Seaside Foraging and Eurasian Cuisine

MasterChef Singapore judge Damian D’Silva grew up by the sea and spent many happy hours foraging for horseshoe crabs, shellfish and sea snails that would end up in the cooking pot. In this episode, he talks about how his childhood and grandfather influenced his cooking philosophy, when he found his calling in the kitchen (later than you'd expect), and what's left for him after winning the prestigious culinary award La Liste.

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What Damian Talked About

02:15 – Why Damian chose to cook sea snail and papaya curry on From Book to Cook
04:26 – Foraging in the sea and on land
07:46 – His fascination with Western culture and food as a teenager
08:28 – The Malay and Peranakan version of the sea snail and papaya curry dish
08:50 – His experience of growing up in a community with different ethnicities
10:09 – Foraging for horseshoe crabs and cooking them
12:32 – About his grandfather, who had the greatest influence on Damian’s cooking journey
14:20 – The difference between a cook and a chief
18:01 – When Damian found out that cooking is his calling
20:26 – Why heritage cuisine is important
22:45 – How Eurasian cuisine is unique
25:23 – What’s next for Damian D’Silva after winning the Artisan & Authenticity Award 2024 from La Liste
27:53 – Why he has not written a cookbook
29:18 – The hardest thing about being a chef
32:28 – The one thing Damian would rather buy than make on his own
34:06 – Food is…

About the Guest

Chef Damian D’Silva is a judge on MasterChef Singapore and the first Singaporean to be awarded the prestigious culinary prize Artisan & Authenticity Award 2024 from La Liste, a French ranking and restaurants guide. An advocate for local culinary heritage, he helms Rempapa, a multicultural restaurant serving dishes from the ethnicities in Singapore.

Resources

Melissa De Silva, "Meeting with the Sea," BiblioAsia 13 no. 1 (April–June 2017).

João Oliveira, "Portugal's Linguistic Legacy in Southeast Asia," BiblioAsia 19, no. 1 (April–June 2023).

Quentin Pereira, Eurasian Heritage Cooking (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Cuisine, 2012). (From National Library, Singapore, call no. RSEA

Credits

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by One Dash. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Osman Ahmad and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Damian for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library of Singapore.