Campbell High senior’s fried rice wins Localicious recipe contest

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Ava Marie Dzekedze, a senior at James B. Campbell High School, won the Hawaii Gas Localicious Recipe Contest with her spin on a Hawai'i favorite.

Dzekedze created a shrimp fried rice dish using brown rice and incorporating locally grown carrots and onions on Aug. 4 at a live cook-off that took place at the HMAA Presents Keiki in the Kitchen on Aug. 4 at Wai Kai in 'Ewa Beach.

The contest was a collaboration between the Hawai'i Agricultural Foundation and the Hawai'i State Department of Education to help identify items students want on their school lunch menus that are healthy, utilize locally sourced ingredients and create awareness for the local agricultural industry.

Dzekedze told HI Now Daily that she loves to cook Hawaiian food and "fried rice is my staple."

"It's amazing to see what she created and it was very appropriate for school meals. It's fried rice, it's such a favorite, and it's something that we can actually create operationally," Lindsay Rodrigues, HIDOE's school food program administrator, also told HI Now Daily.

The theme of the contest this year was "My Localicious® Lunch: Design Your Ultimate School Lunch Plate."

Other winners this year were:

• 2nd Place: Pork Watercress Soup. Recipe by Laura Breeze Kipu, grade 11, Pearl City High School
• 3rd Place: Ulu Sweet Potato Ravioli with Brown Butter Lemon Reduction. Recipe by Logan Transfiguracion, grade 11, Waipahu High School
• 4th Place: Ground Beef Stroganoff. Recipe by Finley Klug, grade 7, Kea'au Middle School