Yeoh Siew Hoon tries and gives up.
For those of you who noticed, I missed a column last week. This was because I was too busy in the kitchen, trying to prepare a eight-course Chinese New Year meal, as I had resolved to do after having been inspired by Orchard Hotel's Master Chef Chan.
I gave up after the third course because it called for sea moss, white fungus and sea cucumber. I didn't know how to untangle the black threads of sea moss which look more like clumps of human hair or to clean the white fungus plus I forgot to soak the sea cucumber overnight which meant they would have tasted more rubbery than they normally do.
Honestly, I don't understand these Chinese delicacies. The blander they are, the more exotic they are made out to be. Abalone, to me, tastes and feels like pieces of rubber and sea cucumber, well, I won't even go there.
Perhaps my taste buds are no longer as refined, thanks to years of de-sensitising by the tonnage of chillies I have consumed since I was three. According to my mother, I ate my first chilli at that age. I thought it was a bon-bon when it was a bomb-bomb.
After my mother kicked me out of her kitchen, I had to content myself with watching her prepare and cook our Chinese New Year meals. It was the only way I could get to spend time with her because I think she hardly left the kitchen throughout the week I was home.
Despite the fact that I have lived away from home for 20 years and am nearly a grown woman, my mother thinks I starve on my own so she makes up for it when I am back in the family roost.
I have come to the conclusion that it's easier and much more entertaining to watch someone cook than cooking it yourself.
This probably explains the huge popularity of cooking shows on televisions. I love watching them especially the ones on the new Asian Food Channel which seems to be dominated by Korean programmes telling you how to grill beef in 1,000 different ways.
Since I discovered food shows, I now know how to cook – in theory – Indian vegetarian, anything to do with fish (Rick Stein), Italian, Spanish, Australian, Greek, Japanese …
My favourite is Jamie Oliver who makes cooking fun. I am not sure how his food tastes but that cute face is sure appetisting. Floyd, I reckon, is drunk half the time so he's also fun to watch. Delia Smith is a tad too serious for my liking but she makes good wholesome English fare.
Hold on. Why am I fixated on English chefs when I don't even like English food?
I think it's because they know how to entertain – that it's not just about the food but the story-telling they do.
Sometimes I watch Yan Can Cook but he doesn't fire up my wok for some reason. I think it's his teeth.
Anyway, I have been wondering about these food shows and what makes them so popular. Do we watch them because we want to learn to cook? Or do we watch them because we like the idea of cooking in our heads?
It's like those exercise programmes on television. I don't know about you but I love having them on first thing in the morning and watching people jump around while I have my congee with dried oysters and fermented bean curd. In two separate bowls, of course.
Yummy ….
PS: I'd like to thank the executive chef of Oberoi Hotels who called me during Chinese New Year to thank me for my last column which he shared with his students – I hope my story inspires them to do better than I have in the kitchen.
The SHY Report
A regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry by one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, Yeoh Siew Hoon. Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her company's mission is "Content, Communication, Connection". She is a writer, speaker, facilitator, trainer and events producer. She is also an author, having published "Around Asia In 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries". Her motto is ‘free to do, and be'.
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