Award-winning chef Roy Yamaguchi wants to showcase the modern Hawaiian cuisine he helped pioneer more than 20 years ago and to share the spotlight with the next generation of chefs.
The Tokyo native, who is based in Hawaii, is known for his blending of classic techniques with Hawaiian and Asian ingredients. Yamaguchi's original restaurant, Roy's, won acclaim, and he has since opened almost another 30 Roy's restaurants around the world.
Yamaguchi started the annual Hawaii Food and Wine Festival four years ago with chef Alan Wong to raise awareness about the state's fledging food scene and fresh interpretations of taro, a tropical Asian plant, plus other native ingredients.