Shaydon Page

 

(December 2014)…Shaydon Page set his sights on culinary pursuits early in high school. In grade ten, after continually asking his Foods teacher for more difficult recipes, she suggested he compete in the CCFCC High School Culinary Challenge at NAIT. He competed all three years, including once he changed schools to Bellerose Composite High School.

Not only did Shaydon earn a silver medal in the 2014 HSCC, along with fellow scholarship recipient Austin Cunningham, but he also went on to work in the Bellerose Business Venture, which allowed him and fellow students to run a restaurant as part of a full year course, with the objectives not only to complete the course, but to be profitable at the end. The Bellerose Business Venture increased Shaydon’s appreciation of the complexities of running a restaurant.

Currently Shaydon is working and learning at the Shaw Conference Centre. “I’m still new and learning quickly,” he says, “but I hope to experience a wide variety off culinary paths.” Right now he is relishing the opportunity to work in great kitchens with skilled chefs to learn from.

When asked what he would tell the 2015 competitors: “Remember, knives are sharp!” he jokes. But kidding aside, “I would tell the competitors to compete as a team, even at practice,” he says, “and get a varied opinion on everything, learn how to make the dish better.”

Interesting about Shaydon…

He anticipates cooking at different ethnic restaurants one day.

He loves working just with food and experimenting with different flavors: “I love to eat anything from lamb shanks to the gibblets of a cow,” he says.