What memories of food do you have
from your childhood in Malaysia?At
that age, you think food is food. You
don’t realise that people make dishes
in different ways. I would see my aunts,
uncles and grandmothers do versions
of the same dishes. When my aunt
cooks the stuff that she used to cook
when I was younger, it brings back the
same memories. There’s a certain way
she cooked chicken and potatoes, there’s
a certain way she cooked spinach. Right
now, it’s making me hungry.Where did you go?Bars and restaurants,
hole-in-the-wall places. I did that for a few
months, and I really started to get into
that food-exploring culture. I wrote a local
guide to Melbourne. Otherwise you’re
just eating at a chain restaurant, right?You once did a stand-up routine for a fast-
food company. Was that the weirdest gig
you’ve done?I did a one-hour show to
one person once. I’ve been booed off
stage at a musical festival near Perth. I
basically had a fight with a racist person
at a festival in Parramatta once – this guy
threatened to kidnap me after a show.One of your most talked-about segments
onThe Daily Showwas your fiery response
to a racist Fox News clip filmed in
Chinatown during the 2016 US election.
What drove your reaction?Usually when
people make fun of Asian people, no one
really speaks up for them. It was just a clear
case of needing to say something about it.What was it like returning to Singapore
to filmCrazy Rich Asians?It was super
fun. My parents still live there; I grew
up there. It was all the highlights of
Singapore for one month. The food
is killer there, you know that.After shoots, you and co-star Henry
Golding would direct the cast on where
to eat, right?I don’t like to waste calories,
so everything we ate had to be the best
version of that dish in Singapore. So
there’s Tong Ah Eating House, a congee
place, Ah Chiang’s Porridge. There was
an out-of-control dim sum place called
Swee Choon Tim Sum. Mount Faber
Nasi Lemak was pretty fun.There were high hopes forCrazy Rich
Asians; it was the first Hollywood film with
an all-Asian cast in 25 years. Were you
nervous about how it would be received?
Before it came out, there was no real
way of knowing how it would go, but
a couple of things made me extremely
optimistic. On set, there was something
special going on. You could feel it.●Ronny
Chieng
The Daily Showcomedian on
strange gigs,Crazy Rich Asians
and where to eat in Singapore.
EATING WITH
You moved to Melbourne
to study law, which inspired
your sitcomRonny Chieng:
International Student. What
did you eat on campus?My
palate was much more simple.
We were eating such crap,
everything was “good”. It was
all about carbs. Anything that
had halfway decent carbs in
it, we’d eat it. We’d eat at the
end of the day, when takeaway
places were about to throw
food out, and it would be
cheaper. Pizza, fried rice: you
can get it for $3 if you buy it
just before closing.Your website has a section on where
to dine in Melbourne. Is that because
travelling comedians kept asking you
where to eat?When people would come
to visit, I would send them an email
saying, “these are the good places to eat
in Melbourne”. Actually, it goes even
further back than that. In university,
I wasn’t a very picky eater. Then my
girlfriend broke up with me and I was
pretty upset about it – to work myself out
of the hole, I decided to explore the city.Ronny Chieng appears onThe Daily Show,Ronny
Chieng: International Studentand tours Australia
in April. Visit ronnychieng.comGOURMET TRAVELLER 33How I eat
INTERVIEW LEE TRAN LAM.