Editor's note: In 1995, then food editor Joan Namkoong interviewed local chefs about how their mothers had influenced their cooking skills and palates. We've updated their stories.

Island chefs spoke warmly and fondly of their moms' cooking and how it influenced their own lives.

SAM CHOY

Mom: Clairemoana Meyer-Choy

"My mom was a great cook," said Sam Choy. "She was really into all the holidays. I always remember Halloween — it was really special. She would have apples in caramel all lined up for us. When we came home from trick-or-treating there was creamed chicken with Harvard beets and garlic mashed potatoes. It doesn't get any better than that. And it's become a family tradition."

The Choy family grew up on the North Shore of O'ahu. Mrs. Choy, who lived in La'ie most of her life but spent her latter years in Kona, living with her daughters and helping with her son's Kaloko restaurant, died in 1995.

"My mom was always up early on holidays, roasting a turkey, a pot roast on Christmas Day. The aroma of food literally went through the house. It set the tone and mood. That's what's missing today. Everyone's so busy. We forget the simple things in life, the family life. My wife and I try to keep the traditions going."

GLENN CHU

Mom: Margaret Chu

"When I was growing up I thought my mom was the absolute best cook. We ate cream of mushroom soup, corn and rice, Spam, all the local sorts of food. I thought this was great," said Glenn Chu. "Later, I realized my mom was an average cook. By going away, I experienced more in food."

Chu went off to college in Michigan, then stayed in the Detroit area for 10 years before returning to the Islands and establishing France Hawaii Catering and Indigo Restaurant.

Chu credits his popo, his grandmother, as an influence on his cooking.

"We lived in my grandmother's house," he said. "She was an extremely good cook. She would cook for 50, 100 people, with no problem at all. She cooked in a big wok over a wood fire in the backyard.

"Of course, my mom also worked. She threw things together; a little Chinese, not complicated. She made a good steamed pork hash, sweet-sour spareribs, spaghetti and rice, and stew. But she's still the best cookie baker."

LINDA YAMADA

Mom: Dora Yamada

"What do you mean, you're supposed to cook for us!" Dora Yamada used to say when daughter Linda, a chef, called to ask what was for dinner. Older now, and widowed, Dora Yamada doesn't cook quite as much as she used to but daughter Linda, a chef-instructor in Leeward Community College's culinary arts training program, still goes by the house and snoops around the fridge hoping for leftovers.

"She's still my favorite cook," said Linda Yamada. She has even put a little of her mom's cooking on menus in past restaurant jobs: her version of beef stew, the corned beef hash for breakfast.

Waipahu-raised Yamada studied culinary arts at Kapi'olani Community College and has worked at the former Yacht Harbor Tower restaurant and the Halekulani hotel. She went to Washington, D.C., for three years then returned to work at the Westin-Kauai. When Hurricane Iniki closed the hotel, she returned to Honolulu, where she worked at the Centre Court restaurant.

"All my girlfriends would wait for mom's casseroles and meat loaf. She made simple things that were very tasty," Yamada said. "She was a working mom, too. She cooked before she went to work. Dinner was always ready at night."

ROY YAMAGUCHI

Mom: Mitsuko Yamaguchi

"My mom used to make pork with miso, green onions and scrambled eggs — it's one of my all-time favorites," said Roy Yamaguchi, chef/owner of the Islands' popular restaurants bearing his name.

It's a dish his mother, Mitsuko Yamaguchi, prepared, reflecting her Okinawan heritage. But it was Roy's dad, as well as mother, who cooked for the family.

"They wanted that meal to be on the table and for the kids to enjoy the meal they served. No matter what the flavors were, you never forget the flavors you have as a kid.

"Asian cooking is very natural. I never really had bread or American-type food. We had things like chicken simmered in shoyu, garlic, green onions. Tsukemono, tsunomono and kim chee were all things my mom and dad made at home. It wasn't store-bought.

"To me, what I do and how I got into cooking — it's a love. They cooked out of love. People who love to cook cook better than those who cook as a profession."

GEORGE MAVROTHALASSITIS

Mom: Anne Loner

"My mom was an angel," recalled chef/restaurateur George Mavrothalassitis of Chef Mavro restaurant. "She was very romantic, always reading and listening to music. She loved art and was not into household things, including cooking."

This had a direct influence on his career: "She was a terrible cook and, since in my family we all loved to eat, including her, I started to cook with my father at an early age. And I developed a passion for cooking."

His mother was half-Italian, half Austrian, he said, "so she had a very wide range of favorite recipes from northern Italian to German influence."

"The only recipe she was able to do by herself was pistou (pesto) soup. It was the best in the whole world. Who knows why she could just do that one recipe? Her soup included ham hocks, tomato, salted pork belly and of course one ton of basil and Parmesan cheese. I'm still carrying on her recipe when I cook a pistou soup." (In fact, in response to this request for his mom memories, Chef Mavro decided to put the soup on the menu for Mother's Day only, as a complimentary pre-appetizer.)

DAVE "D.K." KODAMA

Mom: Sandy "Mama" Kodama

"My mother had a big culinary influence on me. She's the reason I'm an adventurous eater and an adventurous chef. When we were growing up (there are six Kodama siblings) she cooked something different every night. We had Chinese neighbors and Filipino neighbors and my mother would get recipes from them. ... Of course, she also cooked Japanese food and local food and curries, which she served with all the condiments," recalled Kodama, who now owns seven restaurants (four Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bars, d.k Steak House in Waikiki, Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas and Vino Italian Tapas and Wine Bar) and has three children of his own (all named after cheese, Brie Ann, Chev and baby Cashel Bleu). An updated version of his book, "D.K.'s Sushi Chronicles From Hawai'i: Recipes from Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar," (Ten Speed, 2004), will be re-released in paperback next year.

"When I first opened in Honolulu, my mother was working at a catering company with some of her women friends. It was work, but it was also a social situation for them. Then she came to work at Sansei in the kitchen — she did prep, she cooked the employee meal, she would bake at home early, early in the morning and bring in cookies and cake and brownies for our Sansei employees. One day I realized that she'd be much more valuable on the floor, that she could teach all the folks on the floor more 'aloha.' And that's been her role ever since. My dad works the Steak House."

RUSSELL SIU

Mom: Jessie Siu

Russell Siu credits his mother, Jessie Siu, and his grandmother, Mary Wong, with influencing his cooking as chef of 3660 on The Rise restaurant.

"My grandmother cooked mostly Chinese food, my mom cooked mostly American. I learned to make jin dui, joong, gau, kau yuk, monk's food from my grandmother. She made a great stuffed duck and lobster with black beans, ginger and scallion."

Learning at his grandmother's side, Siu remembers "the taste and freshness of her food. The flavors were natural, enhanced by spices and herbs, not overpowering. The dishes weren't complex; they were very simple and easy to make."

"From my mom, I learned mostly baking — cookies, cakes — but also shoyu chicken." His mom's shoyu chicken has at times been on the menu at his Kaka'ako Kitchen operation.