Culinary Student Blair Cannon Interview

For the past two years I’ve had the pleasure of sponsoring a Reluctant Gourmet Culinary School Grant in association with Chef4Students.org. It is a great way for me to participate in the industry and make a small difference to these fine young people and future chefs. This year’s recipient is Blair Cannon who is currently attending Johnson & Wales in Charlotte, NC.
You can read his appreciative letter to my friend Chef David Nelson, founder and president of Chef4Students on my blog. Check out A Letter From Culinary Student Blair Cannon. It is letters like this that get me so excited to be involved with this organization.
A Little About Blair
Blair Cannon is a 20 year old who lived in Virginia Beach, VA all his life. Virginia Beach is a beautiful resort city and a great place to grow up. Tourism is big and there are a lot of great restaurants to work.
Before attending culinary school, Blair started out working as a dishwasher at the age of 15 with little training. Then he worked my way up at some of the most popular fine dining restaurants as a line cook. At 16, he was given a great opportunity from local celebrity Chef Todd Jurich, to apprentice at his new restaurant, Zinc Brasserie. He taught him everything there is to know about opening a new restaurant from scratch.
He and Chef Pete Evans taught Blair not only how to be a line cook, but inventory and the financial responsibility of opening a new restaurant. Even though the hours were long and the work grueling, the rewards were great. They even displayed his photo on the side of the restaurant building.
Blair is currently finishing up his training at The Masters, at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. According to Blair, working his co-op at the Masters was a once in a lifetime experience. He never had worked at a golf resort before, especially one that is famous for the Masters Golf tournament. He said it was exciting to overcome the challenges that were presented through working with such a high-volume production.
Interview
At what age did you decide you wanted to go to culinary school and become a professional chef?
Ever since the age of five, I loved to cook. Growing up in a family of “foodies” who had a passion for cooking, it was not until I was 15 years old, that a culinary class I took in high school gave me the inspiration to want to go to culinary school and become a professional chef.
Even though I have enjoyed cooking with my family, I had originally wanted to become an air force pilot. But my mother wanted me to have another profession to fall back on, in case I did not get into the Air force Academy. She suggested I try the C-CAP, Careers through Culinary Arts Program in high school and the rest is history.
Did you take any classes in high school that may have helped you prepare for a culinary education?
While in high school, the C-CAP, Careers through Culinary Arts Program, had the greatest impact on me and gave me the foundation toward my career as a chef. I cannot speak highly enough of how great this program is!
This culinary program that was taught at my high school, Vo-tech or Technical and Career Education center, is an excellent program for students interested in pursuing a culinary career. Not only do you receive high school credit, but you gain skills that give you an enormous head start before attending culinary school.
This program also offers scholarships through culinary competitions that help a lot. I won many scholarships in these competitions as well as gained a lot of experience.
You are currently enrolled at Johnson & Wales in Charlotte. How did you decide this was the right school for you?
Originally I wanted to attend CIA, the Culinary Institute of America. But after being selected as a finalist in Johnson & Wales University’s National Top Teen Chef culinary competition, I knew I made the right choice in selecting Johnson & Wales as the best culinary school for me.
Not only did I receive a large, renewable scholarship, but the school is closer to my home state. Johnson & Wales in Charlotte, North Carolina, is not only a new campus, but it has state of the art culinary labs and is in a great location. The staff that I met during the culinary contest were friendly and helpful as well.





