NEWSWEEK: I want to ask you about Singapore and food. For a place with only three million people, there seem to be a lot of good restaurants, both Asian and Western. What’s going on?
Chubby Hubby: One million expats. That’s a lot of hungry homesick foreigners to feed. We are also [affluent]. Our people have traveled and have eaten widely. I think any cosmopolitan city will inevitably end up with a great mix of cuisines from around the world.
How have blogs changed the conversation about food in the region?
I really don’t want to criticize traditional media food critics too much, but here in Singapore, two things have happened. First, many publications are tainted by advertising. Savvy readers have begun trusting certain publications and journalists less and less. Secondly, many traditional print journos are getting spoiled, expecting freebies left, right and center. Bloggers go to restaurants anonymously and pay for their own meals. They don’t dine with PR people and act like spoiled divas.
Hong Kong has more expats than that and yet it can be hit-or-miss… And it’s impossible to find good chicken rice in this town.
But you have awesome beef-ball noodles. You have amazing French food and restaurants that are much classier than anything in Singapore. Julien Bompard of Saint Julien contends that fine dining does not exist in Singapore, at least not at the level of Caprice or Gaddi’s . You also have this amazing phenomenon of private dining places, which we don’t. HK is actually pretty diverse.
Why do you blog as the “Chubby Hubby?”
I started Chubby Hubby in March 2005. I chose the name for a few reasons. First, I thought it was kind of funny. It’s what my wife calls me when she’s joking. It’s also one of my favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors—which, because it really does have the magical power of making a boy bigger, my wife has banned from our house. Lastly, call me a bad journalist, but I’m still a sucker for alliteration. It just sounds fun. When I started the blog, I was hoping for anonymity—which is totally gone these days, by the way.
Have you put on weight while food blogging?
Well, I was putting on weight anyway. Ever since I got married to a professional food writer and editor, I’ve been eating better and bigger meals more frequently. The most annoying thing is [that] she has one of those enviable Chinese girl metabolisms, the kind that somehow allows her to eat as much as she wants but not gain weight. I’m gaining weight for both of us.
How did you get unmasked as the person behind Chubby Hubby?
Too many friends in the media started using my name when they wrote about me. After a while, I just stopped trying to hide.
Why is your wife known on the blog as “S”?
Well, every gal is allowed a little mystery!
I noticed that you give away free phones. Has the blog become a business more than a hobby?
It’s a really fun and passionate thing to work on. The minute it becomes more of a business than a passion, I think I’ll hang up my keyboard. But because my readership has been growing, a few sponsors/advertisers have decided to work with me. I’m also very fortunate to have a friend who runs her own public relations company, specializing in food and beverages and hospitality. She’s actually been doing all of the hard work finding clients for me and negotiating sponsorship deals. It wasn’t something I actively wanted to get involved with, but I am very grateful it has happened.
What is your day job?
Until a few months ago I was a deputy director within Singapore’s National Arts Council looking after the visual and literary arts. In June, I left and set up a small media and lifestyle consultancy with my wife. I also still write; I just finished a cookbook for the Saint Julien restaurant here in Singapore. Lastly, the blog is taking more and more time.
How many hours do you put into your blog?
It ranges. Putting together a post that involves a recipe requires me or my wife to cook the dish. Then we need to photograph it. The actual writing doesn’t take that long—an hour or two at most per post. But the pre-production work can be time-consuming.
And the photography?
I do it myself. I’ve always loved taking pictures. My very first internship in the media was in the photo department of the Straits Times when I was 16. And while I went the route of writer/editor, I continued to shoot, occasionally professionally and often for fun. One of my favorite assignments was shooting the photos for “Lonely Planet World Food Malaysia and Singapore,” which my wife wrote. It was great to travel with her and shoot the book while on the road. We were also proud to be one of the very first “local” teams hired by Lonely Planet.
Why did you start reading food blogs?
I was doing research for the Singapore Writers Festival, which I was helping to organize. We wanted to include bloggers in the festival and I wanted to get more familiar with this scene. So many of the best food blogs offer good writing, gorgeous, drool-worthy photos, and workable recipes. Plus, you get to perv on someone’s life. It’s like watching your favorite soap opera and an episode of Jamie Oliver all at once. A few blogs in particular are really addictive: chez pim , Nordljus , The Traveler’s Lunchbox and Matt Bites .
Which blogs about food in Asia do you read regularly?
Noodlepie , by a well-known journo based in Vietnam. The best HK blog is Cha Xiu Bao . Does Australia count as Asia? I love Spiceblog . For gorgeous food porn from Japan, Chika’s blog, She Who Eats is stunning. Also brandoesq and greedygoose . Both excellent.
Do you still read magazines and newspapers?
I’m still a magazine junkie. I just came home from Borders last night armed with the latest Vanity Fair, Vogue, Blueprint and Vogue Entertaining + Travel. That said, the quality of a lot of writing and photos in blogs, like Traveler’s Lunchbox or Delicious Days rivals and betters many magazines. If they’re smart, magazine editors will start hiring these passionate and talented bloggers.
Where do your 80,000 hits a month come from? How many readers roughly outside of Singapore?
About 67 percent of the readership/hits are from Singapore. It helped that our prime minister mentioned the blog in his National Day Rally speech.
Does he read your blog regularly?
I really don’t know. I’d love to think he does. But it could also have been one of his aides that recommended the inclusion of my site. I’ve toyed with the idea of e-mailing his office and asking for an interview—specifically to talk about his own personal favorite foods—but I doubt that I’m gonna get granted that request.
I read the speech . It was a very nice plug.
Yah! And for the curry puff vendor, too. My sponsors were thrilled!
Do you like those curry puffs?
Can I say that I haven’t actually tried it without sounding stupid?
Your father served as Singapore’s ambassador in Washington and at the United Nations in New York, so you grew up near many of the best restaurants in the world. Did that shape your love and appreciation of fine food?
Tremendously. My father and brother are huge foodies. As a family, we ate out a lot and ate in as many places as possible. In both NYC and Washington, I had great fun exploring all the various ethnic foods available there. D.C. has great Ethiopian food, a cuisine I never expected to love. We also traveled a lot and once I was old enough (high school), I started to travel independently, greedily eating as many new things as possible. One of my best trips was backpacking across Greece and Turkey. The food was cheap but it was fun and very educational. Nothing beats trying a cuisine in its own country. I was also very fortunate that two of my father’s best friends, huge foodies, “adopted” me in university and took me to all of the best restaurants in NYC.
What is the philosophy behind the Chubby Hubby blog?
Live to eat, of course. Second to that (and boy am I going to catch hell for saying this comes second), love your spouse.
S cooks all the food, you shoot the food and both of you write the blog, right?
We both cook. I write most of the time. She contributes occasionally. I always shoot the pix. I think we fell in love partly because of our love of cooking. I cooked for her on our first date.
What did you cook?
I forget…
Clearly it was a good date.
Hah hah… even S forgets what I cooked. Just asked her. Her fave recipe from our early courtship was a stuffed cherry tomato; I stuffed it with marinated strawberries.
