Family and friends gathered around tables in the Bethel Church, on April 13, treating themselves to a feast cooked by graduates of the Camp Cook program run by Thompson Rivers University.
During the ten-week course, provided for Indigenous students and funded by the Cariboo Chilcotin Aboriginal Training Employment Centre Society, students learned the skills and certificates necessary to work as a camp cook.
“We covered food safety, workplace safety, menu planning, special dietary needs, shopping lists, everything,” said teacher April Fairbrother. “The skills to jump into camp and work as an entry level cook to begin with, and then work their way up. These guys are coming in with a pretty strong menu base of food, so they have a huge repertoire of what they are able to cook now so they should be able to come in and work their way through.”
In addition to making food on a daily basis, the group earned their Food Safe certification, Level One First Aid, Bear Aware, WHMIS, and the Camp Cook certification.
“I think right now it’s a very valuable course to be going on. Looking at what happened last summer and how they needed to pull cooks really quickly and mobilize a lot of people, I think these guys coming out have this huge opportunity,” she said.
Charles Dan, one of the program participants, said he has enjoyed cooking ever since he was a little kid, and that he learned a lot from the program.
“I learned how to cook for over 100 to 500 people, if it comes to it.”
He’s already set to start a new job as a cook, and encourages others to take the course it it’s available.
“I really enjoyed how five days a week it is and the experience of that, of being in a kitchen five days a week. It was awesome.”
Sasheen Stump said she took the course to get experience with cooking, and has valued the experience learning to cook for big groups from scratch.
“It was very interesting and hands on and learning to use a whole bunch of different ingredients and how to measure them all,” she said.
Graduates came from all different age groups, with Harley Tenale admitting to being perhaps the oldest.
“I love cooking and I’ve cooked all my life and you need a ticket to cook in a camp so that’s why I took it — because cooking is my passion.”
Tenale said he has cooked at fire camps before, but the experience of the program has given him more certifications and experience.
“It’s been an honour. Not too many people get to have this opportunity and I’m one of the lucky ones.”
He’s looking forward to getting back into camp as the season starts up.
“I love camp work, it’s my passion. Just the atmosphere of being outdoors and not in a city.”
The program is extremely valuable, said Julie Bowser, manager of continuing studies at TRU. Thanks to the funding from CCATEC they run the program when demand dictates.
“It’s phenomenal because it is so hands on it really helped alleviate some of the text book in the classroom, what they are learning they apply right away,” she said.
At the graduation ceremony — after the food of course — students were gifted new cooking equipment, cook books, and their certificates in a small ceremony.
“Right off the bat from day two these guys killed,” said Fairbrother.
“It’s just been unstoppable everyone has come together and worked so hard and the amount of food and the level of food that has been produced in the last ten weeks has been mind-boggling.”
