Colin Geaghan, San Diego Food + Wine Festival 2024 Scholarship Recipient, is a current trainee at the San Diego College of Continuing Education where he is pursuing not one, but three certificates – culinary arts, advanced culinary arts, and culinary nutrition.
As an aspiring holistic private chef, Colin is passionate about food as medicine and intends to help clients heal and thrive through nutrition and herbal medicine. After working in corporate America for the past eight years, Colin is in the middle of a professional plot twist and diving headfirst into pursuing his passion for the art of cooking.
Read on to learn more about what inspires Colin and some of his hardest earned lessons!
Can you share a recent project, event, or moment that highlights your passion for hospitality or culinary arts?
One of my recent classes ended with a final project where we were prompted to create a three-course tasting menu that highlighted our culinary style. My goal is to become a private chef that focuses on holistic health and incorporating herbal medicine into food. I firmly believe food is medicine and think we’ve strayed so far from that understanding for so long. I’d love to help folks rediscover how food and natural medicine can impact your health. The concept for my menu was spring cleaning and focused on bitter ingredients that grow in the spring (when the final was). Bitters help the body clear toxins after a long winter, so I wanted to find ways to make those flavors beautiful and palatable while also having the same detoxing effect.
Are there any specific challenges or lessons you’ve faced recently, and how are you using this scholarship to overcome or address them, or how have you overcome them?
The biggest challenge I’m facing is my career pivot, generally. I’ve worked in corporate America for eight years. With that comes stability, but a lack of purpose and fulfillment. While I’m excited for my culinary pivot, there’s so much anxiety around making ends meet and starting over at this age. I’m currently in the process of overcoming those fears, but know I’d rather do something I love with the time I have here than be unhappy and “comfortable.”
Have you discovered any new skills, techniques, or perspectives since starting your program that excite or inspire you?
Far too many to list! The most exciting to me are the molecular gastronomy techniques.
Molecular Gastronomy is a style of cooking that uses a combination of chemistry and physics to create new dishes. A key factor it centers on is the chemical and physical processes that occur.
Who or what inspires you most as you work toward your goals in this field, and why?
The shift in the younger generation back to real food. We’re finally realizing convenience isn’t worth your health. Real food might take a bit more effort, but your health is worth it!
What excites you about the future of the hospitality or culinary industries, and how do you hope to play a role in shaping it?
I believe there’s a strong rise in the idea of culinary medicine. What we eat has a profound impact on our health. We’ve known this for centuries, but have recently chosen convenience over health and are suffering the consequences as a generation. I’d love to help get people back on track.
If you were to share one piece of advice or encouragement to future scholarship recipients, what would it be?
Do some soul searching around your goals; write them out and be clear on them. Then go out and fight for them with every fiber of your being!
Stay tuned! 2025 San Diego Food + Wine scholarship applications open soon. In the meantime, get to know more about our 2024 recipients on our blog!
