When Jonathan Giovannoni was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour as a child, he found solace in an unlikely place: his family kitchen.
The 13-year-old chef discovered his love of cooking after a cancer diagnosis at the age of five forced him to spend most days indoors.
“I've been in the kitchen since I was five and cooking every night since I was nine,” he told CTV News.
“My dad started showing me how to make pizza, pasta, Italian food from his heritage and ever since I've had a passion for it.”
And that culinary persistence has certainly paid off. The boy from Spruce Grove, Alta. has since competed in Alabama at the World Food and recently won an episode of Chopped Canada Junior, a television cooking competition for kids.
In a gesture of goodwill, Giovannoni donated his $5,000 prize from Chopped to the Make a Wish Canada foundation.
“For him, it was taking attention away from the negative and putting it on the positive, it's the good food, the good times,”said his mother, Alina Giovannoni.
It’s that optimism that the young chef says helped lift him when his struggle with cancer became especially difficult.
“We were all -- my parents especially -- were very nervous, going through chemo, coming with me to chemo. So every Sunday we would cook together.”
These days Giovannoni says he’s “doing pretty good” in terms of his health. As for his future, he has a clear vision of where he wants to be when he grows up.
“I want to open up a restaurant one day,” he said.
With a report from CTV’s Janet Dirks
