KCC Culinary Students Represent on New TV Show ‘Kitchen Scraps’

Hawaiʻi’s first ever culinary competition TV, “Kitchen Scraps,” has a strong presence from KCC’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific. (Photo by Sarah Burchard)

By Sarah Burchard | Staff Writer

On Friday, February 7, Mari Wills walked into her last day of training at the Culinary Institute of the Pacific (CIP) to hear celebrated Hawaiʻi chef Alan Wong say he had just watched her on TV. The KCC Culinary Arts graduate and high school culinary instructor had been enrolled in CIP’s workforce training program when her debut on Hawaiʻi’s new culinary competition show, “Kitchen Scraps,” aired. 

“He saw me,” Wills said. “And he was rooting for me!”

Later that afternoon, Wills’s former culinary instructor Chef Alan Tsuchiyama arrived with the same news, telling Wills how proud he was of her.  

“That was just, like, a full circle moment,” Wills said. “Because I was his student. Now I’m a teacher, and … it really touched my heart.” 

“Kitchen Scraps,” airing on Hawaiʻi News Now (channel K5), Sundays at 7 p.m., premiered on January 12.  Similar to The Food Network’s “Chopped,” Hawaiʻi’s first reality competition show challenges two local cooks to create a winning dish using a surprise local ingredient in under 15 minutes. 

“Kitchen Scraps” is the brainchild of Emmy Award-winning host Kainoa Carlson, director and photographer Joseph Kirstine and producer Brandon Kubo of Hawaiʻi News Now. The idea grew from the network’s four-minute cooking segments, which air on “HI News Daily.” Finding they wanted more airtime for local chefs to prepare dishes and tell their stories, the trio bounced some ideas around until they landed on a competition show. 

“I’m like, we’ve got four burners here,” Carlson said. “What would it look like if we had two people cooking at the same time? Which then inevitably led to, well, what if we had people cook against each other?”

Carlson believes the reason reality competition shows have done well for so long is because they provide viewers with the unexpected. He sees how online streaming platforms in recent years have removed the anticipation of waiting each week for a show’s new episode and, as a viewer, has personally missed not knowing what’s coming next. 

The name of the show is a pun. The ingredients the competitors have to work with are far from scraps. Instead, “scrap” refers to the competition itself, as revealed when Carlson asks each guest at the beginning of the show, “Are you ready for scrap?”

When Carlson asked Wills, she responded without hesitation.

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “I’m from Kaneohe.”

Wills competed against Bricyn “Kale” Afong in episode two, which aired on January 26. Both are alumni of CIP’s Workforce Development Program, a collaboration with the Culinary Institute of America. Both completed the weeklong program twice. Wills, age 35, graduated from KCC’s culinary program in 2015 and is a culinary instructor at Henry J. Kaiser High School who started her career making pastries at ‘Aiea Bowl. Afong, age 42 from Honolulu, got his start washing dishes at Zippy’s, rose to local fame with his Hawaiʻi’s Only sushi cakes and custom knives, and is now co-owner of Kale’s Hale – a new local-style yakiniku restaurant in Kalihi. 

There have been others on the show from KCC’s Culinary Arts program too. Graduates Victoria Zhang and Guylen Shimabukuro faced off in episode one with KCC chef instructor Grant Sato judging. Judges change weekly. Chief food officer for Foodland, Keoni Chang; chef and owner of Kapa Hale, Keaka Lee; and owner of Maile’s Thai, Maile ​​Sengoura have all graced the “Kitchen Scraps” arena. 

“One of the really cool, unique things that we’ve been able to do with bringing it to life,” Carlson said, “is that, like, we really get to highlight the people who have been in the grind. Like, some of these people who have been cooks for, like, over 10 years that haven’t had an opportunity like this to be able to tell their story, showcase their skills in a unique and very different way.”

In that way, Carlson and the team hope to make the show approachable for all cooks to apply, from professionals to food influencers to home cooks. He said he wants aspiring contestants to watch the show and not think it is out of their wheelhouse. That being said, all potential candidates are vetted to ensure they can cook before coming on the show.

There are two rounds the contestants have to get through, both with their own secret ingredient. In Wills’s and Afong’s case, Maikaʻi Tofu was the ingredient for the first round and Sun Noodles for round two. With only 15 minutes per round, the contestants have to move and think quickly. 

“It’s nerve wracking,” Afong said. “[But] once you start cooking, you know, everything kind of just melts away.”

Afong was especially impressed with the production of the show. He said that even though he lived it, each scene left him excited to find out what was going to happen next.

“I don’t like watching myself on camera,” Afong said. “I’m forcing myself to do it because I’m trying to build a brand … but I was so happy with the show because they did such a good job with it.”

In Hawaiʻi Kai, Wills’ students were also rooting her on, and she said she is starting to meet more local chefs. One person in particular is Stephen Kina. Originally from Hawaiʻi, Kina now resides in Montana and specializes in BBQ and wild meats. During a recent trip home to compete in “Kitchen Scraps,” he met up with Wills and Afong to film cooking demos using mountain lion and bear meat he brought with him from Montana. 

“We are a really big community here,” Wills said. “We want to uplift each other, especially in the chef community.”

Following each episode, regardless of who wins, every competitor’s bio is uploaded to the Hawaiʻi News Now website and each has a chance to win “Fan Favorite.” Whoever gets the most votes at the end of the season will get to cook at a Hawaiʻi Food & Wine Festival event this year.

“I just want everyone to vote for Chef Mari,” said Afong, who has already had a chance to cook at the annual festival. “If she gets to cook at that event, she gets to, like, meet all of the chefs … and then people get to taste her food, and, you know, she can be the star of the show.”

Carlson said they have had chefs come on the show who have been cooking professionally for over a decade saying it is their dream to cook at the Hawaiʻi Food & Wine Festival. Afong said he votes for Wills every day, meanwhile, Wills has been voting for Afong. 

The Hawaiʻi News Now crew will finish filming all eight episodes for season one by the end of this month. Carlson, who has been working in TV for 11 years, believes a second season looks promising. He said from the time he and his crew watched the first episode they knew they had something special.

“It’s a great reminder that food truly is something that brings people together,” Carlson said. “Regardless of what language you speak, where you’re from, your background, where you’re raised or how old you are.”