During their high school career, many students find new hobbies that they are able to master. For freshman Ian Raybon, the hobby is cooking. Starting when he was seven, Ian will make anything from homemade pizza to baking his own banana nut muffins.
“My mom really taught me a lot of what I know now and introduced me to it and got me hooked on it,” Raybon said. “Honestly, I like to eat a lot of different stuff, so being able to cook the stuff and not having to go outside and getting it, is a lot better.”
Ian first started cooking after being very hands on in the kitchen. When his mother began noticing how much he enjoyed it, she would teach him what he could do, until eventually she came home to him making his own banana nut muffins.
“When he was little, he was always very good about helping me with things,” mother Tracy Raybon said. “Usually you would think that the girls would be the ones to do things in the kitchen, but Ian has always been very curious and hands on and so I would put him to work and then he just kind of took it on himself.”
Coming from a family where his mother grew up with her parents making everything at home, both Ian and his sister, senior Brycen, are used to cooking and baking for themselves.
“[Brycen] does cook – she doesn’t like to cook as much as Ian – she likes to cook a lot of sweets,” Tracy said. “That’s more her style of cooking.”
Although, Ian does spend a lot of time in the kitchen and helps cook for the holidays, he does not intend on pursuing a culinary career.
“I want to keep cooking, but I don’t want to go into a culinary career or anything,” Ian said.
While he does not intend on having a career in the kitchen, Ian is an asset come dinner time.
“He is a huge helper, I used to call him my ‘prep cook’, because he would do all the slicing and dicing action,” Tracy said.
Ian also helps his mother who teaches the disabled.
“We used to teach a class with individuals that were disabled and I would show them knife skills and the proper ways to hold a knife so they wouldn’t cut themselves,” Tracy said. “And I would practice with Ian because I thought, “If Ian can do it and he’s little, then they should be able to pick up,” and if I saw something that he would struggle with, I would switch it around with him and it would help my students as well.”
Through-out the four years that Ian has cooked for his family he has learned many recipes and have found his own favorites.
“Well I like to make [the lemon chicken with capers] but I also really like to make pizza, because I enjoy making my own dough,” Ian said, “but it’s also really fun to learn new things, as well.”
