a non-traditional food concept interweaving community, education and food. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and 2019 Omidyar Fellow, Mark is now a Food & Sustainability Curriculum Specialist at Punahou School.

Born and raised on the Garden Isle, Mark Oyama spent most of his childhood on his uncle’s farm as well as raising market hogs, steers and heifers as a member of the Kauaʻi 4-H Livestock Club. Mark’s dream to be a chef took him to Kapiolani Community College, where he graduated with a degree in culinary arts. He trained around the world including China, the Big Island, Alaska, and Connecticut. Mark is the Founder and President of award-winning Contemporary Flavors Catering, the largest full-service catering company on Kauaʻi. He also operates Mark’s Place, a popular take-out eatery that serves local bento and plate lunches created with a gourmet twist and is an assistant professor at the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kauaʻi Community College. Mark also has professional affiliations with the American Culinary Federation, National Association of Catering Executives, and Kauaʻi Chamber of Commerce. He also serves as a member of the Kauaʻi Economic Development Board Food and Ag Committee, Waipa Kitchen Advisory Board, Big Brothers Big Sisters Board, and the University of Hawaii Na Koa Board.

A New York native, Wong graduated from the International Culinary Center (ICC), trained at Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit and Jean Georges Vongrichten’s Restaurant 66, was the Executive Chef of Event Operations at ICC, was featured on Season One of Bravo’s Flagship Series “Top Chef”, and went on to be the Supervising Culinary Producer for the next 6 seasons. She moved to Honolulu in 2013 and opened Koko Head Cafe, authored the cookbook Dumplings All Day Wong, joined Hawaiian Airlines as a guest chef in 2016 and was Executive Chef for the airline from 2018 to 2021. She is now the chef-owner of Papa’āina at the Pioneer Inn, located in Lahaina.