Lisa Isaacs
Aged 12, Josh Thirion has achieved more than some of the world’s top chefs and culinary wizards could dream of.
The youngster from Bellville won a revered Gourmand Cookbook Award in 2013 for his first book, titled Cook with Josh, and now waits to hear if he has been selected as a finalist for his second book, Bake with Josh. It has already picked up the Best Pastry and Dessert award in South Africa.
Josh was nine when he bagged his first Gourmand award in the competition open to publishers in all languages and countries. It celebrates global cookbook and wine book publishing, and features world-renowned chefs.
Cook with Josh, illustrated with Josh’s own hand-drawn cartoons and step-by-step guide comic strips, has sold more than 10 000 copies since its release in 2012.
And the youngster’s second book has followed suit. Bake with Josh contains 40 of his favourite baking recipes. He adds his own spin to the traditional carrot and chocolate cakes, and banana bread, and again, Josh’s unique comic strips appear.
His mom Lynn, who homeschools him, said the award-winning book was borne of Josh’s idea to merge cooking and animation for a local market day competition.
“Together, we would go through recipe books and search for his favourite recipes. We would test them and change them, and they made their way into the cookbook. Josh thought while waiting for the goodies to finish cooking, children can enjoy games and activities like the connect the dots, crosswords, mazes and colouring in,” she said.
“All the recipes me and my mom make have a twist to them. Lots of these recipes are easy, and kids can do them. With some recipes, adults will need to help them,” Josh said.
He was excited at the prospect of taking home the title for the second time. “That would be fantastic, and I get to make my parents proud,” he said.
He revealed his biggest love, however, was animation. He plans to create his own cartoon show combining cooking and animation.
“The first time I remember Josh drawing was when I took him on a business trip to Port Elizabeth. He was 16 months old and we were sitting in a boardroom, and everyone was amazed to see this little boy so quiet and concentrating on his drawing.”
Soon, Thirion says Josh developed a love for cartoons. “Josh would watch movies, stop at a particular scene and draw that scene.”
She said his love of animation and cooking merged when he was introduced to baking when he was three years old. She laid out all the ingredients for him and made his first batch of muffins.
“After his first cookbook, he took a greater interest in cooking. He attended chef classes which helped him with knife skills, and he began practising.
In 2013, Josh held his first charity day where he and classmates of his former school, Bellville North Primary, arranged to provide food parcels to 400 streetchildren bused to the school.
Last year Josh also held his first inspirational talk with Ravensmead school pupils.
“He has achieved so much at such a young age, sometimes its a bit scary. I am confident he will come out on top this year. We are taking the chance, and have booked all our tickets and everything, it will be a great experience.”
His father Deon said: “You have to be proud and excited, of course. Two books and two Gourmand awards sounds wonderful. The only thing we can do now as parents is support him through all of this. The only way your child can be successful is for him to follow his own dreams, not ours.”