Teen shares skills with grace
Accomplished baker helps two female students at skills competition
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, May 5, 2014
IQALUIT
After hearing Vayda Kaviok speak, you might be led to believe the Arviat resident is well into her 20s.
The baking adviser for the ninth annual Territorial Skills Competition talks about her impressive life experiences with confidence and speaks highly of the students she's been training since February.
In reality, she's just a 19-year-old with a passion for baking who's been tinkering with food for the better part of a decade.
"I started when I was around 10," she said, adding she was encouraged to learn by her mother.
"I got interested in baking cakes around that time, but also started making pastries and bread. Then I started going to the Skills Canada Club at school."
After winning the top prize in the cooking competition at the territorial level - for three straight years, mind you - she was invited to take part in the nationals, which she did in 2011 and 2013.
The events, held in Edmonton and Vancouver respectively, were tougher because of the additional pressure involved. But Kaviok said she's still happy with how she performed.
Last year, the teen was invited to attend the Nunavut Day celebrations in Iqaluit
and preside over the day's events alongside Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.'s president Cathy Towtongie.
This past February, she took on more serious responsibilities at the John Arnalukjuak High School in her community by becoming the baking adviser for two female students.
"They were very new to baking, so we had to start from scratch," Kaviok said.
"They never missed one practice though and they worked really hard on their recipes at home. They did very well today (at the skills competition)."
The competitors this year had to prepare a Mulligatawny soup, a chicken supreme stuffed with herbed forcemeat and an apple tarte tatin.
"They were the best ones today, in my opinion," she added.
Kaviok still has to wait a bit longer to find out which competitors out of the five taking part will be going to the Skills Canada nationals competition in Toronto from June 4 to 7.
Christine Berube, the program co-ordinator for Skills Nunavut, has been following Kaviok's development for the past few years.
"She's a confidant young woman who has a remarkable talent," Berube said.
"I've seen her compete in the past few years and she is very passionate, calm and really knows what she's doing in the kitchen. We're really happy that she's sharing her skills and knowledge with the youth of Nunavut."
