Huliau Food & Film Festival
A farm-to-table celebration of local agriculture featuring local chefs and student-produced films
Past year event photos above by Bryan Berkowitz
Reserve your table now
for the Huliau Food & Film Festival!
After a two year pause, our annual benefit dinner is back on August 6th at Sugar Beach Event’s beautiful oceanfront venue in Kīhei. 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 feature a six course farm-to-table meal, live music, and student films. All funds raised will benefit our environmental education programs for Maui youth.
Our Chef Team
Our 2022 Huliau Food & Film Festival will feature a six course farm-to-table meal prepared by a team of talented chefs who have generously volunteered their services to raise funds for our programs.

Chef Dean Louie
UH Maui College
Read Dean's bio
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

Chef Maja Liotta
Private Chef, Lilikoi Creations
Read Maja's Bio
Upon graduating from college in 1996, she ignored the nudge to pursue culinary. The Liotta ‘ohana made Maui home 7 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. In 2017, she added her Culinary funshop, “Chiffonade and Sizzle” to her offerings as well as 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
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 Zach Laidlaw
Hua Momona Farms
Read Zach's bio
Maui is where he landed the Chef de Cuisine position at Fleetwood’s on Front St. for two years working next to Chef Eric Morrissette. He currently is the Executive Chef for Hua Momona Farms, West Maui. Chef Zach is known for developing unique flavors and his stunning presentation. He creates memorable dining experiences true to the farm to table movement. “It’s very fulfilling to create a modern dish with the vegetables you just grew/harvested yourself”. He loves to further educate himself with self-sustainability and creating exquisite desserts for fun. Food is Medicine.

Chef Carol Wallack
Huliau Food & Film Festival Chef Coordinator
Read Carol's bio
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.