In this week’s episode, Josh is talking to Taylah King who was a Finalist in the 2022 Northern Territory Young Achiever Awards.
My name is Taylah King and I am 26 years of age. I’m currently working as a chef in Far North Queensland. My ultimate goal as a chef is to inspire and train the next generation of young chefs. To show them that hospitality is one of the best industries to be in and it’s never too late to chase your dreams. My biggest achievement so far is being a finalist in both the NT Training Awards and NT Young Achievers and Top 10 finalist in Nestlé.
Tayla was a kitchen team member at Phat Mango and is now a chef at the Townsville RAAF Base. In 2020, she started the discussion about Cupcake Day, which resulted in the Darwin Convention Centre donating 200 cupcakes to an RSPCA fundraiser. She has hosted a master cooking class for students. Taylah made the top 10 finalists of the Golden Chefs Awards, representing NT. She was a 2021 International Women’s Day NT representative.
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Transcript
[00:00:04] Annette
Welcome to the inspirational australian’s podcast, where we chat to people, making a difference in their communities and in the lives of others. And here is your host for today. Josh Griffin.
[00:00:20] Josh
Thank you and this end for me. It’s a bit of a welcome back because I haven’t been a podcast host for quite a few weeks now. We’ve had Geoff doing a great job as our go to host for the inspirational strains podcast. And you may have heard recently a brand new host, Stephanie Lenehan. We interviewed Stephanie Patience, the two Stephs went at it, and they were fantastic. Highly recommend you. Go back and check out that episode. Stephanie patience was the guest who is an author and has a super interesting story. Amazing adversity to overcome and persistence, and just a great life insights and beautiful messages in that podcast. Go and check that one out. For today’s guest, I have another inspirational Australian Taylor king from the Northern territory now living in Queensland. And Taylor was recently a finalist in the twenty twenty two young achiever awards for the Northern territory in the indoor beach, travel tourism and hospitality award, which was a brand new award category for the program. And it was really cool to see these stories of young people, really pioneering tourism hospitality in so many different areas throughout the territory. And entails case a territorian who’s now moved into other areas in other spots of Australia. So I’m excited to speak to Taylor this morning and find out about her career because it is quite cool. So, as I said before, starting in the territory, working at a really cool place called fat Mango here in Darwin, go check that out. And then was involved with the nt training awards as well, and then moved up to Queensland and townsville, working at the RAF base station to hear about. And in some ways, Jeff Geoffd have had some great things in common because Jeff Geoff a lot to do with the RAF in Adelaide as when he was younger. From there she’s moved out to far North. Queensland and Taylor says the ultimate goal as a chef is to inspire and train the next generation of young chefs, showing them that hospitality is one of the best industry to be in. And it’s never too late to chase your dreams. Taylah, that’s a pretty cool statement to invite you in on. Good morning how you doing?
[00:02:28] Taylah
I’m well Thank you. How are you today?
[00:02:29] Josh
Yeah, I’m good. Thank you. So yeah, that’s a really cool goal to have and this is something that has been really recent for you. That’s kind of almost like an epiphany of. You always had that in mind.
[00:02:40] Taylah
No, it actually has been very recent, so sorry my apprenticeship. That was a lot of people who like question you ask why you’re a chef and like they say it’s so hard like, why are you doing these? ? You get from your parents or in your head? Like, it’s not always like that. You know, why can’t a kitchen’s really cool. So I sort of want to be like a voice to them and inspire them to start a career in hospitality because like I said, it really is like one of the best careers you can working.
[00:03:09] Josh
That’s awesome. So not every head chef is like Gordon Ramsay. Did it?
[00:03:13] Taylah
No, definitely not.
[00:03:15] Josh
It is funny. You mentioned that because I suppose that is a bit of a perception that Yeah, chefs can be a bit volatile or, or that industry can be a bit volatile. So I’ll be great to chat to you and get your, your experience. So you grew up in the territory, is that right?
[00:03:29] Taylah
I know I grew up in Sydney and then I moved to the territory probably about six years ago. Yep.
