Hawaii Television Series “SEARCH Hawaii, Where Food Meets Culture” Received Two EMMY® Award Nominations for Achievement in Television

Hawaii Television Series “SEARCH Hawaii, Where Food Meets Culture” Received Two EMMY® Award Nominations for Achievement in Television

Maui, Hawaii – Wednesday, May 4, 2016 - Locally produced, with local talent, “SEARCH Hawaii, Where Food Meets Culture” received TWO Emmy Nominations. The 45th Annual Northern California Area EMMY® Award Nominations were announced Wednesday, May 4th during a live webcast from Sacramento, Cal. The EMMY® award is presented for outstanding achievement in television by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).

Nominated in the category of Lifestyle – Program/Special, “SEARCH Hawaii” received nominations for their 2015 shows Episode 2-Oahu and Episode 3-Kauai:

Yvonne Biegel, Executive Producer/Producer;
Kathy Muneno Thompson, Producer;
Michael Lofaro, Kainoa Horcajo, Hosts;
William Paris, Director/Director of Photography/ Editor;
Scott G. Culbertson, Sound Engineer.

The winners will be announced at The Emmy Gala in the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco on Saturday, June 4, 2016.

“It truly is an honor to receive recognition for a show that we love and believe in,” said Yvonne Biegel, Executive Producer. “We are just a few friends who respect the Hawaiian culture and like great food. When Kainoa and Chef Mike started talking about a dinner based on the Hawaiian Moon Calendar, Kathy and I knew we had a show.

“Mahalo to KHON2 and our early presenting sponsor Ulupono Initiative and supporting sponsor Grand Wailea for aligning with the story and vision. There is so much more to the story, so we will be launching a summer series and shooting a one-hour special on Hokule`a.”

“Search Hawaii” will air in its new time weekly on Saturdays at 9 p.m. beginning Saturday, June 4, 2016. The one-hour Hokule`a special will air mid-September.

About Search Hawaii
The 30-minute television program aired five shows winter 2015, and will launch a summer series weekly beginning June 4, 2016 in Hawaii on KHON2, Saturday evenings at 9 p.m. SEARCH Hawaii follows a cultural expert and a professional chef on their journey to acquire ingredients found in nature to create a gourmet meal based on the Hawaiian Moon Calendar and Hawaii’s unique culture.

The waterman chef – Mike Lofaro – and a Hawaiian cultural ambassador – Kainoa Horcajo –with a love for the mountains plan and produce a monthly culinary adventure series focusing on the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. KHON2 news anchor Kathy Muneno hosts opening and closing segments inviting the viewer to join Chef Mike and Kainoa as they find inspiration for their monthly culinary adventure series menu.

More than a “farm to table” cooking show, the co-hosts go deep with the diverse but similarly passionate backgrounds of the two. SEARCH Hawaii will inspire the viewer to consider local ingredients while they learn about Hawaii’s cultures and traditions with visually rousing images of our island home, meetings with local heroes farming, fishing and cooking cultural ingredients throughout the Hawaiian islands.

Viewers benefit by learning about the Hawaiian culture, local food sources and the best time to plant and harvest using the Hawaiian Moon Calendar. Each show closes with Chef Mike Lofaro creating the inspired dish in a humble kitchen or outdoors, and serving it to those involved.

###

(L to R) SEARCH Hawaii’s Chef Mike Lofaro and Kainoa Horcajo lead us on a search to fish, hunt, forage and gather ingredients all over the Hawaiian islands for their dinner based on the Hawaiian Moon Calendar.

(L to R) SEARCH Hawaii’s Chef Mike Lofaro and Kainoa Horcajo lead us on a search to fish, hunt, forage and gather ingredients all over the Hawaiian islands for their dinner based on the Hawaiian Moon Calendar.

The Maui News Breaks the Story

The Maui News Breaks the Story

In the loop

CULINARY ADVENTURES ABOUND IN NEW HAWAII TV PROGRAM

October 4, 2015

The Maui News

"SEARCH Hawaii," a 30-minute TV program that will offer delicious details on Hawaii's food and culture, launches at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 11 on KHON2 and will continue monthly through February 2016.

The new show follows cultural expert Kainoa Horcajo and professional chef Mike Lofaro on their journey to gather ingredients found in nature to create a gourmet meal inspired by Hawaii's unique culture.

Produced in cooperation with Grand Wailea, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, the idea for the show is based on the resort's Ka Malama Dinners held monthly in Humuhumunukunukuapua'a restaurant where Lofaro and Grand Wailea's Hawaiian cultural ambassador, Horcajo, forage, fish and gather the foods for the five-course dinner based on the ancient Hawaiian moon calendar.

KHON2 news anchor Kathy Muneno will host opening and closing segments inviting the viewer to join Lofaro and Horcajo as they find inspiration for their monthly culinary adventure series menu.

More than a "farm to table" cooking show, there is broader depth and breadth with the diverse but similarly passionate backgrounds of the two hosts. SEARCH Hawaii will inspire the viewer to consider local ingredients while they learn about Hawaii's cultures and traditions with visually inspiring images, meetings with local heroes farming, fishing and cooking cultural ingredients throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Viewers benefit by learning about the native culture, local food sources and the best time to plant and harvest using the historic calendar.

Each show closes with Lofaro creating the inspired dish in a humble kitchen or outdoors, and serving it to those involved.

The program will feature Hawaii Island this month; Oahu in November; Kauai and Niihau in December; Molokai in January; and Maui in February.

As chef de cuisine at Grand Wailea's prized restaurant, Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (Humu,) Lofaro thrives on thrilling diners with delicious and elegant dishes that focus on his love for the water and what he fondly refers to as his "hunting grounds," the Pacific Ocean. Lofaro surfs, paddles outrigger canoe (with a fishing pole perched on the 'iako,) stand-up paddles, and spearfishes all before noon when he arrives to his seafood restaurant exhilarated and smelling like the sea. It is this connection with the ocean's fish, lobster, squid or seaweed that inspires his new menu. A graduate of the coveted Culinary Institute of America in New York, Lofaro was raised in a big Italian family on a small East Coast island and moved to Hawaii as the protege of Michael Mina. Lofaro eventually won "Best Maui Chef" and "Best Maui Resort Restaurant" by a local reader poll of The Maui News in 2014.

Born and raised on Maui, and a graduate of Maui's Seabury Hall and California's San Diego State University, Horcajo is Hawaiian cultural ambassador at Grand Wailea and was previously cultural ambassador at Andaz Maui. He also continues to consult at Hana Pono where he creates cultural studies and cultural impact assessments. Horcajo has led group facilitation of multiple conferences and workshops in Hawaii as well as conducted culture-based training with thousands of executives and employees from Hawaii resorts and businesses. His unique background also includes community outreach positions at the State of Hawaii Legislature and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

For more information, contact "SEARCH Hawaii" executive producer Yvonne Biegel at yvonne.biegel@waldorfastoria.com or (808)276-6452.