My Story
This weeks blog I have decided to share my story. What it was like growing up, cooking at home, cooking at school, doing certificate I and II in commercial cooking during high school, taking a gap year, culinary school and then working my way through the industry.
I have been a Chef now for 6 years. But I started cooking at a very early age. Being Italian we were always surrounded by food, events and helping Mum or Nonni in the kitchen. My earliest memory of cooking with Mum was helping her make the Lasagna (you can read all about that in the Lasagna blog!), but my first memory of cooking was one night my sisters and I got together to cook dinner for the family. I just remember wanting to make Chow Mein, so we followed the recipe from the Kids Womens Weekly Cookbook and then dinner was made. I don’t know why, I wanted to cook this but it sparked something within in and since then I haven’t really stopped cooking! I started to help Mum more and more in the kitchen, wether it was cutting the Vegetables for the nights dinner or helping her bake, I would be there. At most family events I would want to make something new, something I hadn’t made before. Most of the time I would pick something that would challenge me, but in true Sarah style I spent the days before stressing about it, even though everything would always turn out delicious! I was always putting pressure on myself even at a young age. I used to collect the MasterChef magazines and I would see things in there and say yep that’s what I am going to cook. There was a Trifle that I made one year for my sister’s birthday, which sent me in full panic mode- crazy right?! The kitchen was a no go zone for that afternoon. I even became very good at macaroons after seeing Adriano Zumbo on Masterchef- I was determined to perfect them. Which I eventually did and that was truly rewarding (Pictured above). As a family we would attend The Good Food and Wine Festival which got me excited more about the industry especially when I was able to meet some inspiring chefs!
As we got older, we started to eat out more and more, birthdays would always be a ‘nice’ dinner somewhere. This tradition has stuck.
Every fortnight Mum used to go to th Queen Victoria Market on a Saturday Morning to do the big shop. She would go early in the morning to beat the rush. I loved tagging along with her, seeing all the produce available and we would always end the shopping trip with Jam Doughnuts-if you’ve been to the Vic market, you know which ones I am talking about! Mum had her regular stalls too, even now if she goes on the odd occasion they all still remember her.
While I was in High School, I spent a lot of time cooking at home, I did Food Technologies from Year 8 to Year 12 and I studied Certificate I + II in Commercial Cookery during year 10 and 11. I also travelled to Italy in Year 10 (as I was studying Italian at the time) which opened my eyes up to food even more while I was there. Growing up I always knew I wanted do something with Food when I finished school. I think in high school, that clicked and I was determined and knew I wanted to be a Chef. During those years I had a lot of Chefs say “don’t do it” and as a young girl it did scare me but it also didn’t stop me. Becoming a Chef isn’t an easy gig and part of me now understands what they were saying but I would never crush someones dreams like that. I have been told once before “its an easy job” and golly sometimes I wish it was. Its hard, tireing and exhausting and there are a lot of sacrifices that come with it (although this culture is slowly changing), but if its something you love, you just make all those things work. After 6 years working, I have found what works for me and what doesn’t-I stick by this now because I know my body will burn out if I don’t listen to it!
When I was studying Cert I + II, I did it over two years and I would go to Swinbourne Secondary School once a week to do the course. In the middle school holidays we did a full week there doing more cooking and learning. At the end of each year we would do a dinner for the parents as well. I had a really great teacher who really helped push me and grow, so I am incredibly grateful to her and for starting my career off strongly.
I never was really good at school (plus I didn’t actually like school very much), but in my last two years I picked the subjects I wanted to do, that I liked and was good at and did very well- which was a surprise to everyone. Because I knew I wanted to be a Chef I didn’t need any particular score or subjects to get into culinary school. So I guess that helped in getting the results I got because I didn’t have the added pressure of needing a particular score. Upon graduating I took a gap year where I worked FOH in both a café and at a catering company. I then travelled to Italy and Switzerland for about a month near the end of the year where I did a food tour of North Italy and met more of my family.
January 2017 culinary school started. I did my Certificate III in Commercial Cookery and Diploma in Cuisine at Le Corden Bleu Melbourne. It was honestly one of the best experiences, I learnt an incredible amount and it truly prepared me well for the industry. I also don’t believe I would be where I am today without those foundations. Culinary school consisted of three terms – basic, intermediate, superior, I would go in three days a week and do a combination of theory and practical lessons. Each prac lesson had a demonstration class before it. At the end of each term, there would be a practical exam which would have three courses and in order to move on to the next term you’d have to pass that exam. Otherwise it was a repeat of the term plus another payment. There was a lot riding on each exam. While studying I did a few cooking competitions which really made me step outside my comfort zone but had an incredible amount of support from all my teachers. They all were so encouraging over my whole time at school and really wanted to see the best outcome for me- so for them I am truly blessed! A week before my first exam I had my first kitchen injury- I had cut my thumb with the bread knife while washing it which landed me in the hospital with 5 stitches. Although I had the set back, my hand was wrapped up and had gloves on ready to do my exam. During my final exam, everything went very well until I took the chocolate fondant out of the mold too early (because I was already a few minutes late serving it) which caused it to collapse and me to start crying- just standard me really haha. I still remember one of the teachers saying “youre crying over a f…ing pudding” which then made me laugh. A few days later I was able to redeem myself and the chocolate pudding came out perfect! After completing the placement part, I attended graduation where I was asked to do speech about my time at school and I also received a dux award!