[00:03:35] Josh
And, and that’s is that where you started your apprenticeship?
[00:03:38] Taylah
Yes, in two thousand and eight. I
[00:03:40] Josh
started my career right. And so, I guess I really honestly don’t know. So you should be here. When you start an apprenticeship, do you start through a type for a school and then you get to go to a restaurant or is that the other way round?
[00:03:54] Taylah
The other way round. So a business will look for an apprentice and then they’ll pay for your training as well as working at a restaurant. I did my apprenticeship at the convention center and I finished my whole thing was two and a half years at the convention
[00:04:10] Josh
centre. Yeah, so that would have been interesting because so many different events and different types of food preparation there at the convention centre.
[00:04:19] Taylah
Yeah, definitely. Like there was buffet, there was seated Donny, there was lunches for like meetings. So it was definitely a challenge, but I’m glad I started my apprenticeship there.
[00:04:31] Josh
That’s great. And what was the balance of working on the job at the convention centre versus the study component?
[00:04:39] Taylah
So I worked four Days a week at the convention centre and then I did one day at trade school.
[00:04:45] Josh
Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so what was the, you know, with your involvement in training awards, tell us a little bit about that when that happened and kind of what the experience was like.
[00:04:54] Taylah
Yeah, so that happened towards the end of my apprenticeship. My workplace nominated me as an entry and I got chosen it was by far one of the best experiences so far. I met so many people who were in the same situation as me. I was nominated for the Austin Nash apprentice of the year that award in particular. So I was there with a few other apprentices and I still keep in contact with them. Days like tonight. Yeah. It was. It definitely taught me to step outside my comfort zone. Meet new friends and yeah, it’s very memorable.
[00:05:33] Josh
That’s really cool. So Taylor after the MP training awards or it might have been at the same time, when did you kind of move on to that Mango? ? So from Darwin convention centre, moving across the
[00:05:46] Taylah
I say I actually knew the guy who opened that Mango margin. He mentored me through some previous competitions. And I mentioned how I wanted to expand my horizons and try working somewhere new. And he offered me a job at fat Mango. So I took, I took that leap of faith and decided to work somewhere new. And it paid off because I learnt so much in just a small amount of time that I was there. And if you ever visited Darwin, definitely go to stock Mango Australia. Anything. So we definitely focus on like using local produce there.
[00:06:23] Josh
Yeah. So tell us a bit about your chef Martin and that Mango, because I’ve done my, I haven’t been there, but I have heard about it. And if you look at the Google reviews and basically any platform that does reviews, it’s as close to five stars as you can get with so many hundreds of reviews. So it’s obviously very Highly rated.
[00:06:43] Taylah
Yeah, it is. I think one of Martin’s goals, which is to change the face of hospitality. So like I said earlier with the hours working as a chef, it’s not always long hours like you do get split shifts, but you know, you do take in consideration that you do have a social life and that you need to also do that. So that was one thing that Alastair was really good. The food, you know, it was an open kitchen, so you definitely got to see people’s expressions on their face, but I got to try the food. It’s also intimidating when they’re also staring at you saying, Where’s my food? But yeah, and Martin throughout the whole time, you know, he’s very supportive. He’s always open to Hearing your ideas. And if you have a goal or a dream, he will help you chase that dream. Yeah. So if you want to work that I Highly recommend that to.
[00:07:36] Josh
Yep. And even just to visit for eating it.
[00:07:39] Taylah
Yes. Even just eating here.
[00:07:41] Josh
What was something that, you know, food wise that you think you really learned at that Mango that was kind of a new thing for you coming out of your apprenticeship.
[00:07:51] Taylah
So it was using native produce, one of them was Kansas. Like in the end, you have grenades, and when you eat them they tasted, you see? So we, it was annoying because our head chef at the time used to go and collect the and snacks and then you have to pick through them and pick out the good ends.
[00:08:09] Josh
And really
[00:08:10] Taylah
Yeah, it was very time consuming and you have to we use it on a garnish in a desert
[00:08:17] Josh
or in the desert. Well I never heard of it in the desert.
