When faced with the choice between going to university and following his passion, David Heng, who had a place to study information systems at Nanyang Technological University, decided on the latter.
He told his parents of his decision to become a cook and his mother was so upset that she waged a cold war on him for three months.
For the 26-year-old, who professes to be a mummy's boy, the silence was unbearable.
He says: 'My parents couldn't understand why I wanted to be a cook. To them, a cook is someone who failed school and has no other choice but to work a physically demanding job that pays poorly. Hardly glamorous.'
His interest in cooking was sparked after a six-month stint following his national service at seafood chain Fish & Co and French restaurant Le Saint Julien at The Fullerton Waterboat House.
Citing British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver as an example, he says: 'His career showed me that a chef isn't someone who just slogs away behind a stove. His highly publicised efforts to right the lunch system in British schools demonstrate that a cook can exercise tremendous impact on society.'
Moved by his determination, his mother, Madam Alice Chan, eventually gave in and presented him with a Chinese meat cleaver as a show of her blessing.
His parents run a wholesale souvenir and arts and crafts business. They sponsored his diploma in cuisine from the esteemed cooking institution Le Cordon Bleu in Sydney, Australia.
Heng, who now cooks at the cafe Food For Thought in North Bridge Road, says: 'I still use the cleaver my mother gave me at work to remind myself of what we went through.'
Indeed, the culinary profession has come a long way and has shed its image as a menial job staffed by school dropouts with few prospects in the 1980s. It is now perceived as a glamorous career that is attracting bright and young Singaporeans, notes chef Sam Leong, 42, corporate chef and director of kitchens of the Tung Lok group of restaurants.
Mr Peter Knipp, 53, chief executive officer of food consultancy Peter Knipp Holdings, who spent 20 years as a chef, says: 'With the rise of celebrity chefs from Gordon Ramsay to our very own Sam Leong, the job of a cook is gaining public respect and it is being regarded as one that may eventually lead to fame.'
Ms Tan Su-Lyn, 35, director of restaurant guidebook The Miele Guide, who is pursuing a doctoral thesis on the rise of the celebrity chef at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia, agrees.
'The celebrity chef phenomenon makes the profession appealing because chefs now have their own TV shows and we see them hanging out with other celebrities.'
Chef Leong, for example, is a regular feature on TV, hosting culinary shows such as Good Food Fun Cook on Channel 8 last year and culinary competition Star Chef 2, which debuts on Channel 8 tomorrow.
Enterprise development agency Spring Singapore also partnered the Restaurant Association of Singapore to launch a TV show, F&B Heroes, on Channel U recently. The five-episode show featured passionate and talented young individuals in the food and beverage (F&B) industry.
Increasing social acceptance of the profession has in turn boosted enrolment in culinary schools by at least 100 per cent.
Singaporean applications and enrolment to cooking and baking programmes at the Singapore Hotel and Tourism Education Centre (Shatec) have doubled in the last couple of years.
The number of Singaporeans at culinary academy At-Sunrice has swelled from just 10 per cent of the total cohort in 2006 to 45 per cent today.
The National Institute of Technical Education Certificate (Nitec) in Western culinary skills, offered by the Institute of Technical Education, was oversubscribed this year. There were 260 applicants for 96 places.
Similarly, the Nitec pastry and baking course received over 160 applicants for its 64 places this year.
Among these chef-wannabes is a growing population of polytechnic diploma holders, those with A-level qualifications, university graduates and those making a mid-career switch.
An example is chef Michael Han, 30, who has a master's in law from Bristol University but chose instead to work in Michelin-rated restaurants such as The Fat Duck in Britain and Mugaritz in Spain for more than two years.
He says: 'I think most of my family thought that I had gone off the boil and that my desire to become a chef must have been a hare-brained idea.'
His retiree parents, though, have since come around and are now supportive of his new modern European restaurant, FiftyThree, which is opening in Armenian Street later this year.
Ms Tan, however, says it would be overly simplistic to conclude that growing interest in the culinary profession is due purely to a desire to achieve renown.
She credits the presence of more credible culinary school programmes available both here and internationally for sparking respect for the profession and, consequently, a desire among young people to train to become chefs. There is also a greater willingness among parents to support their children's aspirations, she adds.
In Singapore, there are five major schools offering culinary training - Shatec, At-Sunrice, Institute of Technical Education, Temasek Polytechnic and the Singapore Culinary Institute.
Chef Christophe Megel, 38, chief executive officer of At-Sunrice, adds that the introduction of the Workforce Skills Qualifications framework to the F&B industry by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) has helped in a big way.
The framework is a national continuing education and training system that provides national qualifications to professions such as that of a chef. Its presence has thus helped to professionalise the job of a cook and provide a track for career progression.
The growing food scene here is another reason that becoming a cook appeals to the young.
Chef Eric Teo, 46, president of the Singapore Chefs Association, says: 'With the opening of the integrated resorts, as well as more restaurants here, chefs are in hot demand.'
According to Spring Singapore, the number of workers employed in the F&B sector increased by 35 per cent between 2000 and 2005, and WDA projects that by 2010 the industry will need another 2,000 chefs.
Indeed, the demand for chefs is what gave Ms Toh Li Si, 19, a culinary student at At-Sunrice, the courage to follow her dream to be a cook, after finishing her A levels at Temasek Junior College.
The need for talented cooks, however, is not restricted to Singapore.
Foreign food and beverage players such as mega resort Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai with 17 restaurants and famed American restaurant group Dinex Group by chef Daniel Boulud are increasingly looking to employ capable chefs from Singapore.
And for the fortunate ones who are hired, such as Mr Aaron Goh, 25, who was recommended by his alma mater, At-Sunrice, to work at Daniel Boulud's db Bistro Moderne in New York City as an entremetier (vegetable cook), being a cook is hardly a dead-end job.
He says: 'When I first studied to be a cook, I never thought I would have the chance to work overseas, much less rub shoulders with a chef as famous as Daniel Boulud.
'But now, I'm looking forward to perhaps working at restaurants under the Dinex Group in other places such as Vancouver, Canada, or Beijing.'
Tung Lok's Chef Leong, a 26-year veteran in the industry, however, has a word of advice for aspiring chefs.
'Chefs may earn more respect today, but their long working hours haven't changed. It is a tiring job and many cooks come to me full of dreams, hoping to be Singapore's next star chef without knowing what they are getting into.'
Singaporean chef Justin Quek, 46, who runs three famous restaurants in Shanghai - Le Platane, Fountain and Villa du Lac - shares the same sentiment.
'As a chef, you'll always be holding pots and pans on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve while everyone else is holding hands with his loved ones.
'So to be a chef, you need to have a passion and dedication to the craft that is so strong, it will see you through these tough moments.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on 29 June 2008.
