Karen’s love for all things food — preserved

“Four years ago, I was a bakery manager for Woolworths, but I was involved in a really bad car accident, which saw me come away with a huge amount of broken bones, internal injuries, and metal screws, plates and wires,” began Karen.

“I haven’t actually been able to work full time since, but I really wanted to get back into cooking and the food industry. So, I decided to do Certificate II in Cookery (SIT20421) and just see where that could lead me to.”

Karen lives ten minutes from Nanango — in Booie, on a small farm, with big plans.

“My husband and I only moved up from Sydney in November 2022, so everything is still really new,” she said.

“At our farm we grow edible flowers, herbs, salad greens and I'm just starting fruit trees. It's just my husband and myself doing it and we hope to develop our own products to sell at markets and festivals,” shared Karen.

“I’m in the process of actually trying to get a food trailer registered with our local council. I want to be able to make preserves and different products to take to festivals and events like Kingaroy’s BaconFest.”

“Also, this Certificate II in Cookery (SIT20421) course has units in it such as packaging foodstuffs, so it’s really handy. It also covers food safety units, which you need for your own food licence,” Karen said.

Karen is completing her qualification part-time at TAFE Queensland Kingaroy in the fully equipped commercial kitchen facilities and has accessed the state government’s Certificate 3 Guarantee subsidy to reduce the cost of the course.

“At the moment, we are learning a lot about developing our knife skills, and how to safely and correctly use commercial kitchen equipment,” she explained.

“Then, along the way, we’re learning very basic meals, open sandwiches, and salads. Recently, we made ‘Taste of TAFE Bacon Brittle’ for BaconFest, and it was really good for knife skills because there was a lot of slicing and dicing involved,” said Karen.

TAFE Queensland Kingaroy’s Certificate II in Cookery (SIT20421) students are involved in a number of functions throughout the year, to gain experience and an understanding of all the moving ‘catering’ parts.

Karen and her classmates recently volunteered at Kingaroy’s annual BaconFest, which spans three days, in August.

When asked about what element she enjoyed the most, Karen said the fast-paced, large-scale hospitality function, that kicks off the popular celebration with locals and tourists alike, was a great experience.

“Being involved in helping JC Catering with BaconFest’s ‘Wine and Swine’ event on the Friday night was a highlight. This particular event had 516 guests, and then there were an extra 40 volunteers who had to be catered for,” she said.

“It was huge, and it was just really exciting and eye-opening to see how it all came together. There were about seven different dishes, with a tapas-style menu. It was really valuable for the younger students as well to see what is possible in such a short amount of time!”

“At the end of July, before BaconFest, we helped with ‘Relay for Life Captains Dinner’. There were about 230 guests, and that one was a plated dinner.” Karen added.

“That was really interesting, you have to be really precise how you plated things up. Every plate has to look the same. That was really great to do as well.”

TAFE Queensland Hospitality and Cookery Teacher, Chef Jason Ford, had many positive things to share about Karen’s commitment to the industry.

“Karen is very passionate about food service, with a strong focus on fresh regional produce. She already knows her way around a commercial kitchen environment, but is diversifying her skill set,” said Chef Ford.

“This course has been flexible enough to allow her to juggle her existing work and family commitments, while achieving her qualification in just 20 weeks.”

“Karen will now be in a position to work in a wide variety of food service settings, as the industry is crying out for skilled workers. Ultimately, she can invest all of that knowledge and experience into developing her future food trailer business,” said Chef Ford.

No doubt we’ll see Karen and her own trailer at BaconFest very soon!