[00:08:19] Taylah
Yeah. It was like a lime type chocolate. It was really, really good.
[00:08:24] Josh
Yeah. Wow. That’s really cool. So you do have to use a little tweezers or something because I’ve seen them. I’ve actually seen in the seven seasons. I think it’s called the gene that uses the green tree. It’s and they’re tiny.
[00:08:39] Taylah
Yeah, they’re tiny like tweezers or even like a pastry brush just to separate them would work.
[00:08:45] Josh
That’s phenomenal. Wow. That’s so cool. Yeah. So you’re working at fat Mango and how long do you think you worked there for?
[00:08:53] Taylah
It was close to six months. Yeah. And then me wanting to be bold again, I decided to make the transition to Queensland. It was a very spontaneous decision. I’m just like going to Queensland and I
[00:09:06] Josh
did really. Yeah. What was that? Was there something behind that move or you just felt like a change?
[00:09:13] Taylah
I knew my family always wanted to end up in far North Queensland. My sister was already studying in townsville, so that probably also made it a a little bit easier. Yeah, so also a similar temperature to Darwin. Hot, humid sticky. So it would feel like home
[00:09:29] Josh
anyway. Yeah. Right. And so you like that temperature. Yeah, I do. Yeah, yeah. Let’s see. Yeah, that’s really cool. So you’ve moved up to a North Queensland and is that where you started working at the townsville RAF base?
[00:09:45] Taylah
Yes, it was.
[00:09:46] Josh
So for anyone who doesn’t know, RAF is the royal Australian Air Force. So again, what a huge change down convention centre, you know, really fancy like a restaurant like that Mango and then to the RAF base, was that like it was unlike anything else or was it in some way similar to the convention centre?
[00:10:04] Taylah
I thought it was going to be similar to the convention centre, but it was very different like the, like, I was only just qualified at the time. And I was expected to work on my own and produce like buffet food to the pilots. So like two hundred people on my own.
[00:10:21] Josh
Oh nine.
[00:10:22] Taylah
Yeah. So it was very, you know, there’s a lot of pressure, but it was so much fun like I also got to learn other new skills as a chef to increase. Like me better.
[00:10:33] Josh
Yes. Was that kind of something that you had to teach yourself though being on your own?
[00:10:39] Taylah
So I did like at a time, there were two chefs always working. So one will be at the back prepping for the next day. And then I’ll be cooking like lunch and dinner all day for the pilots. So yeah, I did have someone there to guide me. But at the same time I could save time. I was teaching myself how to do it as well.
[00:11:00] Josh
Yeah. And you know, that’s the same question as with that Mango, what do you think is something major that you learnt from that role?
[00:11:10] Taylah
It was definitely a lot of Di trees.
[00:11:12] Josh
Really?
[00:11:13] Taylah
Yeah. Like they wouldn’t have personal die trees, but it was like a rule that you had to always like give them a certain amount of protein, a certain amount of veggies and we had to serve the food like the meat protein to them. But yeah, I think
[00:11:30] Josh
is that from a like nutrition standpoint, from the Air Force Base, giving them the I guess controlled diet for their training and all of that stuff.
[00:11:41] Taylah
Yes, they could eat anything they wanted. The meat pot had to be set like two hundred grams.
[00:11:46] Josh
Wow. That’s amazing. Yeah. I guess for the people who just love they may be wanting more, but
[00:11:54] Taylah
yeah, it was very hard to say no, sometimes.
[00:11:57] Josh
Did you have any? I’m putting in a spot here like vegans and vegetarians, and have to deal with their protein intake differently.
[00:12:05] Taylah
Very rarely actually like we had to have a vegetarian dish. Nine times out of ten, it never got touched. But then when you get like the training groups in there’ll be a lot of veggies but they do get a bit more vegetarian than the meat.
[00:12:21] Josh
Yep. Yep, that’s fair enough. Yeah, so and again, you know, how long we at the RAF base and what I guess was behind that move to can
[00:12:31] Taylah
I say I was there for six months. I feel like I learned all that I could at the RAF base and yeah, and the mum and dad told me they bought a house up in Cairns, maybe moving there September, which is now. So I decided to move up there before then.
