059http://www.wnd.sgFounded in 2001, At-Sunrice GlobalAcademy is
one of the main institutes in Singapore offering
culinary education for aspiring professional chefs.
Their students come from more than 30 countries,
including India, China and ASEAN countries such as
Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Through diplomas
with pathways to degrees, specialist diplomas and a
host of other professional programmes, the institute
hopes to groom the next generation of chefs in
Singapore and the region.
How does the academy prepare its students for a
culinary career on the world stage?
We do this through our East & West, Old World
& New World cuisines curriculum and Study &
Apprentice pedagogy, coupled with immersion in
a very diverse student body and faculty from many
countries. Our students are very much exposed
to many world class events. In addition, our
synchronised alternate one-week study and two
weeks apprenticeship from the fourth month of the
diploma programme also means after three months,
a student can be apprenticing in a two-Michelin-
starred restaurant. It’s not that the student has the
skills already, but it’s the talent scouting. We profile
the applicants and for the first three months, there
is a lot of grooming where we impart foundational
skills and instil the right attitude and discipline in
them.
Could you mention two or three local or
specifically At-Sunrice trained chefs who have
gone on to greater things?
We have so many. I can highlight the two who have
attained their one Michelin star. Malcolm Lee of
Candlenut and Han Li Guang of Labyrinth. Both are
graduates of local universities and they enrolled with
At-Sunrice because they wanted to have their own
restaurants. What we are very proud of them is that
they didn’t just open very good restaurants. They
created their own styles of cuisine. Malcolm started
with traditional Peranakan cuisine and Han started
with modern Singaporean cuisine, but both have
evolved.
Are there enough students interested in pursuing
a chef’s career?
Yes, it is a profession with little barriers except for
one’s own passion. With the very high Singapore
Skills Future Agency (SSG) tuition subsidy, there are
no financial constraints. Many chefs are willing to
take in apprentice for their industrial attachment, so
there is a lot of industry support. I believe Singapore
is probably the only country in the world where there
is immerse tripartite collaborations to support the
training and qualification of trainee chefs through
the government SSG high tuition subsidy, industry
accepting of apprentice and internship and skills and
education delivered by quality training institutions.Does the academy have any plans to have local,
new-gen hawker or mod-Sin cuisine specific
modules in the future?
In May, we started two four-day hawker cuisine
courses—Traditional Chinese Hawker Fare and
Traditional Malay Hawker Fare. In the plating
modules of these courses, Asian cuisine recipes are
used but the plating can be done in a mod-Sin, fine
dining French or even Japanese style. In addition,
from September this year, SSG has introduced
heritage cuisine in the diploma curriculum. Hence we
shall include Singapore local cuisine in this part of
the diploma core curriculum.How do you plan to make At-Sunrice’s culinary
education credentials even more credible, as it
strives to attract both local and international
students?
There are a few new programmes I would like
to share. One is the Specialist Diploma in Food
Entrepreneurship, a six-month programme that cross
fertilises six disciplines—sustainability, wellbeing,
tourism, journalism, education and charities. Many
restaurant groups and food companies have signed
their staff up to work on their company’s innovative
projects.
Another is the Singapore NotebyNote Cooking
programme lab we are creating with chef Andre
Chiang, RAW Taipei, local universities, and Professor
Hervé This, Professor of Chemistry at the French
National Academy of Sciences. Professor This is the
founder of note-by-note cooking, or the concept of
breaking down vegetables and grains into compounds
to create new ingredients, new cuisines and new
dining concepts that help to promote sustainable
dining from farm to fork with zero waste. The first
of these NotebyNote 4-day classes will be offered in
September.