SINGAPORE SUN FESTIVAL
VANNIYA SIANGURA
The curtains at the second Singapore Sun Festival closed beautifully with more than 30,000 visitors from all over the world attending some of the hundred or so activities of the 10-day fest.
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| Top chefs agree that in the right hands there can be some very refined things that come from approaching things differently, says celebrity American chef, Charlie Trotter, referring to popular fusion cuisine. |
Established in 2002 in Tuscany, Italy, the festival originally focussed on arts and music. In 2005 it was extended to California's Napa Valley and in 2007 came the first Singapore Sun Festival, the only one of its kind in Asia. The event held under the sun of the Lion City styled itself as "a celebration of the arts and the art of living well" and presented a calendar full of music, visual arts, film, literature, wine, cuisine and wellness activities. It was criticized by local media as the festival with the most sweeping theme.
Promising to be a feast for all the senses, among this year's various musical concerts, art exhibitions, and yoga classes, to name just a few, were 13 prominent events dedicated to cuisine and wine. These gastronomical series revolves around four world-class chefs Charlie Trotter, Riccardo Genovesi, Luke Mangan and Samia Ahad.
I was lucky to have an opportunity to talk with globally famous Charlie Trotter who had flown straight from Chicago to prepare a sumptuous meal at the 2008 Singapore Wine Auction & Gala Dinner, which was a part of the festival. He was also to conduct his own cooking class and a signature dinner, both of which were among the event's highlights.
An author of 14 cookbooks and a founder of one of the world's finest restaurants, where the waiting list can be as long as six months, Trotter is best cherished for being a true visionary of modern, innovative and cosmopolitan cuisine.
"For many years people have said to me that my food has a strong Asian influence because it's light, using a lot of seafood and vegetables while the flavours are distinctive but refined. But to tell you the truth, I have hardly spent time outside of my kitchens let alone in any Asian country," he said.
The genial and funny Trotter, obviously unlike the typical furious chef that he was portrayed in the 1997 Hollywood hit, My Best Friend's Wedding, noted that because his cuisine is wine orientated, he doesn't like to use a lot of spice or high heat in his food.
"I'd like to describe my culinary style as being derivative of a western European model where for the past three hundred years the greatest wine in the world were produced. And if you want to stay rooted to the wine friendly cuisine you cannot deviate too far from the time honoured combination that existed in this part of the world. Yet, I often find myself drawn more to an Asian minimalist aesthetic, because we never use cream or butter. We never use heavy concentrations. We don't serve big pieces of meat and the vegetables must be more important on a plate."
Purity, delicateness, lightness and a variety of textures are what inspire him most about Asian cuisine. And Thai food is among his most favourite thanks to its straightforward flavours and fieriness.
"The so-call Asian cuisine is exploding with popularity in the United States. For the longest time we'd had something that was formerly known as Chinese food and there were days that the Chinese people would eat this food and wouldn't even recognise it or wouldn't even know what some of these dishes were. Or days that both Japanese and Chinese food were listed on the same menu.
But as the American consumers - in fact, the global consumers - have become more sophisticated and more travelled, now you can find in the same neighbourhood various Vietnamese restaurants, a few very good Thai restaurants and several Chinese styles of dining. While Japanese cuisine is a high art now.
"Today you've also got a number western chefs who may have been trained in Europe and travelled the world. They are the one who are bringing in different influences, different cuisines and ingredients from around the globe to the US and trying to put them together."
And does the legendary chef count himself as one of the members of the "fusion" club?
"The word "fusion" has a mixed acceptances; some people like that word while some are offended by it. I have the distinct privilege to have been a speaker and a participant in the annual Madrid Fusion Conference for the past five years where we have discussed the whole idea of the validity of fusion cuisine: is it good, is it right, does it exist, is it profound, is it relevant anywhere in the world.
I think overall - maybe the media wouldn't agree - the top chefs agreed that in the right hands there can be some very refined thing that come from approaching things differently. For example, if I took a three week trip to India and were exposed to different types of curries or flavours, is it wrong for me to bring back and incorporate these elements in my food as long as I'm not reckless?
It's the same thing with music. Musicians have moved around the world for centuries. Great classical artists even picked up Spanish rhythms and incorporated them in the composition they produced in Vienna or Germany."
Trotter said that as the world shrinks and people have more access to new ingredients, it's the responsibility of the chefs to make sure that when incorporating influences from somewhere, they have a very steady hand and things make sense.
"My regret in life is that I've never been able to take a period of time to live in Bangkok or in Tokyo or in Shanghai and not just to eat in the street or in the restaurant but to be with the people and see things on a day to day basis. I have had that opportunity to live in France for six month but I've never really emerged myself in the Asian culture to truly understand it."
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