Community
1 November, 2026
Blind chef says it’s time to give back
Blind chef Craig Shanahan says it’s time to give back. He has been helped by plenty of people throughout his life, and now, he told The Southern Wire, it’s time to start helping others.
Blind chef Craig Shanahan says it’s time to give back.
He has been helped by plenty of people throughout his life, and now, he told The Southern Wire, it’s time to start helping others.
Mr Shanahan had one eye removed as a two-year-old because of cancer, and a brain tumour subsequently robbed him of the sight in his other eye.
Undeterred, Mr Shanahan finished school and trained as a chef and went on to open the Blind Chef Café and Dessert Bar in Penrith.
The café was a success because of its amazing food but also because it was accessible for people with a disability.
Unfortunately, he was forced to close the business after undergoing a heart transplant because of a pre-existing heart condition and brain surgery after the tumour that had originally damaged his optic nerve returned for a third time.
He has previously told the SBS that there’s a reason for him to be “still kicking”.
“I believe that’s just to show people that you can just keep getting through life and achieve anything you set your mind to”.
Last week, Mr Shanahan took time out to share some of that inspiration with blind and vision-impaired students from around the region.
As part of ‘Cooking Without Limits: A Blind Chef Experience ’, Mr Shanahan demonstrated how to prepare and cook a chicken stir-fry with the help of accessible cooking tools.
The event was held in the commercial kitchen at Picton High School and was attended by students from the Wingecarribee and Wollondilly as well as Sydney and the Illawarra.
Mr Shanahan said he enjoyed public speaking, but this was the first time he had presented to children.
He said the experience had been “pretty full on”, but he had loved the questions, and it was something that he would be keen to continue doing.
He said it was “100 per cent” about giving back.
The excursion was designed to give students the opportunity to develop practical cooking and kitchen safety skills using adaptive equipment, while meeting professionals who demonstrate that vision impairment does not have to limit future opportunities.
Students also heard from Debra Erickson, Executive Chef and founder of The Blind Kitchen in Oregon, USA, who shared her own story about pursuing a culinary career after vision loss.
Year 6 student from Oaks Public School, Lawson Campbell, was one of the students who took part in the excursion.
Lawson, 12, told The Southern Wire that cooking was a “valuable life skill” for everyone – and not just the vision impaired.
“If you can’t cook, it would be very difficult,” he said.
Lawson said he had always wanted to learn how to cook and had been experimenting with some different recipes at home, including a chicken curry and his mum’s bolognaise.
But at this stage he has no plans to follow in Mr Shahahan’s footsteps and pursue a career in the kitchen.
He said he was more interested in science and technology.
“Being a scientist would be pretty cool,” he said.
Lawson has Leber’s Congenital Amaurosis, a condition that causes gradual vision loss.
He currently has tunnel vision and uses a long cane to navigate safely around his school environment.
Lawson said other valuable life skills included driving, understanding technology and “perseverance through difficult situations”.
Perseverance is one life skill he has developed in spades.
When he’s not at school, he enjoys playing with Lego, playing chess with his family and playing soccer in a specialised competition for people with a visual impairment.
Thursday’s excursion was organised by the Assistant Principal of the Ruse Vision Team at Ruse Public School in Campbelltown, Nadina Peccotich.
She said a grant obtained through Wollondilly Shire Council had made it possible to purchase a number of accessible cooking tools including mesh gloves, heat gloves, talking thermometers and measuring jugs and liquid indicators.
Mrs Peccotich said the support from Picton High School in allowing the use of its facilities and from the school’s P and C Association for auspicing the grant application had been “amazing”.
She said many of the students taking part in the excursion had other disabilities including deafness and autism.
A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said the excursion demonstrated the important role vision support teachers play in helping students to access learning, build lifelong skills and explore future pathways, including careers in hospitality.
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