Putting a gourmet twist on traditional food is the ambition of a young man from Napier who now lives in Wairoa and is well on his way to becoming a qualified chef.

Bon Te Hiko started his learning journey with EIT last year, when he joined a marae-based cookery course at Takitimu Marae just out of Wairoa.

Under the guidance of tutor and chef Tony Te Nahu, Bon soon realised he had found his niche.

Before enrolling in the Level 3 programme, he had been a labourer who quietly dreamed of being a chef.

Coming from a family that was strong on fishing, hunting, catching and cooking their own food, he wanted to set an example for his two sons,
that they could be anything they wanted to be.

Such was his enthusiasm and dedication, that his tutor persuaded him to continue the journey with the Level 4 cookery programme at the Tairāwhiti Campus this year, which will qualify him as a chef. It was never going to be easy to juggle family life with the daily commute to Gisborne but Bon and a few of his classmates, made the commitment. This means they are up every day by 5.30am to catch EIT’s mini-bus to Gisborne at 6.45am.

On production days, when they prepare restaurant-quality meals for up to 30 diners in EIT’s Toru Restaurant, the crew car pool and stay in
Gisborne for two nights because they don’t finish until about 11pm.

It’s sometimes a struggle but Bon is loving every minute of it. His fellow Wairoa students have become his family – “we all help and support each other” and he is inspired by his new tutor, chef Tony Davis who he says is “firm but fair”.

“You can really trust him because he knows what he is talking about – he set up his first restaurant when he was only 20.”

He believes he is cramming two years’ worth of learning into one but says he will come out with two qualifications – the NZ Certificate in Cookery and the internationally recognised City and Guilds qualification.

When he is finished he plans to set up his own business with a food truck in Wairoa where dining-out options are few.

“I will be naming it ‘Hillybuckz’ after my grandfather. He first taught me how to catch food and cook it. I am still inspired by him but I have learned how to modernise the dishes and put a gourmet spin on them.

I have wanted to do this for a long time but always thought it was a bit far-fetched, now its within my grasp.

This qualification will make it happen – it will be a dream come true.”