ʻUlu Ambassador: Christopher Kamalu Fujimoto

Christopher Kamalu Fujimoto was born and raised on the island of O'ahu. He is currently the Community Wellness Manager for ʻElepaio Social Services (non-profit of the Waiʻanae Coast Comprehensive) as well as a privately contracted chef. His work and passions surround food as education, indigenous food systems, indigenous canoe crop cooking education, food as medicine, food access, and ʻike kupuna.

He works to ensure that this generation and all those that follow know how to grow, cook, and consume our Hawaiian ingredients and strives to provide this education at little to no cost to the community he serves. His dream for Hawaiʻi is to have every home growing our kupuna crops equipped with the knowledge and expertise to consume them on a daily basis so that we can return to a pono diet that supports health and wellness. 

“As a Native Hawaiian and chef, being able to work with our native ingredients has always been a goal for me. To be able to shine the light on our beautiful indigenous products we have flourishing here is always on my mind as well as finding new ways to showcase them in our modern culinary scene while still respecting the tradition and history behind them. Hawai'i is everything to me and I want to do everything I can to give back and honor this place I call home.”