Fiji Sun, Tues 6 March – Bronwyn Thaggard is currently pursuing a Certificate III in Cookery with the College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies on Nasese campus, Suva.
The 28 year old developed a passion for cooking from a very young age.
“As the second eldest in the family and with two working parents, we basically had to learn how to cook for ourselves from a young age,” Ms Thaggard said.
“I remember I was only nine when I started learning how to cook and I enjoy it to this day.”
In 2008, upon completing secondary education, she enrolled with the School of Catering at the then Fiji Institute of Technology (FIT – now Fiji National University).
“My aim was to become a chef and I had enrolled into the first two levels of cookery programmes to try and secure my job career,” she said.
“But that came to a halt when I had my daughter and she became my priority but earlier this year I decided to return and complete certificate III to be able to better support her.
“In the years I was home, I was working as a chef and bartender at various work places but at the back of my mind I always knew I would come back and finish what I had started a few years ago.”
Originally from Savusavu, Ms Thaggard is hoping the skills and knowledge gained during her training at the FNU will be of great use to her future plans.
“One of the reasons I chose to study here was because of the practical work. We have a more hands-on training and are exposed to hosting lunches on campus, attending to events such as weddings and even at official FNU events.
“This is a big bonus for us as students because when we go out into the field, we do not have to learn again on how to do what rather we are already aware and familiar with operations.
“Also, the programme covers basically all area of cookery, it not only focuses on training a chef but at the same time we have units on food and beverages, accommodation, communications and ethics which I believe is extremely important.”
With renowned chef Jamie Oliver as her main inspiration, Ms Thaggard hopes to one day open her own Caribbean Restaurant.
