Make sense of the world through food.

There are no rules. And there shouldn’t be rules.

Good food to me means this much- anything people from all walks of life can resonate with, and find comfort within. Hence, has nothing to do with its tangible costs and values.

My passion for food sprouted from family and ethnicity through wholesome, rustic home-cooking. Being raised in a traditional Asian family, food has been a make-or-break element of many of my greatest memories, and I’m lucky to have learnt the indispensability of good food to a good life at an early age. In that sense, maybe life isn’t just food, but food is life. It draws people together in a very real way.

Food culture and food systems are as diverse, intersectional, nuanced and complex as human beings. Just because everyone can make the most of what they eat, doesn’t mean they do. Just because there is enough food supply for the world in the present, doesn’t mean everyone has access to it. While this portrays an innate exploitation and patronising greed in the expense of capitalism, it carries a more enlightening symbolism - food is the most humane spectacle to life. That alone, holds the fundamentally imperative power, to change about everything we know about this world. Now this is where the magic truly begins.

To diligently, tenaciously curate a place where everyone can interdependently and collaboratively belong, we’re almost obligated to go back to our roots and hold on to the silver linings that made this our purpose from the very beginning. To tell stories beyond our existence. To extend the same compassion to other spheres of living while we still can.

Food brings out the greatness of humanity submerged in a world of cruelty, competition and corruption. More than anything, I believe that the grounding elements and craftsmanship behind culinary arts can eulogise the essence of ‘good food to a good life’, under its boundless umbrella of unrequited love and empathy. Where you come from, the things people identify with, social economic statuses shouldn’t stand in the way either. Appraising food is for everyone and always will be.

The idea that your greatest food memory can be nothing more than a humble bowl of canned tomato soup your parents reheated on a cold rainy day, makes food inherently intimate and personable in its nature. More importantly, it makes it so real and authentic, regardless if you’re a ‘professionally trained’ chef or not. There are no rules. And there shouldn’t be rules.

That is, what I preach. That is also, the change I want to lead and be a part of. A struggle I choose to live by, simply because it fuels me with a purpose for it to be worth every try.