[00:12:50] Josh
All right, and so where were they living this time? But they they weren’t in townsville with, you
[00:12:54] Taylah
know, they were in Darwin the whole time.
[00:12:56] Josh
All right, and so now you’ve, you’ve come back together. Yeah, they have cool. So one thing I haven’t mentioned yet, what is a few things actually that were maybe going back in time here that I understand you’re also a top ten finalist in a Nestlé cooking competition. Can you explain that? Because yeah, I’m not really aware of that one and kind of what that means and what that whole competition was like.
[00:13:22] Taylah
Yeah. So that was in the, it was in the covered. So usually with Nestlé, you partner up with another chef and you create like a three course dish in your regional heat. But due to covid, it was so late and it was all virtual, which was a whole different experience. I created a dish that was home to me, so I use local produce from the Ente and I made it through the regional heats and made it what was the Dish you could even tell me at the Dish exotic. So I did barramundi. It was pan fried, and I accompanied it with pepper. I bought a sauce rich yellow flowers and also saw broccoli as
[00:14:09] Josh
well. I mean, it does sound extremely good. Good to be honest. And so how does it work? ? Who, who tastes the someone taste it or is it on the presentation or
[00:14:19] Taylah
so it was a video, it was an all about the presentation. You had to explain why you used the ingredients. Also like the process and how you did it if you did anything special than the usual culinary techniques. Yeah. And then they judged it added, I think it’s one hundred that they don’t do video at us.
[00:14:41] Josh
And then you get to say is that is that different to previous years due to covid? ? So there’s not as many, you know, as you said, it was only solo and not, not a team thing.
[00:14:50] Taylah
So in previous years you go to a local kitchen and you pair up with someone and you together create a three course meal. And they usually give you a list of ingredients that you can only make that dish from. So you can’t use any other ingredients except what’s on the list. Yeah, and then you have like judges there who judge you on how you perform and usually it’s about your cleanliness, your wastage your missing place, which is how you set up to start the competition. And your prep Yeah. So it was complete opposite doing. Yeah.
[00:15:29] Josh
Well that’s pretty cool. So you got through the regional heat and then what was the next stage?
[00:15:33] Taylah
And then that put me into the top ten around Australia.
[00:15:38] Josh
Really? Yeah.
[00:15:40] Taylah
That’s very cool. The only person as well.
[00:15:43] Josh
That’s awesome. So was that a cool thing to be part of had you done that before?
[00:15:49] Taylah
I know that was my first time and it was definitely I wish I had done it the traditional way of doing this site, but also I’m glad and thankful that I did it this way. You know, I met even just virtually I’m friends with the people that I did, the competition with they all followed me on Instagram and we all just like seeing how we go in our careers.
[00:16:12] Josh
That’s really cool. So speaking of Instagram, do you, are you seeing lots of food photos and food content or what’s your kind of style?
[00:16:20] Taylah
Yeah, so I just created an Instagram page called the King’s table. And it will be where I share. Like basically it’s my journey as a chef. And my main goal for it is to be like a mentor or a meal model to the younger chefs. And then, you know, everyone uses social media these Days and I feel like it’s easier to connect with the younger people via Instagram. So hopefully along the way they can, I’m learning they can learn with me, you know, hopefully inspire them to become a chef as well.
[00:16:56] Josh
Awesome, well I’ll definitely follow you as well and I encourage everyone listening to go follow the kings tables. All right? Yes, that’s right. It’s a very, very powerful name and quite impressive. You were telling me offline that you have kind of changed name a bit recently. What was, what was going on with that?
[00:17:16] Taylah
Yes, I did name it food by key, but then someone mentioned that kings don’t really Cook their own food. And you know, we think about it like what you see on the King’s table when he’s about to eat is probably like extraordinary food. So that’s hopefully that’s my goal to create extraordinary stories.
