From kneading dough for cinnamon buns at the age of three to making Thanksgiving dinner for her family at 12, Jenna Thompson has always had a love for cooking. This year, she is bringing that love to the 153rd Chilliwack Fair, where she will be presenting a cooking demonstration on how to prepare and bake a fruit cobbler.

Jenna began her journey into the culinary world at home, preparing family recipes and attending cooking classes with her parents. She attended Abbotsford Senior Secondary to complete her Professional Cook 1 certificate before moving to UFV. Today she is a proud alumna of the UFV Professional Cook 3 program, and she’s been certified as a Red Seal Cook, a national recognition of her culinary skills.

Jenna credits the leadership of the UFV Professional Cook (PC) program for helping her grow into the chef she is today. And she says it’s instructors and mentors like Chefs Sian Hurley and John Garrett who gave her the confidence and inspiration to follow her passion.

“Chef Sian always taught us to focus on local food, and I think that’s something that I took from her. Chef John taught me the excellence of running a restaurant/cafeteria and the importance of timing while in a kitchen.”

Jenna recalls participating in foraging as part of her Professional Cook 2 program at UFV and preparing a chef’s plate for her family from locally foraged ingredients. Her program also partnered with UFV’s Agriculture department to source and provide freshly grown local ingredients.

“That’s why I wanted to pick something that I could do with a local focus,” says Jenna about her opportunity with the Chilliwack Fair. She chose cobbler so she could prepare a dish using the locally grown fruits for which the Fraser Valley and Okanagan regions are famous.

Last year, Jenna received the inaugural Taste of Abby Leadership Award. She was nominated by her mentors in the PC program, Chef Sian and Chef John.

It’s a running theme in Jenna’s life — the culture of reciprocal support.

In addition to her remarkable performance in her studies, Jenna continually gives back to UFV by volunteering in support of the program. During her time at UFV, she was the subject of numerous promotional photographs, social media posts, and advertisements.

In her day job at the Abbotsford Cactus Club, her strong positive attitude and transparent leadership in the kitchen led to her being placed in the manager development program in her third month of employment, and she was promoted to manager after just eight months. “I’m a very hands-on person, so even at work, I’m very in everybody’s business and I just want to know what’s going on and see if I can learn from it,” says Jenna.

“Even as a child, I was just go, go, go,” says Jenna. “And I still am. It’s probably why I have so many things on my plate.”

Jenna envisions cooking as a kind of personal transformation — a performance, as she describes it. In addition to cooking and baking, Jenna participated in competitive dance from the ages of three to 14. She now carries some of those performative skills forward into her work as well.

“When I put on my chef stripes, I transform into ‘manager Jenna,’” she says. “It’s an out-of-body experience of becoming super outgoing, super nice.”

“It’s like I put on a show,” says Jenna.

For this reason, she is very excited to be presenting a cooking demonstration for the Chilliwack Fair. Even though it’s her first time doing one, she feels confident that she can deliver.

Jenna is currently completing her diploma in business at UFV. Once she graduates, she hopes to broaden her horizons — and her taste buds. Her dream is to be a Red Seal Pastry Chef and open a bakery with a focus on local ingredients.

To catch Jenna’s cobbler demonstration, visit the Chilliwack Fair on August 10th at 3:30.