COOKOUT

WOW ... it was a tiring but fantastic week, and I'm only just recovering from it.

No.1 Son flew in after finishing his first year at Uni last weekend, so we decided to combine a few things and drove down to KL to meet him there and at the same time see my 86-year old Dad. BTW he did it again - yet ANOTHER artificially-created orifice in his head; this time two more in his ears. However, it was good to see him again; he's maturing and starting to THINK (do teenagers?)

As for Dad, despite his back problem (he IS 86) Dad is doing well, and eats like a horse. His appetite is so good he eats easily four times what I do.



Then on Monday I checked into the Legend Hotel in town and proceeded to the KLCC Convention Centre, where I was one of the 55 judges in Culinaire Malaysia 2009 who were being briefed by Chairman of CAM (Chefs Association of Malaysia) Federico Michieletto. There were bigwigs from the culinary industry who had flown in from all over the world: US, Oz, HK etc. After the briefing there was a reception.

The competitions started in earnest the next day, and particularly for me - I was down to judge the "Heritage Nyonya" category which had 11 teams over 2 days. As the designated Head Judge dropped out as he felt he didn't know enough about nyonya food, and so they asked me to step in! WOW. Although honoured, I was a bit nervous - this is only my second big international competition, and I've never really been head judge before. However, it was fun, and I learnt a lot.

Firstly, I learnt that you shouldn't each too much when the first lot of dishes come round cos by the end of it you REALLY feel quite stuffed. Secondly, it's quite tiring being on your feet practically all day long, and thirdly, it's difficult getting a taxi in KL especially during rush hour and particularly when it rains! Apart from that, it was a great trip.

With over 800 contestants taking part in 30 categories, it was an organisational nightmare I think, but it was amazing how it all went so smoothly. Some of the displays were incredible.

Although there are some differences between northern and southern nyonya food, many dishes are similar. We had the usual stuff: Otak Otak, Kari Kapitan, Ulams, Kiam Chai Ark etc.

Winners were the Westin Hotel Kuala Lumpur team, who although novices when it came to nyonya food, put in a tremendous effort and impressed us all with not just their gung-ho attitude but work ethics and even went as far as learning how to make their own kueh ang ku and kueh ketayap, then recreating them there. And their food tasted quite authentic too. Having said that, I'm all nyonyad out!

Overall though, I was impressed by the standard , and it felt good to see the younger generation cooking dishes from this unique cuisine, and I laud the organisers for having the initiative to include this category in such a high profile competition. I hope it gives the wonderful, delicious food more exposure, and we will start seeing more of it being offered all over the country. It is after all one of our heritage foods!

The organisers - Chefs Association Malaysia, the Malaysian Food & Beverage Executives Association, and Malaysian Association of Hotels - also deserve a pat on the back for the smooth running of the whole thing - it is a massive project which took a year to organise. I truly take my hat off to them!