Famous chef from Tacoma pays a visit to show students how he turns food into art
Ray Duey can carve a flower on a watermelon in a little over three minutes.
The 64-year-old chef from Tacoma demonstrated as much to the tune of Taylor Swift at Mount Tahoma High School on Tuesday.
Students watched Duey carve roses, daffodils, plumerias and other flowers out of turnips, cantaloupe and honeydew.
Duey, internationally known for his carvings, also imparted some wisdom on what it means to work hard and hone your craft.
“What do I do in my spare time?” he asked during his demonstration. “I practice.”
Duey grew up in Tacoma and graduated from Franklin Pierce High School in 1974. He now lives in California.
“My first job happened to be at Mount Rainier National Park,” Duey said.
Duey started carving more than 40 years ago because a chef at a restaurant “told him to,” he said. It stuck with him.
In 2010 and 2011, Duey participated in a team carving event at the White House, where he helped create a haunted house out of pumpkins. The Secret Service watched closely as they worked with knives and other sharp objects.
Duey appeared on Food Network’s “Sugar Dome” as an assistant chef and was a member of one of the winning teams on “The Rematch: Fantasy Fruit Sculpture.”
He also was hired to carve pumpkins as part of scenes in “American Horror Story: Murder House.”
Duey offered to hold a demonstration at Mount Tahoma for a program spearheaded by local business owner Chantel Jackson, who is the owner of Thyme Well Spent Catering in Tacoma. Jackson opened the business in 2017. Jackson also owns CJ’s Phillys food truck, which opened in 2017.
Jackson, 32, launched the after-school program this year for students interested in starting a culinary business. The 10-week course came to be through Jackson’s nonprofit, the Creativity House Foundation. The goal is to equip students with the tools needed to launch a food business.
Jackson first met Duey at Tacoma Community College in 2013, where she was a student and he was holding a demonstration. She said he signed her notebook with “Follow your dreams,” and she never forgot it.
“Food is the gateway to the heart,” Jackson said. “Food saved my life.”
She hopes students took away from Duey that “anything is possible” and that they should follow their goals.
Paris Quinn, a ninth grader at Mount Tahoma, said the program motivates her to study culinary arts. She’s from the South and is interested in running a “soul food” booth by the end of the course.
“We really get to live out our dreams,” she said.
Jackson hopes to expand the program to other schools and is holding a fundraiser at 7 p.m. on Feb. 29 at First United Methodist Church in Tacoma, where her students will be showing their skills.
Duey told students on Tuesday it’s important for people to learn to respect others and to use time wisely.
“Normally it takes 10,000 hours to perfect skill,” Duey said. “But for me, I keep going. There’s more, there’s always more.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 5:25 AM.
