Zamzani Abdul Wahab, popularly known as Chef Zam is a Malaysian celebrity chef.

He is currently founder and principal dean of Silver Spoon University. He has been the Head of Special Projects at KDU College's School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts, Selangor, Malaysia for 11 years. He holds an Associate of Science degree in Hotel-Restaurant Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Hotel-Restaurant/Institutional Management (both from Johnson & Wales University, Providence, United States), as well as a Master of Arts degree in Hospitality Management from Thames Valley University in London. Here is an interview with Chef Zam about his view of culinary art.

-         At first, please tell us about yourself. How did you choose to be a chef? Where did you start?

-         I was born in Kuala Terengganu. When I finish my SKM that is equal to O-level, I applied for UITM that is the largest university in Malaysia. I got my diploma in chef training after 3 years. Then I start to work in several hotels like Hotel De Ville and Swiss Garden. At that time, I decided to try something different. So I joined Sony Music Entertainment as a promotion executive.

-         Did you sing any song too?

-          No. But it was a nice experience. I went to singers, musician, TV and magazines and they were amazing. After a while, I came back to culinary art. I got a job offer for teaching culinary art in Taylors University. I was teaching there for one year.

-         So you started teaching at that time as a job. But now it is a favorite part of your career, isn’t it?

-         Yes. I love teaching. It has always been very valuable experience for me to try to be a good teacher. Anyway, then I got a scholarship from the government to get my associate degree. I went to Johnson & Wales University in USA that is one of the best culinary and hospitality institution in America. At the same time, I was tutoring in the university just to make some extra money, but that helped me to find many international friends from Europe, South America, US and … Also for my first time, I met some Jewish people.

-         So you don’t have any Jewish in Malaysia?

-         No. That was the time I found out that it is not the people we are against. It is the government of Israel. In fact, before I got to US, I have never met a Jew in my life. So when I saw them, at first I was scared, but they were just like us. I believe that you got to know somebody to love somebody. Then I moved to New York and I got a job as a head chef in Manhatan. I had to change the menu. So I put some Malaysian dishes into the menu. We have two famous customers, Andrew McCarthy an actor and Christy Turlington a supermodel. They always ordered take away food and they loved my Mee Mama (the Mama Style fried noodle).

-         You were going to be disconnected from your country. How did you come back to Malaysia?

-          I think it was my destiny. When I was working in Manhatan, I was offered a job by Tourism Malaysia office in New York to help them to promote 1 month Malaysian food and culture promotion inside the United Nations Building. I took up the job and it was very great experience, because if it was not for the event, I would never get in the United Nations Building. By 1997, it was 3 years that I was in US and I didn’t have enough money to come back and visit my family. So I searched for opportunities to continue my teaching career and I contacted some colleges and universities. Finally KDU asked me for a resume. After sending my resume, we had an interview through the phone and in less than 10 minutes I got the job. I was very lucky to get the job, because at that period of time, South East Asia was experiencing the economic turmoil. I worked for KDU for 6 years and after that I told them I want to get my Master degree. It was very fortunate again. I think Allah gave me a very easy way. At that time, the dean of Thames Valley University came to KDU University to do a presentation about the university and I just opened my mouth and said I want to get my Master but I don’t have money. Would you give me a scholarship and in return, I would teach at your university for free. He asked my resume. After few weeks, I sent an email to ask for the result and they replied me with good news. They gave me a teaching scholarship.

-         Was it really so easy?

-         Allah made it easy for me. I am sure that I couldn’t make it on my own. So I didn’t have to pay the tuition fee that was around 7000 pounds per year. I wanted to go, but KDU didn’t let me go. So I wanted to resign, but they agreed to give me 2 years holiday. I went to London and I did my Master degree and I was teaching at the same time in the same university. I was also doing some cooking demonstration for a food company from Malaysia called Ibrahim’s. They were exporting foods to UK. Matrade(National trade promotion agency of Malaysia)also engaged me to run a Malaysian restaurant in London International Food Exhibition 2005. It is the largest food exhibition in Europe.

After 2 years I came back to KDU in Malaysia. They promoted me from lecturer to senior lecturer. I worked as senior lecturer for 2 years and then they promoted me to Head of Special Projects at KDU College's School of Hospitality.

-         That was a long and amazing adventure. I think you should be happy to have such a life.

