8 Days — October 05, 2017

8 DAYS | 91

BEHIND THE SCENE

8 DAYS | 91

MAIN PHOTO MARK LEE

CRACK THE COOKIE CODE

ELIZABETH LAZAN, the LA-based Singaporean actress, 34, on what

inspired her to make the short-form food/travelogue series on FYI.

Two for

the road:

Lazan with her

foodie pal Jeane

Reveendran.

Made in America:

In the US, Singapore

Noodles typically

consists of stir-fried

vermicelli with

vegetables, eggs, and

roasted pork.

It all started

with Singapore

Noodles.

On the show,

Lazan and her

bestie and co-host,

Jeane Reveendran,

journey across the US, exploring

various kinds of Asian-fusion

cuisines. “[When I was in LA], I

realised that Singapore Noodles

was such an iconic Eastern dish

there. But there’s no such thing

here in Singapore,” says Lazan

whose credits include the Elvin Ng-

starring Ch 8 serial I’m in Charge

and Kelvin Tong’s The Faith of Anna

Waters. “So I thought there was

something to all these American

adaptations of Chinese food, and it

snowballed from there.”

New York City — was closed, so we

asked a passerby to recommend

an Asian restaurant.” After each

meal, the duo crack open a pre-

bought fortune cookie, interpret

the message and act on it. For

instance, one quote read, “The

simplest answer is to act.” So

what did they do? They went

busking at Broadway. Yes, it’s

pretty arbitrary, but there lies

the fun. “The improvisation

element suits us because

Jeane and I are both actors.”

The show was conceived

for online viewing.

And that’s why each ep is

about four to five minutes

long. “Jeane and I like doing

random and fast-paced

content,” Lazan explains.

“We wanted bite-size

episodes, and honestly,

we wanted to just do it

and put it [on YouTube].

And then it found a home

on FYI.” Meanwhile,

Lazan is open to doing

a Singapore version of

Crack the Cookie Code.

“I’ll just go from East

Coast to West Coast.

Or, all the way from

Changi to Penang, by

bike, bus, train, boat

or even on foot. As

long as it involves

food, friendship and

adventure, I’m up

for it!”

Crack the Cookie

Code airs daily

on FYI (Starhub

Ch 404). It’s also on

fyiasia.tv.

The show’s unscripted.
“Everything was shot on
the fly,” says Lazan, who’s
of Chinese, Australian
and Italian descent. “In
fact, the first restaurant we
wanted to visit in episode one — in