Who says I'm a Nigella wannabe?
She will leave that label to British domestic goddess Nigella Lawson and her coquettish ways.
Yet Vivien's television series, Dish With Vivien, which ended its run on Arts Central recently, has got some comparing her to Nigella. But the 35-year-old Lush FM deejay and television host says she is anything but a coquette.
She's more a 'creative cook', she insists, who tries out new recipes 'all the time'.
'Most of my dishes are experiments,' she says.
When she is out, nothing seduces her quite like a good hawker meal served piping hot, adds the foodie, who will be married four years in June. Her favourite dishes include tandoori chicken pasta, roasted vegetable pasta and vodka penne. She also likes her grandmother's chicken rice, eggplant, humus, tsatziki dips along with marinated bell peppers.
Q Dish With Vivien featured you getting your hands dirty in the kitchen. In real life, how often do you do this?
A As often as my schedule permits. I have waves of crazy cooking when the kitchen calls.
Q If music be the food of love, what appetite does food feed?
A Music is much more ethereal and cerebral. Food is a lusty passion and sensual pleasure. You can have a quickie with food.
Q There were any number of aphrodisiacs on Dish With Vivien. What do you recommend as the most effective?
A Ice cream! The smooth texture that melts in your mouth, the seductive way you can devour the soft, cool, unctuous cream. Or you can seductively spread it on your body...
Q Nigella Lawson is noted for not only being a kitchen goddess, but also a pretty sexy one at that. What makes a woman engaged in sweaty toil in the kitchen so sexy?
A I think it is a primal instinct from the Stone Age, when men were the hunters and the women were gatherers who also prepared the meals. Seeing a woman at work in the kitchen triggers the pleasure endorphins. When you see a woman in the kitchen, you see a yummy meal. Something good to eat.
Q Nigella's presentation style has been labelled 'gastro-porn', whatever the quality of her recipes. What's more important in a foodie presenter, that she looks yummy or that the food tastes yummy?
A Nigella is great at looking seductive and serving up a sexy-looking show. The camera angles, the soft focus, the styling and a director who knows what he is doing have all created that image.
What's important for me is a show with purpose. I would like to present one that is more informative about the health benefits of various foods, well-researched and directed, keeping dishes so simple that they are easily reproduced in any type of kitchen and making tasty healthy dishes.
Q While Nigella graces the Tuscan countryside to show off her pasta servings, you get the Jurong fish market. What does that do to the 'glam' factor of your programme?
A Boosts it up big time, of course! Aiyoh - are you trying to tell me that market sellers and fishmongers are not sexy?
The white singlets and flip-flops are far more sensual than, say, a tuxedo.
The gum boots reveal sinewy calf muscles. The flick of the wrist when the cleaver chops the head off a fish and the casual toss in the basket. Pure grace.
Q Celebrity chefs are today's game-show hosts. If you had to merge both for an all-new concept, what would you suggest?
A Cook a three-course meal under 1,500 calories, make it nutritionally healthy and tasty and get a whole family to eat it.
Q What are your guilty kitchen pleasures?
A I cook in boxer shorts and have a chandelier in my kitchen.
Q If you could say just one thing to Nigella, what would it be?
A You are doing great gal, thank you for making voluptuous sexy! And could you please find new adjectives besides 'delicious'.
Q You and Nigella in an Iron Chef showdown - what would be your strategy for beating her?
A Easy - I would kidnap her lip gloss. She would fold without it.
Q Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential exposes the dark side of working in the kitchen. How would you suggest he deals with the angst?
A I am not sure, perhaps it is because someone like Bourdain may feel caged between his gas hobs and coolers. He needs a kitchen with a view of a garden and pretty wagtails dancing in the frangipani.
Q We've heard of model-turned- actress, model-turned-businesswoman, but model-turned-domestic goddess doesn't happen every day. What happens to a model when she turns to the kitchen?
A She either goes from waif to woman. Or anorexic to bulimic.
Q Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver went to schools to make sure children in England were eating better and thinking better. If you could raid school canteens, what would you ban?
A Sugared drinks and instant noodles. The last thing you want in class is hyperactive students bouncing off the walls.
Q Martha Stewart is known to take food presentation to the extreme - does that work for you?
A Only for super-special occasions. I find that no one remembers the presentation, only how good the food tastes. In Singapore, foodies are more concerned with the taste than the ambience. We will travel miles to get the best food.
Q What's the one food sighting you just cannot resist?
A A piping hot thosai with chutney floats my boat.
Q Any plans to work with KF Seetoh of Makansutra fame?
A Would love to. He's my Food Idol!
Q Your recent programmes have to do with food and travel, travel and food. If you have to pick one or the other, which would it be?
A Both are my passions. They are inextricably intertwined. I seem to always remember good and horrible meals on my travels. Double clotted cream in Devon, England (yum). Hainanese chicken rice in Hainan (not as good as mine). Fried ants in Bali (crispy). Pizza in Naples and Li Jiang ('same same' but different and delicious).
Q The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach - true or false?
A Not necessarily true. It still takes good first impressions, but if you want to keep them coming back for second helpings - then cook up a storm!
Q If you had to pick only one of these comfort foods, which would it be: a) chocolate, b) ice cream, c) char kway teow?
A Char kway teow! I'm a local gal 'at tummy''. Who says I'm a Nigella wannabe?
posted by Alex at
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