Nunavut college course serves up future chefs

Cambridge Bay elder Mary Kilaodluk lights the qulliq before the Nunavut Arctic College’s April 15 graduation ceremony. (PHOTO BY KEVIN MCGILL)

A student in Nunavut Arctic College’s mine industry trade access certificate program performs at the NAC’s April 15 graduation ceremony in Cambridge Bay. (PHOTO BY KEVIN MCGILL)

Students in the culinary arts program at Cambridge Bay’s Nunavut Arctic College prepared a lavish buffet served at the April 15 NAC graduation ceremony. (PHOTO BY KEVIN MCGILL)

Student Cassandra Evaloakjuk takes the microphone, next to Fiona Buchan-Corey (right), Cambridge Bay’s Nunavut Arctic College campus director, at the graduation ceremony held April 15 at the Luke Novoligak community centre. (PHOTO BY KEVIN MCGILL)

More than 20 students at Cambridge Bay’s Nunavut Arctic College graduated at an April 15 ceremony held at the Luke Novoligak community centre. (PHOTO BY KEVIN MCGILL)

CAMBRIDGE BAY— The tasty stuffed turkey supper that Valerie Ohokannoak served to her family last month put a spotlight on what she learned at Nunavut Arctic College’s culinary arts program in Cambridge Bay this past year.

“I learned how to do it all at the course and at work,” says Ohonannoak, a cook, who was released from her job at the Nasittuq early warning site to upgrade her skills in the kitchen. “When I went home, I took all my knowledge from work and from class, and put it all together, and had a wonderful turkey dinner.”

Ohokannoak wants to continue on to take the next levels of the culinary arts program and complete the 2,ooo hours of work needed to qualify for her “red seal” as a chef.

Then she’ll be equipped to take a job in any restaurant or commercial kitchen in Canada.

Ohokannoak already has all the basics in food safety and preparation down pat: she knows how to chop carrots as quickly as chefs do on television, cook a perfect roast and whip up nutritious and inexpensive soups out of leftovers.

As a bonus, she’s spending less money for food at home, too.

“Learning how to cook, learning how to use the leftovers from last night’s roast, to make soups from the leftover meat, I’ve learned to save money,” she says.

Ohokannoak’s family also benefits from her new skills Her two children have been supportive as she experiments with new menus at home, she says.

“My reward after cooking and baking is for people to come up to me to say thank you for the food, and they’re full, and that they enjoyed it,” she says.

Everyone who tasted the swan-shaped cream puffs at the April 14 supper for NAC graduates could judge the skills of culinary arts students like Ohokannoak.

The 11 students, working with their instructor, Andy Poisson, prepared a menu, which included chicken and ribs, Mexican corn, baby carrots, seasoned rice, Caesar salad, potato salad and macaroni salad, cheese and veggie platters, fresh buns and cheesecake.

The students served up even more food the following day, April 15.

That’s when more than 20 NAC students received certificates at a ceremony in the Luke Novoligak community centre before an enthusiastic crowd of family and friends.

In Cambridge Bay “people seem to primed to come out and respect the past and to plan for the future,” reflects Kevin McGill, an instructor in the human services program, which prepares students for social services jobs.

When Ohokannoak received her plaque for being the culinary arts program’s outstanding student at the graduation ceremony, all the others in her program stood up and clapped.

“We’re not just a class, we’re a family,” says Poisson, who prefers being called “Chef Andy.”” We work together as a family, we play as a family, we hurt as a family, we mourn as a family, we produce as a family. Everyone is affected by what each person does in the classroom. “

More than half his students are likely to become professional cooks, predicts Poisson, who cooked for Hope Bay’s Windy Camp before coming to teach at NAC.

While his students have bonded like a family, Poisson says he treats them like adults, ready to handle whatever comes up in the kitchen.

“When it’s time to take heck for doing something wrong, they take heck. I don’t hold my punches in any way shape or form,” he says.

His students already have jobs lined up, with companies like the mining company 1984 Inc.,and Nasittuq, which will release them, if they want, for the second year of the three-year culinary arts program which leads to a “red seal” as a full-fledged chef.

April 15 also saw NAC graduates in several other programs, the college foundations program, human services, mine industry trades, bachelor education, and adult basic education.

Graduates wore new traditionally-inspired outfits, with sealskin cowls designed by the fur production students in Iqaluit, which all NAC grads will now don instead of the southern cap-and-gowns.

At the ceremony, Cassandra Evaloakjuk, a student in the adult basic education program, thanked her father and friends for their support, while her older classmate, Martha Ekpakohalok, told the gathering that it’s never too late to go back to school.

Mena McGill, their teacher, said all five basic education students supported each other throughout the school year as they worked on joint projects to improve their skills.

Self-confidence acquired during the year is easily as important what they learned, McGill says.

“I help bright people find their voice,” McGill says. “Your ability to read and write is important, but I think there is a lot of knowledge that comes from other places, too. All I need to do is help with self-expression skills, and it’s amazing what can come out.”

For Fiona Buchan-Corey, the NAC campus director in Cambridge bay for the past six years, the April 15 graduation ceremony capped off what she called “a very good year,” with increased enrolment— something she attributes to the poor economy.

“When the economy is strong, there are jobs out there and people tend to seek work. When the economy is a little bit slower, it’s a good time for people to evaluate their skills and determine what will make them more employability,” Buchan-Corey says.

Next year Cambridge Bay’s NAC plans to offer new programs in midwifery and an introduction to mining.

Someday soon, Buchan-Corey hopes to see students study at a real campus— instead of at the several locations now spread around town.

Plans are already in the works for a new building near Water Lake, which will include more shop space and as a larger and better-equipped commercial kitchen, she says.

This will come as good news to Ohokonnoak. After qualifying as a journeyman chef, she plans to work, and, “years down the road,” become an instructor and teach the culinary arts program herself.