Bob Blumer definitely takes home the award for quirkiest celebrity chef
The Surreal Gourmet, Glutton for Punishment and World’s Weirdest Restaurants – any of these TV programmes sound familiar to you? Then surely you must know Bob Blumer! With his quirky style, artistic food creations and yeah, iconic Toastermobile, the TLC (Travel & Living Channel) star is one of the most distinguished TV personalities out there – and a highly entertaining one at that!
Bob playfully hides behind a beaded curtain as he poses for OpenRice (top right); the celebrity chef is a seven-time Guinness World Record holder – his glorious moments such as his pizza-making record are pictured above
Bob was recently in town for Hubalicious – The Heritage Food Trail, Starhub’s experiential food and lifestyle event – center stage for fun cooking contests and exclusive dinners with celebrity chefs like Bob. OpenRice was lucky enough to catch the culinary adventurer and meet him in the flesh for a few words!
OpenRice: Welcome back to Singapore! What “food missions” have you accomplished so far since you got here?
Bob Blumer: We went to a place called Immigrants – The Singapore Gastrobar which specialises in local dishes served in a tapas style; that was really fun. We had some pretty amazing mango and jackfruit salsa, lots of various chicken and chilli combinations. It was really spicy… I like spicy! As for local dishes, I love the popiah, the chicken rice, the chilli crab… yesterday I also had some nasi lemak for breakfast and I really liked it.
OR: The phrase “Fake it till you make it” – you seem to really believe in it a lot. What makes it so powerful to you?
BB: Well, I started out in a field which I didn’t really have a right to be in as I did not go through any kind of professional training as a chef. But I’ve managed to stay in it long enough that I’ve learnt along the way. I hung out with a lot of chefs and I volunteered my time to work in a restaurant kitchen; so I ended up creating my own culinary education.
When I did Glutton for Punishment, there were 58 episodes. In one I’d learn how to shuck oysters and in another I would learn everything there is to know about making salsa, so I went through so many different types of crash courses. So you take all these things I’ve done and you add them up, that’s real education right there. It’s unconventional but that’s how I did it. So in the beginning I was sorta faking it because I didn’t have the confidence but today, I’ve gotten to the point where I really know how to cook so yeah, “Fake it till you make it”.
OR: Do you have any idols in the industry? Is there someone in particular you’d love to meet someday?
BB: My idols are chefs that I know and cook with who’re really passionate about what they do. As for people I’d like to meet, definitely Anthony Bourdain. I think he’s really fantastic. I met him in passing but I've never really spent any time with him. Every chef in America loves Anthony Bourdain, he’s like the bad boy of the industry.
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