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Bjorn says: Will you still love me tomorrow?

Written by
Time Out Singapore editors
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Time Out Singapore’s chef columnist, Bjorn Shen of Artichoke, ponders the post-SG50 attitude towards local chefs.

Bjorn

Photo: Ahmad Iskandar Photography

I can bet most of you folks are rolling your eyes at this whole everything-also-SG50 syndrome by now. Everywhere you go, seemingly unrelated institutions and businesses are brandishing the logo and buzzword for reasons as relevant to Singapore as streaky bacon, photocopying machines and mountain bikes.

But it hasn't been all bad. As a Singaporean chef, this SG50 thingy has brought several of my local counterparts and I an abundance of opportunities. People are believing in us more than ever before.

It wasn't always like this, though. I recall when I was a kid helming my own kitchen back when I opened Artichoke in 2010. Customers would arrive excited having heard good reviews. They’d ask my manager, ‘So who’s the chef?’, to which he’d point at me through the kitchen window. This would often be met by an expression of anti-climax, followed by a disappointed, ‘Oh. Local guy, ah?’

There was another time when a buddy of mine, an American chef, came to help out at brunch. Several groups of customers started taking photos of him, assuming he was the head chef. When he clarified that I was the guy actually in charge, they looked pretty bummed out. It cut me deeper that most of these reactions came from my fellow Singaporeans.

So as you can imagine, I’m very thankful for this much-awaited wave of interest that’s washed up as a result of the jubilee celebrations. But this also raises the question: what happens after the SG50 hype dies down? Will the media, government agencies, corporations and society continue to be as fired up about local chefs as they hanker over international ‘celebrity’ names? Or were these efforts to butter us up just a flash in the pan (no pun intended)? Were we merely the poster boys of the SG50 bandwagon? I guess we’ll only know when SG51 rolls by.

In many other countries, there’s an enviable sense of hometown pride where people are equally excited about their homegrown talent as much as they are about overseas brands. Which means that as abused as this SG50 thing has been, it’s catalysed something great in the F&B industry. Let’s keep it going. I’m damn sure we can strive for that same balance between local and international, no?

In anticipation of this, I wanna lay it out for my fellow local chefs: BRING IT.

No one’s gonna give you a medal just ’cuz you’re from around here. I hope this interest sustains. If it does, more eyes will be on us. And if there’s ever a good time to take risks and get noticed, it’s now.

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