Chef Donates Cookbook Proceeds to Maui Culinary Academy

By Wendy Osher

Image courtesy mutualpublishing.com, one of the online retailers selling the Maui Cookbook. All proceeds go to the Maui Culinary Academy.

Tylun Pang, the Executive Chef at the Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui is donating proceeds from his latest cookbook to the Maui Culinary Academy (MCA).  The cookbook, What Maui Likes to Eat, features dishes Pang believes epitomize Maui’s culinary history.

The donation is an extension of the 15-year-old partnership between the Fairmont Kea Lani resort and the Maui Culinary Academy at the University of Hawai’i Maui College (UHMC). In addition to employing MCA graduates in the Kea Lani kitchen, the partnership also includes an annual Noble Chef fundraiser to support the culinary program.

Chef Pang decided to donate 100 percent of the cookbook sale proceeds to the UHMC culinary program saying, “With my connections to MCA, and the students, it made it a natural fit to donate the money. It was just the right thing to do,” said Pang.

MCA graduates working at the Kea Lani also helped in the preparation of the cookbook.

The funds raised from the sales will be used in the Culinary Enrichment Fund that supports students in attending culinary competitions, workshops and seminars, or to purchase equipment for the program. It also provides professional development funds for faculty members.

The cookbook is available at the Fairmont Kea Lani, Costco, Borders, Longs Drugs, local bookstores, and several online retailers.  It will also soon be available in the campus bookstore and the Pa’ina cafeteria at UHMC.

*** Supporting information courtesy UHMC.