[00:17:35] Josh
All right, great. So it’s: _the_kings_table_
[00:17:41] Josh
Just if anyone’s following along, make sure they can get the right one. And you can say there it says Taylah King as well. Which is you. So, yeah, everyone jump on and follow that one. And what’s your, I guess favorite thing when you’re just cooking with it for yourself or for your friends or family, what do you love to do kind of cooking, enjoy that still, or is that seen as a bit of a chore? ? Because you know, it’s your job.
[00:18:06] Taylah
I won’t lie. I don’t like cooking for myself. I’m more like I love cooking for other people. I do enjoy cooking for my family the most. It’s a challenge because half my family is in fact vegan. So I guess when I create food, it has to be a meat dish for my dad baking dish for my mom. But it’s definitely a challenge, but I do love cooking for my family the most.
[00:18:31] Josh
That’s great. Well, I was going to ask if you got to go to meal, but I suppose you do have to kind of do options if there’s all those different people with different food preferences or dietary.
[00:18:40] Taylah
Well, actually risotto is my favorite. It’s easy to make vegan you always just have to do is change cheese. I use nutritional yeast to make it vegan. For dad, I literally use normal cheese and add a bit chicken to it. So
[00:18:56] Josh
that’s an easy one to fix up.
[00:18:58] Taylah
Yes. Yes.
[00:19:00] Josh
That’s great. So, you know, I’m reading here, not just the boy that you provide us with the one that we’ve got from your awards. You know, if you don’t mind, I’m going to read that one now because there’s a few different things in there that I would like to ask you about. So, this is back from my own memory April. This year we had our awards presentation for the young achieve awards. But the nomination would have been written. I’m thinking in twenty twenty one. So it’s this time it was like, Taylah king was a kitchen team member. That Mango is now a chef at the townsville RAF base, which we know you’ve moved on from in twenty twenty. Taylor started the discussion about Cupcake day, which resulted in the Darwin convention centre, donating two hundred cupcakes to an rspca fundraiser. So I’m going to pause it there because that’s what I wanted to ask you about. What is Cupcake day and kind of what brought that to your radar to ask the campaign to get involved?
[00:20:02] Taylah
Well, my dad was actually the manager of the rspca in Darwin. And I did volunteer there and he mentioned that Cupcake Cupcake day was coming up. But if I knew anyone that would like to donate some cupcakes. And I
[00:20:15] Josh
thought what is what is Cupcake day? Because I hadn’t heard about
[00:20:19] Taylah
it literally. Like I think recently Try to explain it the best way. So businesses even just like volunteers make a whole bunch of cupcakes, they either buy them or make them at home. And then they sell it for a reasonable price. Usually it’s about four dollars, a Cupcake. And all the money and proceeds go to the rspca.
[00:20:45] Josh
Oh great. Yeah. So it’s like it’s a big fundraiser. That’s awesome. Yes.
[00:20:50] Taylah
So I did mention to Darwin convention that if they were willing to donate some cupcakes and I did originally just at two fifty. But now like respect two hundred, you know, that was a better result than I ever hopeful
[00:21:03] Josh
for sure. That’s great. Two hundred cupcakes. Not the best at math, but times what? Oh, that’s a great fundraiser.
[00:21:09] Taylah
Yeah, they’re all going by the end of the day. I could tell you that for
[00:21:11] Josh
sure. Oh yeah. Can I ask you, did you get a chance to make some as well?
[00:21:16] Taylah
Yeah, I made all two hundred
[00:21:17] Josh
myself. Oh, you made them all yourself as well? Yeah.
[00:21:21] Taylah
Well, it’s a big commercial kitchen so it was quite fast. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:21:28] Josh
That’s. That’s yeah, that’s really cool to me turn to cupcakes is like, this is basically I’ve got daughters who are five and almost four and we made like one serve of cupcakes. And you know, I’m just, I was proud of myself because I used a non packet mix and they helped me, but cheese is a, took a long, long time. Mainly because I’m not as good at it and because they were helping. So just everything took forever and I was like, well I think we ended up with have a mini ten or something like that. Two hundred is very impressive in that quick, but obviously that they pick them and stuff. So you’ve done that our space and it, that’s typical. The next part of this bio says Taylor has also hosted master cooking classes for students. So what was that all about?
