Feature
Cooking is all about conne
For Cookery apprentice Harry Cuthbertson, working in hospitality has always been about connecting with people. Harry juggles two jobs as an apprentice at The Chapel café in Burnie and as a pastor at a church in Wynyard. While the jobs might seem poles apart, Harry says they are both about caring for people and bringing them together. “It’s an interesting combination of jobs but the binding factor is hospitality. Both jobs are about caring for people. As a pastor I’m trying to create a sense of community and connect with people and one of the best ways to connect with people is food. For example at Christmas we cook food for 100 people and try to give them a great experience with top quality food.” Before becoming a Cookery apprentice, Harry managed a music shop in Hobart selling guitars. He then worked at Ginger Brown café
in South Hobart before putting his apprenticeship on hold for a while when he moved to the North-West Coast. He then worked at Palate Food and Drink before moving to The Chapel. Harry says doing his Certificate III in Cookery at TasTAFE Drysdale in Devonport has been a highlight for him. “It’s been a really good experience. It’s been a highlight of the last few years for me because it really takes you into the thick of it. One of the main trainers, Hussein Tas, has worked with Rick Stein and having someone like that sharing his expertise with us has been really good. “An apprenticeship is great but you are usually just learning from one chef. At TasTAFE it’s a melting pot of a whole bunch of different people who are coming from different places and knowledge bases – not just the teachers but you can also learn from other students. “We learn the history of where things have come from and where they are going. You need to learn the classics and the classic techniques in order to innovate. I love it.” Earlier this year Harry was selected from more than 400 entries as one of 32 finalists in the 2018 Fonterra Proud to be a Chef competition. He was the only Tasmanian selected as a finalist. He had to complete a written application detailing his passion for cooking and create a recipe using Fonterra produce. Harry’s dish (pictured) was a quick cured ocean trout, with sugar snap peas, lemon curd and pickles. He had the opportunity to travel to Victoria with other finalists to visit Fonterra sites and join masterclasses with chefs including Tony Twitchett from Melbourne’s Taxi Kitchen, Frank Camorra from Melbourne’s MoVida and Peter Wright, from Global Hospitality Group who has been in charge of providing food to athletes at four Olympics, the recent Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and designed the kitchen at Etihad Stadium. “It was fantastic opportunity to spend four days with 31 apprentice chefs who are all at the top of their game. It was amazing to be able to talk to them all and swap ideas as well as learning from the mentor chefs.”
June 2018 www.tha.asn.au
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