Seaside Foraging and Eurasian Cuisine

MasterChef Singapore judge Damian D’Silva grew up by the sea and spent many happy hours foraging for horseshoe crabs, shellfish and sea snails that would end up in the cooking pot. In this episode, he talks about how his childhood and grandfather influenced his cooking philosophy, when he found his calling in the kitchen (later than you'd expect), and what's left for him after winning the prestigious culinary award La Liste.Chef Damian D’Silva is a judge on MasterChef Singapore and the first Singaporean to be awarded the prestigious culinary prize Artisan & Authenticity Award 2024 from La Liste, a French ranking and restaurants guide. An advocate for local culinary heritage, he helms Rempapa, a multicultural restaurant serving dishes from the ethnicities in Singapore.What Damian Talked About02:15 – Why Damian chose to cook sea snail and papaya curry on From Book to Cook04:26 – Foraging in the sea and on land07:46 – His fascination with Western culture and food as a teenager08:28 – The Malay and Peranakan version of the sea snail and papaya curry dish08:50 – His experience of growing up in a community with different ethnicities10:09 – Foraging for horseshoe crabs and cooking them12:32 – About his grandfather, who had the greatest influence on Damian’s cooking journey14:20 – The difference between a cook and a chief18:01 – When Damian found out that cooking is his calling20:26 – Why heritage cuisine is important22:45 – How Eurasian cuisine is unique25:23 – What’s next for Damian D’Silva after winning the Artisan & Authenticity Award 2024 from La Liste27:53 – Why he has not written a cookbook29:18 – The hardest thing about being a chef32:28 – The one thing Damian would rather buy than make on his own34:06 – Food is…Transcript and ResourcesRead the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/podcast-sea-foraging-eurasian-cuisine/Watch Damian make sea snail and papaya curry: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/videos-sea-snail-papaya-curry/Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore: https://form.gov.sg/616799db4d9b61001398f79bThis episode of BiblioAsia Podcast was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Damian for coming on the show.The BiblioAsia Podcast by the National Library Singapore tells stories about Singapore history.