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Okinawan American wins Taste of Korea competition in Hawaii

July 16, 2015
Chef Grant Sato, fifth from left, won the Honolulu Taste of Korea contest Monday. He will go on to finals in South Korea in August.

Chef Grant Sato, fifth from left, won the Honolulu Taste of Korea contest Monday. He will go on to finals in South Korea in August.

By The Korea Times Hawaii staff

Taste of Korea, a global competition held by the South Korean government, crowned a community college instructor and chef, Grant Sato, as the winner of Hawaii’s regional contest Monday.

Sato took home a $500 prize and will go on to the finals in Korea, where the grand prize is $10,000.

He teaches at Kapiolani Community College.

The contest challenged chefs to use creativity to transform a traditional Korean dish, japchae, into their own. Sato made a syrup using fresh local ingredients, including pineapples from Waipio Valley.

Judges included food experts, food columnists and Jung Jung-soon, chef of the Hawaiian Korean Consulate General.

The finals in Korea, to take place next month, will bring together contestants from 17 regions, among them England, France, Norway, Russia and Australia. Taste of Korea is in its third annual year and is open only to non-Korean contestants.