Adam Liaw

Adam Liaw winner of Masterchef season 2 was in town this week.  I managed to get into one of his sessions at a wonderful independent bookshop here in Brisbane - Avid Reader.   They are very active in the literary scene having more than one published author working there plus an amazing owner Fiona who is currently a judge for The Australian/Vogel Literary Prize and The Stella Prize.  I always enjoy heading there from my side of town to bohemian West End, full of interesting shops and people.  The venue was packed as usual at one of their events (the courtyard is not huge) and crammed with happy and interesting people.  I was lucky enough to sit in the front row so I got a bird's-eye view of everything.  Adam was standing right in front of me, so I got a great close-up!  He looks and sounds exactly as he did on Masterchef and as he does on his current TV show Destination Flavour.  He was warm and funny, and told us lots of stories about his life (he spent 7 years in Japan before being inveigled into coming back to Oz for Masterchef.)  He now has a young son which he said has changed the way he thinks about food in that he is looking for more quick and easy recipes after a hard day's work.  He regaled us with interesting snippets about filming Masterchef; for example when they were given 90 seconds in the pantry it was really only 90 seconds but as the pantry was quite small and had to fit a producer and a camera man and soundman too, they had to take it in turns to go in.  He said some contestants were quite strategic and tried to be further back in the line so that they got more time waiting so they could come up with an idea for the dish they were about to create.  Very clever! He said he didn't think that way and just took his position wherever it fell.
He also gave us some insights into writing his cookbooks.  He said some cooks just allow their name to be put on a book but he definitely wants them to be his books.  He said he just keeps cooking and writes down the recipes over time; after a few months he can see a pattern emerge and he uses these as the basis for his next book.  He does not want his books to be overtly Asian he said as this may intimidate some people, so he doesn't allow the stylist to use chopsticks or anything Asian looking.  He also said that we should all aspire to be food photographers as they have the easiest job in the world.  He told us the home economist cooks, the stylist styles, and it is all done with natural lighting so the photographer just clicks the button on his computer when it is all ready.  I am sure he was joking (mostly?!) but it did sound like a breeze.
Next up he has another TV show in the offing (could be Northern Hemisphere I am thinking), and a couple of books in the works.  What a great night, and a lovely man!

Fiona introducing Adam

the man himself (about 2 feet away from me!)

his new book

I haven't tried any of his recipes yet but they did serve a couple of little dishes at the talk, and they were lovely.