Hello, my name is Sheldon Tabia. Food and cooking have been an interest of mine ever since I can remember. I’ve been watching as much “Food Network” television shows as I have cartoon shows growing up. The cooking show that has influenced me the most is easily the original Japanese “Iron Chef” hosted by Takeshi Kaga. As I watched the chefs compete in creating delicious dishes out of secret ingredients, I would always be on the edge of my seat awaiting the victor. Although the competition was always entertaining to watch, it wasn’t the main reason why I wanted to become a chef. I’ve always enjoyed making people happy through food. It’s a great feeling and I hope to continue to pursue that feeling and feeding lots of people in the future.
I’m not currently working in the industry, but I hope to gain lots of experience and knowledge through the Culinary Management program at George Brown College to someday be a part of it. I believe there is way more to cooking than just satiating hunger. You can experience different cultures, flavours, textures, and emotions from a single bite from something special. Just like listening to a new genre of music or experiencing a new movie, food can also fulfill a certain craving you never knew you had. That’s my personal philosophy of cooking.
Blogging is a great way to document the experiences that someone goes through in a way that is meant to be shared. In the case of this blog, I hope to showcase my progression through my time at GBC and all of my cooking experiences along the way.
“You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together.” – Anthony Bourdain [source: https://medium.com/@schneiderb/you-learn-a-lot-about-someone-when-you-share-a-meal-together-f5e31e3f69f8 (Quote was posted on June 16th, 2018)]
A culinary blog that I really enjoy is “The Food Ranger” which specializes in street food in Asia and all across the world. It is a food and travel blog created by Trevor James that I originally discovered through his Youtube channel. If I were to take something from this blog, I would emulate how descriptive he is with his experiences. He includes exact addresses, pictures of menus completely translated to English, prices, and his must-order dishes from the menu.
I enjoy this blog because it bridges the great content from his videos to give you a full, immersive experience of his travels. Trevor really embraces the cultures of the countries he visits. He actually moved to Chengdu, China because of how much he loves it there and can also speak pretty fluent Chinese too. Although a great blog, one thing that could have been done better is the formatting. His “Ultimate Guide” blogs feel very long due to how everything is centered, making it feel like a huge wall of information with no breaks. I do not think it deters from what he is trying to accomplish because it is still very enjoyable.
The Sound of Food 