Junior ABs join Cure Kids for sushi
New Zealand U 20 players take time out from World Cup for cooking class with young cancer sufferers
The Junior All Blacks were challenged to an afternoon in the kitchen with some young sushimakers in a special Cure Kids event in Auckland yesterday. The 30-strong World Cup Squad took a break from their busy schedule to make sushi with cancer sufferers Jackson Howes, 11, and Cherokee Sagisagi, 18, at the Nosh Mt Eden Cooking School.
The pair both have inoperable brain tumours.
Jackson, who lives in Whangaparaoa, said the afternoon was “absolutely awesome”.
“I got to shake hands with all the Junior All Blacks,” he said.
“They were just helping me and encouraging me.
“Sushi’s my favourite food in the world, so it’s really good that came up.”
After making their sushi rolls, the group then chowed down on their creations together.
Some of the end results were quite interesting, Jackson said.
“One Junior All Black put too much wasabi in his sushi and it got really hot for him — it was funny. I can’t really say much, my sushi wasn’t too flash.”
Despite that, everyone enjoyed the sushi, he said. “It was really, really good. I really liked it.”
Jackson and Miss Sagisagi, who lives in Otara, were also joined by two other youngsters — Fletcher Hautapu from Palmerston North and Tiana Gray of Feilding — whose families were staying at Ronald McDonald House.
Masterchef runner-up Vanessa Baxter headed the afternoon’s event, providing instructions for the hour-long sushi lesson.
Some of the Junior All Blacks, who were split into two teams for the kitchen session, as well as Jackson and Miss Sagisagi, donned red noses for the afternoon’s event.
“I love hanging out with with them, the [Junior] All Blacks. They’re really cool,” said Jackson, whose tumour, which has caused him to lose some of his sight, was discovered when he was 7 years old.
An initial operation failed to reduce the tumour’s growth, and he has since completed chemotherapy treatment for it.