When chef, instructor and SAIT alumna Rosalyn Ediger was crafting her proposal for the 2019/20 Cadmus Chair competition she started with a little research.
"I looked up what Cadmus meant, how it started, and found out the Chair is named after the Greek patron of the useful arts," says Ediger. "I thought, that's exactly what cooking is it's not just about filling the stomach, there's so much more to it."
When her Cadmus tenure starts in January 2020, Ediger will begin officially developing a specialized course in culinary diplomacy and food culture within SAIT's School of Hospitality and Tourism.
Unofficially, the course has been a work in progress for quite some time.
A practiced passion for food and culture meets a new one for teaching
From cooking for celebrities in swanky Swiss ski resorts and interning with Gordon Ramsay to working in Canadian embassies in Bangkok and Beijing and starring in a Chinese cooking show, Ediger has a resume that belies her years.
Having grown up cooking for family and travelling, she realized pretty quickly that food brings people together.
"My mother passed away when I was five, and over the years everyone had to take on a role," she says. "I ended up cooking for my sisters and my father," she says. "It was fun and a way of doing things together."
Travel was another, and their family trips always included researching specialty foods, going to markets and talking to local people.
And that, she says, is how it all started.
The teaching part evolved from her experience managing a kitchen, and was sparked by an invitation to speak to a class of first-year cooking students following SAIT's Alumni Awards celebration in 2017.
"There were about 90 students in the room and I talked about my experiences and the risks I took, all kinds of things," she recalls. "After, they came up and told me You inspire me,' and I felt the buzz the power, the energy in the room, it was unbelievable and they got me."
Not long after, an instructor position became available and Ediger jumped at the chance to coach the next generation of chefs entering her ever-changing industry.
"Realizing that you're a role model, knowing your students want to have a similar life experience that you've had, I want to give them that opportunity as much as I can," she says. "I want them to go out and see the world like I have I have reaped so many rewards from that."
