17-year-old aspiring chef’s OPEN Kitchen invitation

SINGAPORE – When Joshua Tang was 13, his father gifted him with a set of knives.

Over the years, he has cut himself several times, but it was par for the cause. Now 17, he has learned to properly handle a knife and is an aspiring chef.

“When my dad saw that I had interest in cooking, he said ‘let’s get you a set of knives that you can take care of and that you can use,” said Tang.

“The most important lesson that I’ve ever learnt about using a knife is that the knife has got to be sharp. If it’s blunt, it’s going to slip everywhere,” he said.

Tang is among 27 home cooks who will be featured in the OPEN Kitchens event as part of this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA). Members of the public are invited to join the home cooks in kitchens to cook with them, and share their own personal culinary stories, which will take place at various locations next month.

Tang started showing interest in cooking when he was eight-years-old. As a young boy, he often helped his father in the kitchen and started cooking on his own when he was 13. “I can’t draw, I can’t sing. Cooking used to be the only art form I was good at,” Tang said, who cooks for the family at least once or twice a week.

The Singapore Polytechnic student’s connection with food started from his father and grandfather who are avid home cooks. Tang also picked up cooking tips from cooking videos on YouTube and from watching shows such as MasterChef and Kitchen Nightmares. “I watch the things chefs do on YouTube and then I try it on my own.”

Tang, who is studying for a diploma in Tourism and Resort Management, will be presenting Pork loin, crackling, truffled cabbage and an apple sauce, Mushroom “risotto” with a parmesan crisp as well as a surprise third dish at the OPEN Kitchens event.

The dish is a tribute to his father and grandfather. “One of my best memories of (my grandfather) was of him sharing his favourite part of that (pork) cut, which is the crackling,” Tang said. The risotto is an ode to his dad. “It’s a memory that I have with my dad. When I wasn’t tall enough to reach the stove, I used to stand on a stool next to him and I’ll just be stirring the risotto.”

OPEN Kitchens’ organiser Noorlinah Mohamed, 49, wanted to introduce a cooking event that the public can engage in and felt that home cooks were a perfect fit. “All of them have a very different story, and all of them have different ways in engaging with food. I really think that every single home cook has got a very special story to tell,” Noorlinah said.

O.P.E.N. concession passes are priced at S$45 each, inclusive of entry to one kitchen event and up to six SIFA films. Passes are available from SISTIC.