The YTC (Yorkton Tribal Council) Indigenous Chef Competition, the first of its kind in a
Saskatchewan First Nation school, was won by a group of students from the Chief Gabriel Cote Education Complex (CGCEC.)
"I said before the competition that we were going to win and we did," said Robert Severight, lead chef and coach mentor of the Cote group.
"We created a real feast for the judges," he said. "All of the competition food looked good, but from my own perspective, our dishes were very good, very traditional."
The other team-leaders were Janet Love-Morrison, Grades 8 and 9 teacher at CGCEC, and Ron Severight, the language and culture coordinator. Ross Cadotte also contributed in language, and
Gloria Pelly, Grades 6 and 7 educational assistant, helped with team support.
Nine teams from schools in the YTC district were entered in this inaugural competition, from the following First Nations: Cote, Keeseekoose, Ochapowace, Kahkewistahaw, Sakimay and Ocean
Man, with some schools having entered two teams.
The CGCEC team had nine students and each member of the team was assigned a specific job in the food preparation.
Members of the team were: Jasmine Kakakaway, assigned to moose stew preparation, and also assigned the task of speaking to the judges and guests in the Nakawē language; Cole Kakakaway, cut the vegetables; Kalista Kakakaway, desert; Veronica Tourangeau, bannock and desert; Lori
Anne brass, duck and wild rice; Austin Bird, Indian popcorn; Sean Kakakaway, cut up meat for stew; Angelo Badger-Cote, stew, and Tian Papequash, duck and wild rice.
The team created and served a five-course meal consisting of appetizer, soup, salad, main meal and desert that was judged on the following criteria: best appetizer, best soup, best salad, best main, best desert, table appeal/presentation of meal/artistry, use of traditional language, team work and best all-around team.
The CGCEC team started with an appetizer of Indian popcorn, a dish made of deer fat and meat that is cooked until crispy. For the second course they served duck soup. Then they served a wild rice pilaf salad, moose stew as their main course and saskatoon-berry pudding for desert. Their beverage was muskeg (Labrador) tea.
Robert Severight has an extensive background in cooking, which started with him being the oldest of seven children. He took responsibility for cooking as a youngster and felt it came to him quite naturally.
"Cooking made me feel good, and I liked that I could make others feel good when they ate my creations. I love being hospitable to guests, and believe that our feelings are transferred into whatever we touch."
Having been a cook at different places, including Denny's and the Riddell Centre at the University of Regina, Severight brought his passion for the culinary arts to the first-ever
Indigenous Chef Competition.
"We want everyone to have fun while cooking, learn new skills and experience what it could be like if they tried their ‘hand' in the culinary arts expertise area utilizing our Indigenous ways and foods as well as expertise," said information contained in the contest parameters release.
"We recognize that traditionally, we didn't have five courses to our meal; however, part of the competition is to showcase our foods in a creative way and get students to understand how our cooking can be utilized in a restaurant setting. Our hope is to help students see the tourism and hospitality industry as a viable career option."
The teams arrived at Chief Kahkewistahaw Community School (CKCS) early in the day on May 26 to begin preparations for the competition, which began at noon and wrapped up at 5 p.m.
Shortly after 5 p.m., when all guests and judges were seated, a prayer was given by Sakimay students and staff.
First course was served at 5:40 p.m. and judging was complete by 7 p.m. at which time there were awards, banners and presentations made. Each course was timed to take approximately l0 to 15 minutes (serving, eating and removing dishes.)
For the competition, nothing could be cooked at home prior to reaching CKCS. The rules stated that everything must be freshly cooked, with the one exception that meat could be previously thawed.
"A lot of planning and work was needed to bring this competition together," said Irene Isaac,
Grades 7 and 8 teacher from CKCS, an organizer and chef coach.
Each team was responsible for bringing all their own supplies from ingredients to condiments, and was responsible for table set-up for its designated tables.
"All tables will be served by the teams." said the release. "Each team needs to figure out how you will serve your guests in a timely manner so as to keep meals hot, appealing and together. This is all part of the planning; it is important.”
The release stated that the students should be speaking as much as possible in the Nakota, Cree or Nakawē languages. "One of the focuses is to use food as the catalyst to speak our languages," it said, "but we don't stress over misspeaks or students who may only be beginning language users. We want to encourage 'try,' not perfection. No one should feel shame if they don't know as much as another one. Encourage participation. We are encouraging strength-based assessment which means we all have strength in one of the areas."
Teams were allowed to choose how they would be Indigenizing the meal with their selection of foods cooked, spices used and plate appeal.
Each team was responsible for clean-up after the competition.
"It turned into a long day," said Isaac. "We learned a lot from this competition, and how we can do better next time, but for a first effort we felt it went very well."
To recognize the Cote team for having made history by competing in the Indigenous Chef
Competition, and for having won, the CGCSC held a presentation on May 29. Each student chef and their team leaders and support persons were acknowledged and presented with a gift.
Amid cheers from their fellow students, the student chefs entered the CGCEC gymnasium. The
Honour Song was played, and they were greeted by Jonas Cote, school principal.
"This is a new concept," said Ron Severight. "A lot of schools focus on sports. Cooking is the arts and the YTC put this competition together, along, with CKCS, to showcase Indigenous cooking skills. Our school team won the competition and made history. Everyone has a skill, and as a teacher I would like to see more of a focus on the arts," he said.
"I applaud these students for having the courage to try something new," said Love-Morrison as she addressed the team.
“I am very proud of you all," said Robert Severight. "We really worked as a team. You have to believe in yourself and not give up. I had a lot of fun working with this group and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat."
The chef students displayed their excitement at having been a part of the winning team, saying that they "had fun," the competition was "really good" and they "would so do it again."
"I may pursue a career as a chef," said Jasmine Kakakaway. "I really enjoyed the competition.”
