University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu Academy for Creative Media students and UH Mānoa graduates made significant contributions to the PBS series Family Ingredients, which will be shown locally on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Heather Giugni, creator and executive producer of the series, credits the home-grown talent as producing work that is on par with the quality of other national television series.

“ ACM students have great potential, and graduates can be found in every aspect of our media landscape,” said Giugni, who also is collections specialist and producer for the ʻUluʻulu: The Henry Kuʻualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawaiʻi at UH West Oʻahu.

Family Ingredients explores Hawaiʻi’s cultural diversity through food, with a guest recounting to host Ed Kenney a memorable dish or favorite family recipe. The many layers of Hawaiʻi’s culture are peeled back as Kenney and the guest journey to various communities from which the food came, including those in various countries and states. In doing so, food is shown as a foundation for ties among families, generations, and cultures.

Five production crew members—Terrence Nahina (editor), Nevada Jones (sound), Elliana Moore (assistant camera), Chris Ahn (camera operator), and Kali Kasashima (offline editor, season one) and Todd Fink—are graduates of UH Mānoa’s Creative Media program.

Ty Sanga, Family Ingredients’ director, is a graduate of the UH Mānoa ethnic studies program and is a part-time lecturer for ACM . Megan Tomino, another production member, also is a graduate of UH Mānoa.

This season two UH West Oʻahu students joined the team as interns—Nakoa Camvel and Kevin Bechayda.

Giugni’s vision for the show has succeeded, with the first season being picked up by 93 percent of PBS stations nationally. She expects a similar outcome for the second season of six shows.

For more about Family Ingredients, go to E Kamakani Hou.

—By Greg Wiles