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Best breakfast brings prizes

NANAIMO – Putting all her eggs in one basket paid off for Janet Kerr.
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A video of her favourite egg dish won Vancouver Island University student Janet Kerr a spot at the Canadian Culinary Federation’s national conference next month

By Jenn McGarrigle

For Vancouver Island University student Janet Kerr, putting all her eggs in a basket has paid off.

For a video she made about cooking her family’s preferred weekend-morning breakfast, she won a chef’s jacket, $250 and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Canadian Culinary Federation’s national conference, happening next month in Windsor, Ont.

It all started when the 53-year-old culinary management diploma student received an e-mail from the North Vancouver Island Chefs Association, a division of the Canadian Culinary Federation, requesting videos of members creating their favourite egg dishes. The videos were for eggcentric.tv, a new website created by the Egg Farmers of Canada to promote egg recipes and stories from around the world.

“I just kind of whipped it off in the morning when my kids were still sleeping,” she says. “We did the video and then they got up and we ate breakfast.”

Kerr made eggs in a basket – a simple recipe consisting of eggs baked in a muffin pan with bacon.

“It’s my husband’s family’s traditional breakfast,” she said. “It’s so dead simple and easy, and the bacon makes everything delicious.”

While Kerr thought the good news ended at her new chef’s jacket, she lucked out again, first winning $250 in a random draw, which she split with her son for editing the video. Then she was informed that she had won, in another random draw, a trip to the convention, which takes place May 15-19.

When she returns, Kerr starts an internship at the Coco Café in Cedar, which also provides employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.

Kerr says VIU’s culinary arts program has prepared her well.

“It’s a production program. There’s real pressure, it’s demanding and eye-opening, you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. Going to school in the trades has opened my eyes to the fact that these jobs are not easy.”

Jenn McGarrigle is a communications officer with VIU.