[00:22:16] Taylah
That was part of an outreach program that the convention center was doing. It was for a local school, the Henry students, and the first time we went to the school, we started talking about our careers. And that was the first step in telling them that being a chef wasn’t so bad. There were three people in that class that cooked at their local cafe and just wanted to know more about being a chef. And then they also did a site to at my workplace, so we gave them a tour of the kitchen as well as teaching them how to make brownies and mint slice. And that was really fun to see their expressions and making brownies is so easy and like it’s easier than you think that’s for sure. And we also got to talk about the end of it. But
[00:23:04] Josh
always the best part.
[00:23:05] Taylah
Yeah, it was definitely a memorable experience. That, you know, it gave me a glimpse into what I want to do when I’m older.
[00:23:13] Josh
That’s, that’s really cool. And it sounds like that would have been a very rewarding thing to be part of, especially with kids who had an interest in it that were already kind of doing working as a job there. And, you know, you’ve had a chance to really influence their career in that way.
[00:23:28] Taylah
I think you definitely have to, if you want to inspire more people to be chefs, you got to start young in schools. You know, they can do there’s a lot of programs that you can do where students can go to taste during the week and learn to be a chef. So I feel like getting them early will a young, so decide what they want to do in life. The best way to reach them,
[00:23:52] Josh
excuse my ignorance, but is it like, you know, for a young, whether a teenager or an, or a slightly older young person or any age to be honest. Is it like searching for any job to try and find an apprenticeship?
[00:24:07] Taylah
Yes, so I actually found mine on stage when I was looking for my apprenticeship also Australian apprenticeship website also comes up with like all apprentices jobs. Yeah, sorry. The Australian apprenticeship website also comes up with jobs that are going not just in cooking, but like in any industry you can always be looking for an apprenticeship.
[00:24:33] Josh
Yeah, great tips. Thank you. Taylor. Yeah and then the bio goes on to finish off with some things become this covered but also some other things as Taylor made, the top ten finalist of the golden chef awards representing and taste that must be the Nestlé one. Is it? Yes. Nestlé golden chef awards, and this one we haven’t covered. Taylor what’s a three thousand twenty one international women’s day, anti representative. So what did you have to do for that?
[00:25:03] Taylah
So Nestlé hit me up one time and they were like, oh would you like to feature in like the International women’s day feature that we do? It’s like, oh yeah, sure. Be nice. And like as nice people know that being a chef, it’s a male dominated industry. Not so much anymore. I do see a lot of female chefs, but they were asking, simply like, you know, if I’m being a women like a girl in the chef
[00:25:31] Josh
industry. Yeah.
[00:25:32] Taylah
Yeah, you know, I got to speak to other chefs and their experiences as being a female chef industry. It’s very enlightening to see that not the only one. The only girl chef for me being a chef. Whether you’re a girl or a boy, you just a chef. I don’t really notice being the only female in the kitchen. I get along with the guys at my work fairly well. But yeah so when I, when they told me, if I wanted to be a representative, I was on it.
[00:26:03] Josh
Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. So, and you know, they, they’re asking you about your experience and you’ve kind of said, you know, you don’t really notice, but what is the experience like in your apprenticeship, for example, we were the other apprentices alongside you
[00:26:19] Taylah
in my class there was probably about three other apprentices and I just happened to all be girls as well. The rest were a lot of older people who want to start being chefs later in life. So that was also inspiring as well that you know, is never too late to change careers and stop that you chef But Yeah,
[00:26:43] Josh
yeah. Do you have a memory or maybe it was more just, you know, over time that really spoke to your interest about, hey, actually I think I do want to be a chef.