Once the last term was over, a few weeks after I was thrown into the kitchen to do six months of work placement at Sagra Malvern. My hours started low but once December hit I was doing close to 50 hours a week which was a huge shock to the system. I was working Larder (entrée) first and then moved to Cold Larder and Desserts. Sagra was a huge restaurant and on a busy night there would be close to 250 people dining in. A few of the Chefs I worked with then I still work with now and am still friends with. I learnt a lot over my time there but also struggled a lot in finding my voice. I look back on some of the times there that really tested me and when tested with similar things later in my career I have been able to find my voice more especially when it comes to standing up for myself. I still remember being yelled at by my Sous Chef at the time, when it happened my voice froze and all I could do was burst into tears and walk out of the kitchen. I was backed up by only one of the chefs while everyone just watched it happen. In the last 12 months, a similar thing happened but I found my voice and was able to stand up for myself. My voice and body shook but I did it. What I have learnt though is you get stronger in all of these moments and in order to move on you have to forgive that person for what happened.
Just before finishing up at Sagra, I burnt out and really started to question everything. Leading up to the burn out I wasn’t exactly taking good care of myself and my body basically yelled at me to stop, you have no other choice but to listen. Rest, remember to move your body with exercise and eat. Because those three things were basically thrown out the window. We were understaffed and each working a ridiculous amount of days in a row. It was tough. Once I got back on my feet I took that as a sign that it was time to move on. I took a month off, spent time with my family and friends and then started working at The Big Group catering Company. I enjoyed working here very much, learnt another side to the industry. Worked at many cool and interesting functions and was able to have a bit more of a balance with my life. I was only working casually there and during the off season I picked up another job working at Park Street Pasta and Wine. Here I worked with two chefs I had met at Sagra (I am still friends with both of them) and Gus is now my Head Chef again at Osteria Renata (I work here a few days a week, you can read all about that in Life Lately!). After some time, I started to love working at Park Street so I stopped working at The Big Group and went full time at the restaurant. This is where my love for Pasta making really grew! A few of my Desserts and an Entree made it onto the menu during my time at Park Street (Desserts Pictured above). Near the end of my first year there, we all had meetings together with Gus to discuss our progress and goals etc. During this chat I was promoted to Chef De Partie and I was so happy I cried. A year and a half in and I was progressing extremely well!
2020 hit and I finished up at Park Street to jet set off to travel and study in Europe for six months. Well six weeks in, the whole world turned on its head and I was on the long and very stressful journey back home. I arrived home (just missing out on mandatory hotel quarantine), did two weeks home quarantine and then two weeks after that I was back working at Park Street. A very crazy year for the industry. Open and closed so many times, we did take away and then tried Providoor with a grocery store. When we reopened after the second lockdown the first day was the busiest day we had ever had and worked like 12-14 hours that day. Then we basically ran out of all the food and had to re prep everything and do the same thing the next day. It was intense!!
After the craziness of 2020 I decided to leave Park Street and start up Home Cooking with Chef Sez. She was born in 2021! Things went very well. Then the universe had other plans and I was offered a Head Chef position at new place called Stables Providore. It was a very big step and maybe one I wasn’t 100% ready for but I tried and 2 months in after opening, things just weren’t working out for me so I knew I had to leave before I went to burn out stage and started resenting what I do. It was a short experience but I learnt so much about myself and my work. During 2021 I also did some work at Montalto in Red Hill. I would help out on the odd weekend with prep and service.
For the remainder of the year I worked for myself and into 2022. Then I packed my car up and drove up North to the Sunshine Coast where I worked and lived there for 14 months. I worked at Locale Noosa and The Caf Coolum- have a read of Sunshine Coast Adventures to find out more about my time up there.
Now I am back in Melbourne running my own business and working at Osteria Renata. It has been one hec of an adventure since starting. There has been many ups and downs but it has come with so much growth, learning, knowledge, tears, laughter, friendships and adventure. I have no idea what the next 12 months will hold but I can feel they are gonna be big!