Huliau Food & Film Festival

A farm-to-table celebration of local agriculture featuring local chefs and student-produced films

Event menu from 2024:

2025 Huliau Food & Film Festival

The Huliau Food & Film Festival is a farm-to-table celebration of local agriculture featuring local chefs and student-produced films. This year’s event will take place outdoors at Sugar Beach Event’s beautiful oceanfront venue in north Kīhei on Saturday August 23rd. The event will feature student films and a five course meal featuring farm-to-table dishes prepared by local chefs. Sugar Beach Events will run a cash bar featuring locally-produced cocktails, beer, and wine.

You can see details below from last year’s event. More details on this year’s event will be added in June when ticket sales begin.

All proceeds from the event will benefit our youth programs, which focus on filmmaking, leadership, zero waste, climate change, ʻāina-based education, careers in conservation, and more. Funds will also help support our Kūkulu Pilina (“building connections”) program which works to assist schools in building connections with community partners who can support their educational efforts, and to facilitate more off-campus ʻāina-based experiences for both teachers and students. This past school year, we have significantly expanded on our efforts to support teachers and students, especially at Lāhaināluna and the upcountry schools, helping foster a positive learning environment for students. Please join us on the 23rd to support these efforts!

Our 2024 Huliau Food & Film Festival was a huge success! ✨ Mahalo nui to our supportive community of talented chefs and farmers, generous sponsors, and dear family and friends.

Our 2024 Chef Team

Mahalo to the talented team of volunteer chefs who are contributing their farm-to-table culinary talents to this year’s event in support of our programs for Maui youth!

Chef Dean Louie

UH Maui College

Read Dean's bio

Dean Louie works at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College. He began his culinary career in the San Francisco Bay Area working for Hotel Sofitel Redwood Shores, the Oakland Marriott City Center and the famous Sheraton-Palace Hotel.

Since 1999 he developed, owned and operated restaurants in Hagatna, Guam and Lahaina, Maui, then began teaching Culinary Arts classes in 2005. He was the UHMC Culinary Arts Program Coordinator from 2012-2016 and now programs and coordinates non-credit Continuing Education and Industry Training courses for Maui College.

Chef Lee Anderson

Sugar Beach Events

Read Lee's bio

Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, Chef Lee’s love of all things culinary began at a Mexican restaurant 30 years ago. The dedication she demonstrated there eventually led her to the opening culinary coordinator position for a national restaurant concept where she travelled throughout the southeast developing and training new employees. Working with the Director of Culinary Development, Chef Lee’s career path became clear. Subsequent to that, an eight year stint with Metromedia Restaurant Group led Lee to the decision that she would move to Maui. She landed in the management team at Spago at the Four Seasons Resort, Maui. After nearly three years with Spago, Chef Lee created and sold her first catering company. Learning from that experience, she built her own ocean front venue where she is enjoying success at Sugar Beach Events.

Chef Maja Liotta

Private Chef, Lilikoi Creations

Read Maja's Bio

Chef Maja Liotta is a self taught culinary professional, working in the trenches from an early age in her parent’s restaurant in coastal Maine. Hauling up lobster pots on her Dad’s lobster boat and foraging for mushrooms in the soggy Maine woods left a mark on Maja at an early age. Always at home in the forest and along the shores, she developed a keen eye for uncommon ingredients and honed a gift of creating meals with them.

The Liotta ‘ohana made Maui home 10 years ago and their first home was on an organic farm in Keokea. It wasn’t long before Maja was offered the unique opportunity to work as a chef for a private concierge to discerning clientele and her business grew from there through word of mouth.

Maja’s passion is creating diverse and healthful meals for residents, friends, family and visitors to the islands. Maja is passionate about wellness and promotes clean eating and culinary instruction for local school aged children across the island for various organizations including Haiku School, Kihei Youth Center, The Blue Zones Project and Hawaii Tech Academy. She is also a regularly featured food writer and recipe contributor for Maui Family Magazine.

Chef Maja graciously embraces alternative diet requests, especially plant based/vegan and gluten free. When she isn’t cooking professionally, Maja enjoys Maui’s splendor and loves to surf and travel with her ‘ohana.

Chef John Cadman

Pono Pies

Read John's bio

Chef John Cadman is passionate about canoe plants, especially ʻulu (breadfruit) a main ingredient in his most locally-sourced Pono Pies, and its potential as a healthy and local food source for people throughout Polynesia. John is famous to many of our students from his days working as cafeteria manager in Haiku Elementary, King Kekaulike High School and Kamehameha Schools Maui.

Now as owner and operator of Pono Pies, John creates delicious sugar, gluten, dairy and GMO-free raw desserts out of as many locally sourced ingredients as possible. His pies are not only delicious but also represent his contribution to eating in a more pono (righteous) way that is both healthy and sustainable.

Chef Terry Manegdeg

Pastry Chef, Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort

Read Terry's bio

Terry was born and raised on Maui. She went to University of Hawaiʻi Maui College when it was still a community college and took up culinary. At first, she wanted to delve into savory but found her passion for pastry. She was part of the opening team for Amasia and stayed till the closing of the restaurant. For her next venture, she worked for Sugar Beach Bakeshop. She then moved to the pastry shop of the Grand Wailea for the next 10 years. Currently she is the pastry chef of the Andaz Maui At Wailea Resort.

Chef Carol Wallack

Huliau Food & Film Festival Chef Coordinator

Read Carol's bio

Carol, born and bred in Los Angeles, made the move to Chicago to spread her culinary wings in 1995. She arrived to find a culinary pulse that rivaled New York as the best food city in the country.

Carol worked with her sister to open and operate, a ‘great neighborhood haunt’, Deleece Restaurant for 10 years before opening her own. She opened Sola  Restaurant in 2006, using Hawaiian flavors and traditions with midwestern sensibility, expressing her love of the Hawaiian islands.

She embraced the farm to table movement in Chicago and involved herself with the Green City Market bringing the bounty of the midwest to the city for the top chefs to use in their restaurants.

Carol and Sola received many awards and accolades. Sola was chosen one of Chicago’s best new restaurants 2007. She was chosen as one of Chicago’s best chefs 2009, named one of Chicago’s Culinary queens, national restaurant association / Food Arts chef BBQ winner 2008, 2009 and winner at South Beach Food and wine Festival-Rachael Ray’s burger bash, 2009, the Best of the Best at South Beach Food and Wine Festival, 2011, and 3 consecutive years being invited to cook at the James Beard Foundation.

Now retired, she devotes her time to creating ice cream flavors (a passion she discovered at Sola), making cookies, an occasional catering job, entertaining at home, enjoying beach life or skiing in the winter and raising her pup, Edie.