THE STRAITS TIMES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11 2009 PAGE A8

SUMMITSCENE SIDELIGHTS
Dishing out the
taste of diplomacy
BY JOHN LUI
CORRESPONDENT
THIS is what economic cooperation
tastes like: it has eggs, flour, onions,
garlic, just a hint of cinnamon, and is
absolutely packed with mashed sweet
potato.
It is the small things that count
when you are preparing meals for the
10,000 officials at the Apec meetings
– such as making sure that one of the
smallest member economies, Papua
New Guinea, gets a place on the
ishing PowerPoint presentations?
Pizza and burgers.
But to knock the socks off the very
top people, you need to call in the
best. Yesterday, the Apec organising
committee unveiled a group of
white-smocked stars.
Their food will not only have to
taste good, but must be able to tell
the highest-level officials – at two
lunches at the Istana and a dinner at
the Esplanade – something about
Singapore.
In the words of Mr Soo Siew
Keong, programme chair with the
hospitality arm of the Apec Singapore
2009 Organising Committee, the
food has to be a “flavoursome
concoction blending the country’s

Learning at the loo menu, same as the big boys.

Hence, the kau-kau pie, or sweet
potato pie. It is the result of much
colourful multicultural heritage with
a dash of its global and cosmopolitan
outlook”.
recipe Googling and taste testing by Quite a mouthful to say, and more
(From left) Trade and Industry Minister Lim many dotted throughout the Apec venue – the chefs at Suntec Singapore. so for a bowl of soup.
Does it taste authentic? No one is But chef Otto Weibel, director of
Hng Kiang, Economic Development Board explains how Singapore met its water needs kitchens at the Fairmont Singapore
sure – there are no Papuans among
assistant managing director Quek Swee Kuan despite having limited natural resources. the kitchen staff. But as with much and a team member, thinks his
and MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC Baey Yam The series, known as the Singapore in diplomacy, it is the thought that consomme is up to the job.
Keng watch a multimedia display in a Suntec Showcase, aims to help Apec delegates learn counts.
So for Mexico,
Singapore washroom. more about the host nation. there will be fajitas.
The motion-activated installation – one of ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN Ceviche will remind box
guests of Peru. Dim
sum, Hong Kong.
Singapore will have

116 youths to rub

laksa, and Malaysia,
rendang. The
Canadians may
recognise hotcakes,
and for their
neighbours to the
south, it will be

shoulders with VIPs burgers.

