Salutations to all

[FR33_MASON]

Well an introduction is in order.
I am not a profesional in the culinary world yet.
last week I decided to follow my lifelong passion of cooking and I am going to go pro. This will not happen until Fall of 2009 When I enroll as a full time culinary student. Where will I enroll is yet to be determined.

My love of food began at a very early age.
It all started when I was five. My mother who has been a professional cook now for 63 years and is from Jamaica decided to teach me the basics when I had scalded my foot badly while trying to make oatmeal one morning. My mother and father were both very busy people so learning how to take care of myself started early. The first thing, besides oatmeal that I learned to cook was eggs, then bacon, and the rest is history. I am fortunate that I have a pelethera of worldly recipies to access as I had previously mentioned that my mother was from The West Indies but also, My late father was from western Canada where my mother and I reside today and I have many beautiful recipies to draw from on also. The bottom line is that I have a diverse amount of culinary information to access.

All through junior high and high school I attended food studies and was fortunate to have teachers with extensive experience in the culinary world. I was always a high achiever in those classes.

I was a biology major in college but never put my Bsc. to practical use. Here in Alberta, the oil patch prooved too lucrative for me to pass up and all my first choices for a career went to the wayside.

My first job was at a Safeway store and proved to be a valuable learning experience as the store specialised in bringing in high quality and high variety of products. I worked as a produce clerk the longest and became familiar with fruits and vegetables that even today many people are not aware of, at least in my neck of the woods.

I guess it is because one true passion that I have always been able to practise which is cooking of course that I have decided to make the main focus in life. I am only 35 and there is still plenty of time to immerse my self into this world of food. I want to share my experiences, thoughts and ideas with others who can relate, something that I have not done before.

Well I am sure that I have raised a few eyebrows with the preceeding rantings so I leave it at that. I look forward to future discussions with this group.

Cheers people

[Mezzaluna]

Thank you for your introduction! I can't imagine why there would be raised eyebrows from reading your story. Many members of Chef Talk are not (yet) chefs; plenty of us are home cooks, too. Your story is not that unusual, I assure you.

We hope you enjoy reading the material here, but also participating in the forums when you can. There's a great forum titled, "Year Back At Culinary School", as well as a forum devoted to culinary students and culinary schools. The search tool will help you locate specific threads on desired topics.

Welcome!
Mezzaluna