Family Ingredients Hosted by Chef Ed Kenney Premieres This Summer

Family Ingredients is a new culinary travel TV series that tells these unique stories by tracing the origins of a Hawaii dish to its roots around the world. Not quite a documentary, not quite a cooking show, Family Ingredients is a joyful ode to farmers, food producers and families.

Hosted by acclaimed Oahu chef and sustainability hero Ed Kenney, the story begins in the Hawaiian Islands, where big things are happening in the state’s dynamic culinary scene. Beautifully filmed, Family Ingredients showcases Hawaii’s small town communities, diverse cultures, and exhilarating experiences that cross the Pacific Ocean.  

Engaging, authentic, funny, even a bit quirky, Kenney is the perfect host to trace these dishes around the globe. He takes off with guests to explore Okinawa, Tahiti, California, Japan, Puerto Rico, and the Hawaiian Islands, showcasing how cuisine can profoundly unite cultures, communities and families.

“The show started out as a culinary adventure based on what I do daily as a chef – telling stories through food,” said Kenney. “I never realized that it would have such a strong impact on me.”

Family Ingredients is co-produced by Rock Salt Media Inc. and Pacific Islanders in Communications under director Ty Sanga and producers Heather H. Giugni, Renea Veneri Stewart and Dan Nakasone.

The Emmy Award winning show is scheduled to premiere on PBS Hawaii on June 22, 2016, and will be available on general release to PBS stations nationwide as of June 16, 2016. Check local listings.

For more information on Family Ingredients, visit FamilyIngredients.com or follow its social channels on Facebook or Instagram @FamilyIngredients.

ABOUT HOST ED KENNEY

Ed Kenney is a successful restaurateur in Hawaii who had no idea he wanted to be a chef – or a TV host.

After college, Kenney spent a year backpacking the globe, immersed in culture and contemplating life. It was on a street corner in Hanoi over a steaming bowl of pho that his revelation occurred: “Food is the unifying fabric of humanity, connecting us to the earth and each other.” From that point forward, a new path was forged. 

With a strong commitment to farm-to-table cooking, he opened his first restaurant, Town, in 2005 to rave reviews. Today, his four restaurants – Town, Kaimuki Superette, Mud Hen Water, and the newly opened Mahina & Sun’s – are lively gathering places guided by the mantra “local first, organic whenever possible, with aloha always.”

Kenney is committed to supporting local farms like MAO Organic Farms and showcasing local ingredients and traditional Hawaiian canoe crops, like kalo (taro) and ulu (breadfruit) on his menus. For the past decade, he has been a respected leader in the local food community and has helped propel Hawaii cuisine back into the national spotlight.

The James Beard Foundation has named Kenney a semi-finalist for Best Chef: West each year since 2013. He has cooked for First Lady Michelle Obama and been featured in top publications like Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Saveur, Conde Nast Traveler, and Travel + Leisure.

His crowning achievement, to date, is his family – wife, Spanky and kids, Celia and Duke.