[00:26:55] Taylah
Yeah, I went to America for twelve months as an old bit. And that opened my mind to like all different food cuisines, like, you know, you live in Australia all your life. You don’t know what’s out there. So when I travelled over to America, and I got to eat all these different types of food, I was like, wow, this is like, it was overwhelming. But it was like, wow, I want to do this. You know, I want to create food for people. So that in a way it motivated me to try work for an apprenticeship. When I came back to Australia,
[00:27:24] Josh
that’s great where we’re living in one particular spot or you kind of traveling around the US. No,
[00:27:30] Taylah
, I lived in Illinois for the whole twelve months that I was really lucky enough to have a family that like travelling. So I was able to see quite a bit of America.
[00:27:40] Josh
That’s really cool. And what was some of the, those cuisines or those dishes that were opening your eyes?
[00:27:48] Taylah
The first thing, it sounds really silly, but it’s the cheese that comes a spray. Can just the first thing that ever made me try was that cheese on a cracker. And yeah,
[00:28:01] Josh
you know, it’s the exact same as what we do to Americans. They come over here, we make them try Vegemite. So. Yeah, it’s not exactly a culinary delight, but it’s definitely something that’s stereotypical and kind of, you know, we don’t have that cheese really. I don’t think I’ve never seen it here. So
[00:28:18] Taylah
I think many Australians will eat it.
[00:28:21] Josh
That’s pretty funny. They like it.
[00:28:23] Taylah
Oh, there’s actually a restaurant that was Australian. And I went there the food was really, really good. But to me, I felt like it didn’t really represent Australia, it was Americanized Australian food. But that, that was like more how me wanting to Cook with Australian food and local produce came about because I was like, yeah, I really need to represent Australian food here.
[00:28:49] Josh
Yeah. That’s really cool. Do it, do it authentically? Yes, that’s awesome. So yeah, have you started your new job up in Cairns yet?
[00:29:00] Taylah
Oh yes, I’ve been here for two months now.
[00:29:03] Josh
And where are you working in Cairns?
[00:29:05] Taylah
I’m working at the Bluewater opportunity park. It’s amazing, like the team name is probably one of the best chef teams I’ve ever worked with. Very supportive of you and they know how much that I want to grow and learn. And they always challenge me every day that I come into work every day, something new. But yeah, it’s by far, one of the best jobs I’ve had so far.
[00:29:29] Josh
That’s cool. Tell us a bit about the restaurant there. Is that like a really big kind of tourist destination as well?
[00:29:35] Taylah
Yeah, definitely. It’s like every day is packed like we do. On the weekends we get like one hundred and sixty bookings. And like, recently during the week we’ve been having one hundred and ten, which is a lot. Yeah. So it’s a tourist destination. The food is. There’s a bit of everything like there is toppings, there’s pizza, there’s pub food, like, you know, you’re doing a bit of everything. So it’s not just the same food every day.
[00:30:03] Josh
And what’s been your favourite thing to kind of Cook there? Is there anything that’s been a bit different or, you know, something that stands out to you?
[00:30:12] Taylah
I think he was making spring rolls. That was a nudie. So nudie is, it’s sort of like gnocchi. But it’s bigger and you only get like three big bowls on a plate. It’s very time consuming and it really pushed me in trying to be patient because it’s a very long job. But yeah, so that was new to me. That was the first time I’ve ever done where I almost lost it and I was like, I just want to get it done. Yeah.
[00:30:43] Josh
I guess that was a bit of a mindset mindset shift, I should say, to kind of, as you said, you know, going from RAF base where you’re basically working alone to two hundred people. You’ve got to feed to then this dish where you need to take your time and slow and it’s a small portion that would be really different.
[00:31:00] Taylah
Yes, it was very different and challenging, which I love to challenge. So I’m always up for it.
[00:31:05] Josh
That’s awesome. So it sounds like, well, you’ve told us that you’re, you know, really passionate about helping and inspiring young people. Have you had a chance to work with any apprentices yourself saying, since you’ve, you know, become a qualified chef?
