Culinary competitions are a bit of an alternative universe. They're not really about eating. There are gorgeous dishes that are all for show, not meant for consumption, draped in glistening aspic. There are assigned dishes that allow the chefs no deviation, to show students can reproduce classic ideas. And, finally, there are menus meant to show the team's creativity.

Earlier this month, Team Hawaii, a group of students from Kapi'olani Community College, went into this alternative universe in Seattle and conquered it.

For only the second time, the Hawai'i team of student chefs won the western regional competition of the American Culinary Federation, meaning they will compete in finals in Orlando, Fla., in July against other regional winners.

No Hawai'i team has ever won the nationals, but that's their goal.

Last week, Kapi'olani Community College culinary arts professor Frank Leake was jubilant, if jet-lagged, speaking from a cab on the way home from the competition: "We finally did it. We finally took it."

Under the leadership of KCC chef-instructor Alan Tsuchiyama, the team — captain San Shopell, Rena Suzuki, Tate Nakano-Edwards and Keaka Lee, with alternate Anna Hirano and logistics manager Ken Yi — went without sleep for days, working in borrowed kitchens to first create an elaborate seafood platter and then a multicourse meal.

Leake and Tsuchiyama worked with the team on menus and recipes they've been practicing for months. The students had to demonstrate not only that they could prepare delicious food, but that they had acquired specific skills and understood classic techniques, Leake said. One requirement was to reproduce a dish from legendary chef Auguste Escoffier — no innovation, stick to the recipe just as he recorded it. But other courses allowed — and even required — more improvisation, more creativity. So the students bounced back and forth between rigidity and ingenuity.

The students got one day off last week, and now they're starting to practice for the nationals. The list of things they'll have to do is three pages long: a cold food presentation, various skills challenges, a four-course menu and specific dishes.

And on top of preparing, the team has to fundraise to support their effort.

The regional competition expenses were partly supported by a very successful fundraiser hosted by chef Roy Yamaguchi in March, and with aid from Starwood Hotels, which put the students up during the competition (not that they got to spend much time in their hotel rooms), Leake said. But now, the fundraising starts all over again.

Send recipes and queries to Wanda A. Adams, Food Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Fax: 525-8055. E-mail: wadams@honoluluadvertiser.com.

For more information about our 150th anniversary cookbook, call 535-8189 (message phone; your call will be returned). You can order the cookbook online.