-         Sure. I have many friends all over the world and it shows that we have good days together.

-         How did you establish Silver Spoon University?

-         In fact, one of my friends gave me the idea. We started 6 months after our discussion. I should thank Allah who opened my way and made it easier for me to go on.

-         Chef Zam, give me please an explanation about culinary and the reason we call it art.

-         It is a combination of art and science. You have to understand the science if cooking. What happens when you subject food to heat? When you pour tea in hot water, what happens? Or when you break an egg into a hot pan, why suddenly it turns from a transparent liquid to opaque solid? You got to understand these things, if you like to be a good chef. It is science. The art is the way you make the food pretty. We like everything pretty. That’s why we say, we eat with our eyes first. If the food looks nice to us, we want to eat it. If it looks horrible, without knowing the taste we don’t want to eat it. As a chef, you should know both sides. A lot of people know how to cook, but they don’t understand what happens to the food during cooking. For example, you make Kebab one day and it tastes nice, but the day after with the same recipe it doesn’t taste nice. Some day you cook rice and it is beautiful, but another day it is wet. Why?

-         That’s a common problem about the rice.

-         You may use the same amount of water, but if the rice is from different bag, they have different moisture content.

-         You talk very passionate about the culinary. Does this job satisfy you mentally?

-         Yes, because food brings people together. In Ramadan, it is a Malay culture to cook food and send it to neighbors. So food makes people closer together. I’m sure you have the same culture in Iran. If you have some disagreement with somebody, just go to talk over lunch or dinner. It is easier to reach an agreement. It shows that food is important. It is something magical about the food that brings people together. You can have most expensive car, most expensive house or anything else but these things can not attract people as food does. It is even about basic foods. It doesn’t have to be expensive food. Just normal simple food can make people sit together, eat and talk and to be nice.

-         May you tell us the history of Malay food and its origin? Many foreigners after tasting Malay food take it as Indian food.

-         Malaysia comprises many races, cultures and traditions. The main one is Malay, then Chinese and then Indian. If you go to Melaka, you can also find Portuguese foods. If you go to Penang, you can find Nyonya people who are Chinese who practice Malay costumes. Then if you go to Sabah and Sarawak, you can see other different ethnic with different costumes. Malay people are originated from Java land. Javanese people and Bugis came to Malaysia and they brought with them their culture and their food as a part of it. They had to adopt their food with local herbs of here. So it became Malay food. In Chinese food here we have old curry which is originated from India, but they make it here sweeter and less spicy.

-         So all the foods here are mixed.

-         Yes. Particularly Malay food is a combination of Indian, Arabic and Indonesian food. We composed them to become our identity. You can see also Chinese costumes like steam cooking. Malay people traditionally do not use steam cooking. This is the beauty of Malaysia.

-         A common question about local restaurants is which one is Malay and which one is Mama.

-         Mama definition is Indian by race and Muslim by religion. They usually had food stalls by the roadsides, but now even Pelita or Kayu Nasi Kandar and even Malay food stalls are called Mama. It is wrong. It is a common mistake. Do you have Mama Restaurants in Iran?

-         No. But in some areas of large cities there are food stalls like here.

-         I think food and drink in Iran is not as important as Malaysia. When I was in Iran, I went to old Bazaar in Tehran. It was interesting, but there was no coffee shop. There was only one guy carrying tea and hot water. It was very strange for me.

-         The reason may be that the area is too expensive to run a coffee shop. They prefer to trade there. Back to Mama Restaurant, I have heard from a local chef that they are using low quality and unhealthy ingredients in their food. For example, they use recycled oil in cooking.

-         That’s right, but it goes down to how much you are going to pay. If they use good quality products, they have to sell it in a higher price and people don’t buy. Again I blame the consumers, because they want to have cheap food. Where in world could you get that? You get what you pay for. Of course it is not good, but that is the way it is. Even now in some big restaurant they use cycled oil and you know that it is a thick, dark and smelly liquid that is very harmful for human body. Unfortunately the law and regulation in this country is not very strict. In Europe such things never happen. We are a new country, but for example Iran is an old country. Our people are not as advanced as people of Europe and our law makers have to compromise with their expectations.

-         It seems that there is no supervision on restaurants in Malaysia and it is dangerous for people who eat out in restaurants regularly.

