Chef Speak

Sunny side up!

Chef Sunny de Ocampo, a personal master chef based in Australia, has a disposition that echoes his name. On a recent visit to India, he speaks of the marriage between different cuisines, served with a twist. By Neeti Mehra

Chef Sunny de Ocampo hopes that one day he will be able to serve the delectable galoti kebab back home in Australia with what he describes as a 'sunny side twist' - using his own style to transform the dish into a culinary art form (in this case by stuffing the velvety kebab with a secret ingredient).

A native Filipino, his family immigrated to Australia when he was in his teens. And cooking has been his passion from the time he can remember. Today, he has fingers deep in many pies, including a food show called eatgoodlife. Understandably, 'eating and leading a good life' is his motto and the ethos that underlies his food show. After all, he believes, the search for good food has always been a 'hunt'.

Over time, that hunt has moved away from the Neanderthal quest for quantity to a search for sublime quality. "Today the hunt is for the freshest produce. It's an educating process," he says. His show, co-hosted by his brother who is a 10 times Mr Australia crown holder and fitness guru, revolves around cultures and reflects his travels around the globe. It has a segment on food and fitness coaching as well. "Your body is a temple; one needs to nourish oneself and lead a well balanced life," says Chef Sunny, pointing out that Australians are not only conscious of the origin of food but also of its quality. "I put a lot of love and care in preparing dishes," he says, and adds poetically, "Food needs to be treated like a lady - treated gently, caressed and serenaded."

Early influences

For someone who has grown up in a kitchen, literally, the greatest influence in his life naturally has been his mother. "Born in an Asian family, I was always helping out in the kitchen," he said. The family migrated to Australia when he was fifteen where he went to a culinary school and apprenticed as a chef to fulfill his ambitions of wielding the ladle professionally.

He started his training at the Hilton kitchen where he worked with people from different parts of the globe. "It was a reprise of United Nations," he says in jest. "I learnt about their lives, their cultures and cuisines."

Giving a useful kitchen tip, he says, "If you want to learn then you have to ask, and I always ask," being generously blessed with the gift of the gab. Chef Sunny's mother passed on valuable advice as well as nifty kitchen tips. She told him that eternal happiness came from sharing, be it food, culture, passion or love - a philosophy that is in stark contrast to modern cooking, he points out, which is based on a battle for stars and adulation. His food is different he claims. "Each of my dishes is a journey. I reflect on the story behind it and balance the texture, taste and flavour," says the chef.

Indian spice

Armed with an arsenal of recipes from the Indian kitchen, the chef has an interesting take on India. He marvels at the myth and legend behind Indian cuisines that differ across its length and breadth and has been passed on from generation to generation. "Modern Australian cuisine is cuisines of émigrés - Indian, Philippines, French, Germans, Indonesian, Malaysian. All tastes, culture and spices melt in this cuisine.

Chefs, as modern day storytellers, marry two different flavours using different culinary techniques into a harmonious preparation." The most important thing, he feels, is simplicity in preparation plus using the freshest ingredients.

Speaking of trends, he says that while some are trapped in the fast food lane, others lean towards healthy food. In India, he says, he has enjoyed the flavours and the intricate mixture of spices. Likening the aforementioned galoti kebab to the most savoury chocolate, he is fascinated by its story reeled off by a fellow Indian chef as he tried to spear it unsuccessfully with a fork. Mistaking it for minced liver, he learnt it was made of spring lambs. "Only a trained hand can handle it. It truly is a work of art," he marvels.

He speaks warmly of his experience in India. The brotherhood in the kitchen is symbiotic, and crosses all barriers. Are there more women across the world joining these brothers-in-arms? He says he's noticed more women in the patisserie side, perhaps, due to the finesse in their fingers, while more men take to the frontline.

His message for aspiring chefs is that cooking is not a job, it is a lifestyle, and you need to love it. "The hospitality industry is very tough," he says and likens it to a freeway where one hurtles across at 200 kilometers per hour, where no one can slow down without consequences. "Everyone in the kitchen is connected. It is not an individual effort but teamwork. Universally, chefs have a brotherhood even though we speak different languages," and signs off with a beaming smile.