Can a home cook sign up?

Not for the workforce courses. You must be 18 or older, a Hawaiʻi resident, and have at least three years of culinary experience in a hotel, resort or restaurant kitchen.

How long is each course?

Each course runs five days. The fall 2026 cohorts met from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Full tuition scholarships worth $1,500 per student were available for Cohorts 23 and 24 through the Hawaiʻi Ag & Culinary Alliance scholarship fund.

When are the next courses?

The 2027 schedule has not been announced yet. You can sign up for updates on upcoming courses.

Faculty from across the University of Hawaiʻi System and instructors from the Culinary Institute of America.

Culinary college · Honolulu

Culinary Institute of the Pacific - Noncredit Cooking Classes

Week-long CIA-taught courses for working Hawaiʻi chefs, built around island ingredients

Ranked #1 of 3 cooking schools in Honolulu

About Culinary Institute of the Pacific - Noncredit Cooking Classes

The Culinary Institute of the Pacific sits on the Kapiʻolani Community College campus at 4500 Diamond Head Road in Honolulu. Its main noncredit offering is the CIP x CIA Workforce Development Program, run with the Culinary Institute of America. These are five-day, hands-on courses for people who already cook for a living, not drop-in evening classes for home cooks.

Each course takes a global cuisine or core skill and applies it to Hawaiʻi produce and seafood. Past titles include Pacific Rim Plant Forward Cooking, ʻĀina-based Mediterranean Cooking, A Taste of France and Essential Foundations of Culinary. The fall 2026 cohorts covered butchery and whole animal use, then smoking and sausage making. Classes run in the 16-station Y. Hata & Co. Advanced Pacific Regional Cuisine Lab, taught by University of Hawaiʻi faculty and CIA instructors.

You need to be 18 or older, a Hawaiʻi resident, and have at least three years in a hotel, resort or restaurant kitchen. Full tuition scholarships worth $1,500 per student have been offered. The 2027 schedule has not been posted yet.