-         In fact, Malaysian Food Act was enacted in 1983 and it is not updated yet. But who follows that act? And how much can be the enforcement strict? We know that there is not enough enforcement in this section.

-         Maybe because there will be a lot of conflicts with people who are living on food making. So what do you recommend to solve the problem?

-         In Malaysia, everybody likes to create and implement something, but there is no maintenance and no follow through to see that it is successful. That’s the problem here. Whenever they create something, they don’t foresee what will happen to it in the next 10 or 20 years. They do it for today and if it doesn’t work tomorrow, they will start another one. This has to change. Our politician and law makers should be among people who are working in that field. Then they will be ministers not just for winning votes. If no, they don’t understand what is going on. They do and say stupid things and they don’t accept advices. 

-         I think it is a global common problem. Let’s go back to Malay food. The important question about the Malay food is whether it is healthy or not?

-         I think the healthiest food in the world is Japanese, because they use fresh ingredients and don’t use so much oil and coconut milk. But if you see in every country, traditional foods are not healthy. In Iran also you use a lot of fat and oil. Malay and Indonesian food has a lot of coconut milk and oil. European food is full of butter and cream. They are not healthy, but we can make it healthy. I believe you can still enjoy authentic traditional food, but in a healthy way. It is important how much you eat, when you eat and what exercises you have in your daily life.

-         But normally in local restaurants in Malaysia you can see people eat very oily foods like Koay Teow with a glass of drink with ice.

-         I never blame the food. I blame the person who eats it this way. When you eat oily food and after that you drink an icy drink, ice makes the oil and fat solid. You should drink something like Chinese tea to wash it out. So it’s not the problem with the food, it’s with the people who eat it this way.

-         Malaysian people are used to eat out in restaurants. It seems that Malay people are losing their cooking skills. What do you think about it?

-         That’s right. Because of modern way of life, most people in large cities have no time to cook in home and as a result, they need no cooking skills. It’s not strange when

you see people who can’t even fry an egg. It is shameful. Cooking is a living skill. A skill that you can survive with it all over the world.

-         Anyway, with all the things we said about Malaysian food, when I compare it to Iranian food, I should say that your food is more known in the world. We couldn’t introduce our food to other people. We even couldn’t introduce our local foods to our people. What solution do suggest for this problem?

-         Every country has its tourism bureau. They should be more proactive. I know that Iran government doesn’t have good relation with US and Europe, but it has good relation with Malaysia and many other Muslim countries. In Malaysia we focused on local tourism destinations coupled with food and it was successful. It has to be with food. I wanted to do it in Iran when I was in Iran. I had several meeting with the directors, but there was no follow up. I wanted to make some TV shows about Iranian food and show it in Malaysia to persuade Malaysians to go to Iran. It is very easy, because Air Asia has a lot of flights to Tehran. That was the solution, but they didn’t move. I met managers of ten big hotels, but none of them moved to do anything. I sent them some emails, but no one replied. I met some government managers and they were very excited when I explained them my plans and asked me to send them a proposal. After I sent it, they changed it several times and finally I gave up. They wanted to send students to Malaysia and they invited me to have lectures in Iran, but when I came back to Malaysia, nothing happened.

-         I think it is interesting for many Iranian to study culinary art in Malaysia. It needs just promoting.

-         I love to go to Iran and teach Iranian students. I love the country, its history and its very friendly people. But the management is the problem there. I went to a culinary college in Iran which was working more than 20 years. They were very proud of it. When I taste their food, it was not good at all. They didn’t have the proper equipment. They didn’t even have proper plates, but the students were very proud of what they were doing. That is the spirit I love. I love to go and show them something modern. Something the world is doing. But how can I do that? Who will prepare things we need to go and teach them? So it is better for students to come here to learn. I know that some of these problems are related to the sanctions, but when there are another options, the managers and directors should choose the best.

I love to go to Iran and teach Iranian students. I love the country, its history and its very friendly people. But the management is the problem there.

In Malaysia we focused on local tourism destinations coupled with food and it was successful. It has to be with food. I wanted to do it in Iran when I was in Iran. I had several meeting with the directors, but there was no follow up. I wanted to make some TV shows about Iranian food and show it in Malaysia to persuade Malaysians to go to Iran. It is very easy, because Air Asia has a lot of flights to Tehran. That was the solution, but they didn’t move.