Chefs fired up at Canadian cooking competition
'Being able to share my passion and my food with them is unbelievable for me'
Placing a baked flower petal on his seafood dish, Jacob Lee completes his entry at the Canadian Food Championships.
The Shaw Conference Centre sous chef is eager for the culinary challenge after perfecting his recipe for the past few months.
"Cooking is my everything," Lee said. "There [are] no reasons, because it is my everything."
That sentiment is echoed among the clatter of pots and pans as competitors from across Canada battle it out in the third year of the event as part of Taste of Edmonton.
"It's a food sport in the making," said Milena Santoro, chair of the Canadian Food Championships.
There are seven categories including steak, seafood, desert and, of course, bacon.
Chefs are given one hour to prepare their item which must be delivered in time or face disqualification.
Once it is turned over to the panel of judges, it is scored according to the EAT methodology, which judges execution, appearance and taste.
Connie and Wayne Hebert were at Taste of Edmonton to watch their son, Kyle, take part in the cook off. They sampled some of the dishes after they had been prepared.
"It was an amazing opportunity to come in and you have a bunch of new chefs that are trying to make their names and older chefs that are trying to make their names," said Wayne Hebert.
One of the new chefs is 14-year-old Jonathan Giovannoni from Spruce Grove. He started cooking at the age of five when a brain cancer diagnosis kept him inside.
Now Giovannoni, the youngest chef in the competition, is cooking up a storm.
"It's awesome just knowing that they actually appreciate it and they have a love for cooking as well," Giovannoni said.
Everyone is welcome to watch the chefs in the main tent at Taste of Edmonton. The competition wraps up July 23.
"The hope is to inspire people to get on and get into the kitchen and start cooking," Santoro said.
