GEORGE TOWN, Nov 5 — At the recent Battle of the Chefs in Penang, I was one of the panel of judges with participants hailing from as far away as the US, Australia and Switzerland.
This bi-annual event — this year was the 15th edition — is a massive undertaking by the very active Penang Chapter of the Chefs Association of Malaysia which is headed by Chef Peter Chan.
It is now held as part of the Asian Food Festival, which incorporates talks, presentations, trade exhibitions, Citrarasa (street food festival) and other things culinary over a four-day period.
This year, the event, which was held at the newly refurbished sPICE (Subterranean Penang International Conference & Exhibition Centre) in Bayan Baru, seemed more popular than ever.
It attracted more than 21,000 people and over 1,500 competitors — a 50 per cent increase over the last one — making it one of the largest of its kind.
There were umpteen categories ranging from cocktail making to fruit and vegetable carving, hot and cold displays, and, of course, the cooking of different foods.
Traditionally the domain of professionally-trained chefs and cooks, the event is a place for them to showcase their skills, pitting them against others so they know where they stand in the culinary world, both locally and internationally, as competitors come from eight different countries including Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Such events are also important places for learning new trends and networking. It’s a gruelling time both for the competitors and also for the judges; after 80 plates of beef, cooked (or not, as the case may be) done in every which way, believe you me, judging is not as easy as it looks!
Closer to home, it was great to discover that not only was the Traditional Nyonya Cooking category present once more, but that it is growing.
This cuisine, which had been slowly dying just a decade before, is surely reviving: this year, a total of 10 gutsy pairs participated, both young and not-so-young chefs as well as local Penangites who wanted to try their hand at competitive cooking.
Together with our very own celebrity chef and writer Amy Beh, Yau Kok Kheong, Executive Chef of the Dorsett Regency Hotel in KL and Chef Eric Wong from Singapore, we sampled the six-course meals, which had to be cooked from scratch in under two hours.
There was Ayam Pongteh, Chicken Kari Kapitan, Nasi Ulam, Kueh Pie Tee and other Nyonya specialties, both northern and southern, presented in contemporary ways.
A few of the dishes being whipped up were pretty similar... I would have liked to have seen a few more long-forgotten dishes being revived like the delicious but rare Sambal Goreng, and Perut Ikan for example. Perhaps we will one day.
However, it was great to see several self-styled home chefs taking part, like mother-and-daughter team Chung Nee Hong, 73, and Lee Chin See, 42, from Perak Road in George Town.
“I wanted to give my mum some memories, as she is growing old. We’ve always loved her home-cooked food,” said Lee. Mum Nee Hong, aka Madam Phoenix, who has the honour of probably being the oldest participant ever in the battles, said she enjoyed the experience and when asked if she would do it again next time responded with a chirpy, “Sure! Why not?”
Congratulations go to them for clinching a bronze, and to Nyonya Su Pei who teamed up with The Notti Chef Prudence Loh from KL for their well-deserved silver. Penangites and hotel chefs the Yoong Brothers were awarded the top prize of a gold medal for their tasty and authentic dishes.
According to Chief Judge Otto Weibel, a veteran chef and judge who has been involved with competitive cooking for the past 30 years, this can only be a good thing. “All over Asia, youngsters have forgotten their roots and don’t know how to cook their own kind of food anymore.”
It is events like these, which will help to ensure we work harder to keep our heritage cuisines alive, and kudos to Chefs Association Malaysia for including it.