Young delegates from
Apec region will mingle
with leaders and CEOs
BY LEE SEOK HWAI
CHINA undergraduate Chen Jing, 22,
feels very lucky to be visiting Singapore
this week, even though she has been here
twice in the past.
She is among 116 youths who beat tens
of thousands of young people from 18
economies around the world for the
chance to pick the brains of leaders and
businessmen – and vice-versa – who are
here for the Asia-Pacific Economic Coop-
eration (Apec) Leaders’ Week.
They will also visit Singapore attrac-
tions like the Night Safari as well as talk
to movie star Jet Li and Olympic
pole-vaulting legend Sergey Bubka.
The youths will describe their experi-
ences online on Facebook and Twitter.
Describing the selection process in Chi-
na, Ms Chen, who is studying journalism
and English literature in Beijing Foreign
Studies University, said the contest was
reminiscent of the American reality show
The Apprentice.
There were about 30,000 applicants
for eight spots, vying to ace in pub-
lic-speaking in English and interviewing
skills. On top of that, the winners had to
conceptualise and implement a profit-
making business plan with a capital of
just 2,000 yuan (S$406).
“I feel very fortunate to be picked,”
Ms Chen told The Straits Times yester-
day, at the opening ceremony of the
one-week networking programme, called
Voices of The Future (VOF).
Competition was no less tough in the
other participating economies.
Ms Patricia Barrios Verand, a fi-
nal-year law student from Peru, said she
and three others from her country were
chosen from a field of 1,000.
Voices of the Future delegates Chen Jing, 22, (left) from China and Patricia Barrios Verand, 21,
from Peru are among 116 youths selected to meet Apec leaders. ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
“It’s my first visit to Asia. I’m very ex-
cited,” said the 21-year-old.
The VOF, organised for Apec youths
aged 18 to 25, has been held regularly
since 1998, with the annual summit of
the 21-member grouping.
This year, the number of economies
taking part is the highest.
Today, the young delegates will visit
the Singapore Youth Olympics learning
centre, where they are scheduled to meet
Mr Bubka, who is visiting with other
members of the International Olympic
Committee Coordinating Commission.
Tomorrow, they will meet Mr Li,
founder of the One Foundation, to dis-
cuss his philanthropic work and views.
At the two-day Apec CEO Summit this
weekend, the VOF representives will in-
terview and mingle with captains of indus-
try. Singaporean delegate Haridharan Jag-
athan, a cerebral palsy sufferer and active
volunteer with the disabled, said he
would ask the CEOs about employing and
working with the handicapped.
For many participants, the VOF is also
an opportunity to experience the host
country’s culture. Mr Jagathan said he
bonded over roti prata with 10 others
from Japan, New Zealand and Peru on
Monday, the night the guests arrived.
“They wanted to try Indian food, so
we took them to an Indian Muslim restau-
rant in Bugis,” he said with a grin.
Yesterday, they had a session with
Minister for Community Development,
Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan
and entrepreneur Ho Kwon Ping at Singa-
pore Management University (SMU).
Dr Balakrishnan, in opening the VOF
programme, talked about global challeng-
es like climate change. He said: “The
most important question you can ask is
for yourself: What can I do?”
Mr Ho, who founded the Banyan Tree
hotel and lifestyle group and also heads
SMU, said: “Leadership is the ability to
think for yourself, to believe in what you
have finally figured out to be the truth for
yourself, and act on that.”
seokhwai@sph.com.sg
Suntec executive
chef Jess Ong,
whose team is
whipping up the
killer kau-kau pie,
says it is all about
making sure the two
classes of officials –
“the VVIPs and the
VVVIPS” he says,
half-jokingly – get
what they need to He is whipping up soto ayam for
make it through the long hours of the dinner the 21 economic leaders
panels, forums and sessions. will have at the Esplanade on
The bags under his eyes come Saturday.
from the 6am to 9pm workdays he The spicy Malay chicken broth can
has been putting in.“My wife doesn’t be found at any hawker centre.
recognise me anymore,” he quips. However, your $3 version is unlikely
Mr Ong’s team of 95 will be to have been clarified in the French
working round the clock, taking in a style or come with a dollop of scallop
couple of tonnes of fish, prawns, mousse, as Mr Weibel’s does.
scampi and scallops, eight tonnes of Meanwhile, lunch for the leaders
chicken and other meat and 40 at the Istana on Sunday will feature
tonnes of fruit. Singapore favourites, but in styles no
It is full-on slicing, dicing and coffee-shop cook would recognise.
caramelising in the 140 sq m halal What, for example, is cooked crab,
kitchen on level two, where they will served cold, with mango salsa and
be elbow deep in knocking out more caviar? It is chilli crab, in the opinion
than 4,000 meals and countless of executive chef Wolfgang Ranner of
buffets. the Conrad Centennial Singapore.
That is just the full meals. During Following that appetiser will be a
the meetings, guests will down main course of lobster, baked in a
20,000 cups of coffee and tea and rendang crust.
chomp through 20,000 muffins and It is diplomacy at the end of a
pastries. fork. In the end, the food that goes
According to Mr Ong, judging into a delegate’s mouth should be in
from the lines forming at the sync with the words that come out of
it.
“hawker stalls” for stand-up meals
Chefs Ong and Ranner sing from
outside the meeting rooms, the front
the same hymn book: The menu must
runners for the favourite breakfast
be fair, so all cuisines have a say. The
food are waffles and laksa. A more
perfect – or unlikely food must be safe to consume, so
goodbye, potentially allergenic
– combination of
East and West peanuts.
And if it cannot impress, at
would be
hard to find. least it must not offend.
Anything spicier than a mild
The top
comfort heat is not welcome on the
foods, the menu.
kind stressed Mr Ong, sounding more
officials like a seasoned session
order in the chairman than a cook, might
dead of night just have the perfect recipe
while for Apec harmony.
refining “I tend to focus on
speeches neutrality. It’s a universal
audience, so we can’t have too
and
pol- much of one or the other,” he says.

Suntec cook Cai Bing Xiang

prepares dessert (left),
while Mr Weibel displays
the main course choices
for the Singapore Evening
on Saturday: chicken stuffed
with mushrooms (left plate)
and braised beef short ribs.
ST PHOTOS: CAROLINE CHIA,
LIM SIN THAI