Few people pursue their hobbies with such a level of passion like Mount Carmel senior Gilbert “Ethan” Edmond.
Ethan has bonded with his family over cooking and baking. At some football games this past fall, he brought his own baked goods on Champions Way, and he hopes to do the same once he steps on campus at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas in the coming fall. To him, cooking and baking provide a sense of tranquility like nothing else.
“It’s like artwork to me,” Ethan says. “You know how artists sit there on their stool, they have this white board in front of them, and they just sit there doodling for hours. That sort of zone they get into, I feel that when I bake.”
Ethan was raised on cooking and baking through TV shows and recipe books. He was so interested in cooking that around four years old his mother, Mrs. Elise Edmond, allowed him to begin helping her in the kitchen.
“I would let him stir something in the pot, or add something to whatever I was cooking as you know as long as it was safe for him,” she says. “That’s probably the earliest memory that I have [specifically of her son’s cooking], just me cooking and him being very engaged with what I was doing, and then allowing him to help.”
Ethan began cooking for himself when he was in first grade and began dabbling in baking as he entered high school. Since then, he continued to bond with his mother in the kitchen. In his opinion, not many children have an opportunity to connect with their parents in such a personal way. This is one of the reasons why Ethan is grateful to know how to cook and bake.
Ethan still does most of his cooking and baking from home. It was there that he first got the idea to bake cookies and sell them.
“I have an Instagram page where people can give me orders,” he says. “I also did catering for a few parties and social events. That was a thing I was doing before the football games.”
Ethan’s friend, fellow MC seniorAiden Correa, first gave him the idea to sell cookies at MC football games and also accompanied him to ask school principal Mr. Scott Tabernacki for permission.
“I just wanted to make a man’s dream come true,” says Correa.
Ethan first opened his stand on Champions Way on September 6 during the Caravan’s game against the St. Rita Mustangs. His stand was popularly referred to as Gilbert’s Cookies, but he prefers the original name, Eats with Ethan. During the game, Correa posted pictures, designed flyers, and walked about MC’s Barda-Dowling Stadium in order to promote Ethan’s brand.Ethan alone, though, took on the monumental task of baking enough cookies to sell at MCs football games.
“I would be up at five o’clock in the morning finishing my last couple of batches,” he says. “Washing the dishes, packaging the cookies up, making the actual dough, balling them up. Freezing a cookie will allow the flavors to properly absorb. I will always make a batch and freeze it for two hours or more. It was all insane.”
After Ethan made his money, he split some with Correa and saved the rest in order to help pay off going to UNLV. Once he is a student there, he wants to work toward a degree in hospitality management and set up a possible future where he can open his own business.
“I won’t be learning as much technical skills, but I’ll be able to understand how these places are run and what goes into owning a bakery or a restaurant,” Ethan says. “It’s more broad [than majoring in the culinary arts], you can learn about hotels, casinos, and restaurants. The hospitality industry is very vast.”
Additionally, he wants to bring Eats with Ethan with him to Nevada.
“I’m trying to get my vending license so that I’d be able to sell on the Las Vegas strip hopefully,” He says. “They [UNLV] have a great football team, so maybe I can sell at their games.”
Needless to say, Ethan is the kind of guy that recognizes his interests and is willing to put in the work to make a living off of them.
“I’m very proud of him,” Mrs. Edmond said. “This is something that he has always been very passionate about. It is nice to cultivate that in your children.”
