Kitchenesia.com - Chef Vindy doesn't shy away when public name her as “sexy chef” – but with 2 best-selling cook books and one solo cooking show on national TV, she definitely has a lot to “show off” about. Being a board member of Indonesian Chef Association (ICA), Chef Vindy Lee actually never attended a culinary school. Instead, her education was language and politics that she acquired from a university in the US.
Leaving strong career as a political consultant in the US, the thirty-five-year-old chef decided to achieve her success in culinary world in the old-fashioned way – by working hard and gaining experiences. All her hardwork paid off. In 2004, she began her professional culinary career as a sous chef in two award-winning restaurant in California and Beverly Hills, United States.
The Taiwanese-Indonesian chef is also a vocal figure in healthy-eating movement. She religiously encourages people to eat healthy with her campaigns, #EatYourColors and #EatYourVitamins through social media and events. One of her recipe books is aptly entitled “Sexy Food”, which includes dozens of healthy dishes that are affordable and tasty.
One of your recipe books id called “Sexy Food”. Please tell us what you mean by Sexy Food and the examples.
Sexy food are rich in nutritions and flavors. They stimulate everyone’s happiness because of their health benefits and also pretty appearances. All of sexy food recipes in my cook book contain simplicity in preparation, and all of the ingredients are affordable, too.
For women, combinations of peach, almond, and honey make your skin healthy that get you in the mood. For main course, everything in beef steak is sexy: juicy texture, colorful appearance, and also nutrient-rich.
Is there any Indonesian food considered sexy?
It is sambal. I never miss sambal in my daily meal. It is a nutrient powerhouse that contains fiber and vitamins. I don’t think anyone should avoid sambal because they don’t like spicy food, they just need to tone down the spiciness.
You are very vocal in encouraging people to eat healthily, with your campaign #EatYourColors and #EatYourVitamins. What are the important nutrients that should be in everyday’s meal?
Every color of fruit or vegetable represents particular nutrients. For example, purple fruits like eggplant and grapes are among thefruits with highest anti-oxidant. Both taste delicious, and can be modified to many types of dishes like beverage or snacks. To make healthy eating a habit, everyone needs to make it fun.
What are your predictions for 2020’s food trend?
I’ve seen many trendy 2019’s trendy foods are actually by-product of pop culture invasion to our country, like Korean food or Boba tea from Taiwan. I think this phenomenon will exist until next year.
Also, I think people become more aware to their health, as you can see juice vendors and healthy catering becomes rampant than before. I hope healthy eating becomes not only trend, but becomes a lifestyle.
Now about yourself. Why did you change your job so drastically, from politician to chef? Your education background (politics and language) also doesn’t fit to be in culinary industry.
I always had a deep passion for cooking since I was 7 years old. Watching my grandmother cooking and helping her mixing up spices made me realize that cooking was fun but quite challenging thing to do. My fondness in cooking grow bigger as I become older. I loved cooking everything from scratch - pastas, breads, to whole roast chicken.
Since my father is a politician in Taiwan, I decided to learn politics and took a brak from my hobby. I also worked as a politician for several years, but something in my soul called me to cook again. Then, I decided to stick on my hobby and made money from it (laugh).
