When Justin Zhang graduated from Camosun’s Culinary Arts program 20 years ago, he didn’t know he’d be returning to the college two decades later in a much different role. Today, after stints cooking at Coast Victoria Hotel and Pearson College in Metchosin, the alumnus is the new chef manager for Aramark, who run the college cafeterias.
“I was young,” says Zhang about his time at Camosun. “I came from other country, and I [didn’t] know much, especially I [didn’t] know anything about the Western food… I think the program opened my door for my career.”
His career now involves helping create new menu items for Camosun students. Starting on Tuesday, September 2, the cafeteria will have what Zhang calls a feature menu of items that rotate weekly. While he says that some cafeteria staples—burgers, poutine, pizza—will remain, new items will come and go, based on what students are enjoying.
“So it can be one feature [with] sandwiches on the menu, one stir fry, one curry, one entree, those feature menu. I do that every week changing. So this week, this is four items. Next week, the other four items. So that’s three or four weeks menu. So this way I can find out what students like or what they don’t. If something they like is on the feature menu, I keep it, they’re coming back. If they don’t, I find out the solution, like we do something else, then give it a try, see what happens.”
Flexibility is important to Zhang, who stresses that the rotating menu is adaptable.
“I’m new here. What can I bring [to] the table? Hopefully everyone likes it,” he says. “Even not, it’s okay, I can change it. I can update it.”
Zhang—who says that his favourite items can be found at the stir fry station—says that he’s trying to bring as much to the table as he can for students, in an effort to offer more choices. And that includes attempting to keep some prices down.
“Of course, I know food costs those days went up high… I dropped the price for all the features I’m doing. Hopefully, they are selling… I hope a student can afford the price, which I’ll lower a little bit more on the feature menu… I try to keep all the feature stuff I’m doing as low as I can. So, hopefully, students will like it better.”
Having diversity on the rotating menu is a priority for Zhang, as he emphasizes that Camosun students come from all over the world.
“I’m trying to give a little bit more everything, if I can,” he says. “And also I add a bunch of vegetarian options, gluten-free options, I have a lot of stuff. I have desserts. There can be lots of some gluten-free stuff.”
Zhang says that even after all these years and a professional journey that has brought him back to where it all began, he still enjoys what he does.
“I really like cooking. After a few years, I turned cooking [into] a job. Of course, it’s a bit different than [it] used to be just cooking at home for myself,” he says. “But after, I see, 20 years now, I still like cooking.”