[00:31:21] Taylah
Not in far North Queensland yet. I’m still making connections up here. But in ninety at both workplaces, I was mentoring and guiding younger people. One of them at the convention centre, he always looked up to me and was always asking me questions and it felt weird because I was an apprentice at the time, but he still, you know, he saw something in me then that I didn’t see. So yeah, I haven’t had much experience with working with younger people and hoping to do more of that
[00:31:57] Josh
too. Yeah. Something to definitely keep in mind that you know, sometimes in my experience that you almost have to wait for the opportunity and then just take it once it comes. You can’t always invent the opportunity. Yes. Sometimes you know, you can go out and seek it, but it’s not always possible when you’re working full time and you’ve moved to a new location. So I’m sure those opportunities will come very soon. Yes. So Taylor will finish up soon because now you’ve probably got to prepare for your own shift for work soon. I do want to ask you, you’re inspiring other young people to get into food. What is it that inspires you?
[00:32:42] Taylah
It’s a good question actually. You know, it’s the satisfaction that I get at the end of the day when I see customers, you know, they smile when they get the Dish in front of them. They’re laughing, you know, they’re creating memories of Family. And it’s seeing that every day that inspires me to come to work the next day and do it all over again. It’s just food is like a universal language. Everyone. You know, it’s how we express ourselves. Yeah, and like you get all the International students that come in to work and know how to speak English very well, but they know how to speak the language of food. So it’s, yeah, it just makes me smile talking about food and just seeing people with it.
[00:33:26] Josh
Well, it sounds like you’ve found your passion and you’re in the absolute right. So that’s fantastic. One last thing before I let you go is quickly revisiting your involvement with the young achieve awards. As I said at the start, far less in the travel tourism and hospitality award. So you couldn’t make it to the event back in April. Obviously in Queensland and busy working but you sent your dad to come and represent you on the night. What was that? What was his feedback? Did you send him with any messages or anything like that?
[00:34:02] Taylah
No, he actually, if I work like he actually write the speech
[00:34:06] Josh
for me, you
[00:34:09] Taylah
know, I was very grateful for dad to die at my place. It just, it just showed how much he supports me in my career and to see the photo of him holding my flowers. You know, I showed it to you because I was really happy. Yeah. Even though I couldn’t be there, he definitely enjoyed it. He said, you know, he said he was sat at a table full of young people, so I think he did feel out of his comfort zone. But now he thought he really did enjoy it.
[00:34:40] Josh
That’s great, great to hear. Well yeah, thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Taylah. Really appreciate it. Hearing from you Hearing your story for me, I found it really intriguing, just Hearing about what it’s like as an apprentice and you know, coming up in the food industry. So. Yeah, congratulations, Neil, great today and can’t wait to keep following along the progress on the King’s table, Instagram page. And is there any other things you want to plug or to invite people to connect you with?
[00:35:09] Taylah
No, well, I mean, the only piece of advice I can give to someone is if you become a chef, your education is never over. You like you learn every single day. The industry is always changing and evolving. It challenges you and the key, so I never give up, you know, walking to work with the head up high. Being a chef is the best thing you could ever do.
[00:35:34] Josh
I think it’s a great message for people in any industry in starting out in their career. That’s awesome message. Thank you, Taylah.
[00:35:41] Taylah
Thank you.
[00:35:42] Annette
I hope you enjoyed that interview. If you liked it or any of our other episodes, it would be great if you can write and review the inspirational australian’s podcast. It really helps us out if someone you know, needs a little dose of inspiration. Why not let them know about this podcast? And if you haven’t already, make sure you’re subscribed, so that you won’t miss an episode. Join us each week as we talk with ordinary Australians. Achieving extraordinary things. You can always head to our website at awards, Australia dot com slash podcast for more information and details on each guest. Now before we go, I’d like to Thank Annette our producer. Here’s a fun fact. Annette is my mum and our other host, Geoff is my dad. This podcast is brought to you by awards, Australia, a family owned business that proudly uncovers the stories of people who make a difference for others. We can only do this with the support of our corporate and not for profit partners as they make our awards programmes possible. So do you know someone making a difference? If you’d like to recommend someone to be a guest on the podcast, get in touch through our Instagram page, inspirational Australians, or maybe your business might like to sponsor the podcast or get involved with the awards. We run head to website awards, Australia dot com for more details until next week. Stay safe. And remember together we make a difference.
