Rayne is Anishinaabe (her mother is from Lake St. Martin and her father is from Cote First Nation). After enrolling in the Compass Skills program, which focuses on career exploration, goal setting and self-reflection, she tapped into a deep desire to learn more about Indigenous cultural teachings. While there, she realized she had a strong interest in cooking inspired by her mother.

Drawing on her grandparents’ love of cranberry sauce (always a meal-side staple for meats, fish, and bannock), she experimented with finding a balance that included notes of sweet and sour, a personal favourite. PRK’s culinary research team suggested ways to blend some of the elements, which include dried juniper berries and raspberries. The sauce can be used for dipping and coating, and works best with meatballs, fried fish, chicken nuggets, and fried bannock.

Scaling up and packaging Rayne’s sauce presented PRK with the opportunity to test new equipment in the Food Processing Lab and model a student recipe development process for products destined for larger-scale production and commercialization.

Rayne is continuing her studies in Culinary Skills and is working with PRK to package and upscale production of the sauce. She dreams of a career that will take her coast to coast, working with Indigenous people, learning, and sharing her teachings along the way.