PUBLISHED ONFebruary 02, 2024 5:14 AMByYeo Shu HuiWhile most children get excited over their parents bringing them to fast food eateries, young Zed, whose parents are local actors Christopher Lee and Fann Wong, doesn't have a taste for it.
In fact, the nine-year-old prefers simple meals and even shuns sweet food.
"Zed prefers original flavours. For example, for meat, he prefers it grilled without condiments and would eat it with salt. It's the same for fish, he likes steamed fish with salt," Christopher, 52, shared at the press conference for the second season of his cooking talk show Dishing with Chris Lee, which was held at a kelong (offshore platform) restaurant near Pulau Ubin recently.
When reporters commented that Zed has a sophisticated palate, Christopher responded: "I feel like he eats like an old man."
He also shared that Zed is "picky" about his food and enjoys hawker food, such as cai fan (economic rice) and roti prata, which he can eat without getting bored of.
Christopher said: "He can eat cai fan every day for lunch and dinner, rice is his favourite. He would have one vegetable, one meat with a serving of pumpkin or stir-fried leek."
And because of his preference for the same food every day, Christopher and Fann, 53, have been trying to get him to "challenge" other delicacies.
"I encouraged him to eat [different food] by telling him we are going on an adventure to the hawker centre," Christopher laughed, adding that he brought Zed to try chicken rice, which the latter found acceptable.
He also shared that Zed doesn't buy any food from the school canteen and prefers home-made meals consisting of plain rice with silver anchovies or breadsticks baked by Fann.
Christopher said: "I wanted to give him some money to buy rice or noodles in school, but he said he didn't want it because it's not nice".
While he expressed that Zed's preference for similar food makes him "easy to take care of", he and Fann are also concerned about his nutrient intake and would give him a balanced diet of meat and vegetables every day.
Zed also doesn't eat sweet food, including fruits and other items such as cakes and ice cream, Christopher shared, adding that Zed often finds those "too sweet" for him.
And that was why when Zed requested for cola one day, he and Fann got really excited.
Christopher recounted: "There was once he saw Coke in a book and he found it interesting. He asked us, 'Dad, mum, can I try Coke?' Both Fann and I were like, 'Coke! Coke! Okay serving!'"
However, when Zed had a taste of the soft drink, he didn't like it as it was "too sweet" for him.
"He also doesn't eat KFC or burgers and only prefers fries with salt," Christopher shared, adding that Zed loves soda water.
Christopher was at the kelong restaurant to promote the latest season of Dishing with Chris Lee, where he whips up home-cooked dishes to share with celebrity guests at the kelong while they chat over their life, career and aspirations for the future.
Recalling how he learned to cook, Christopher shared that it was his mother who taught him when he was young.
"When I was in primary two or three, my mum needed to go to work, so she would cut the vegetables and other ingredients and told us to fry it ourselves.
"She would tell us which ingredient to add first… and that was how I learned the basics of cooking," he shared, adding that it was during the Covid-19 period where he started to cook more complex dishes.
When asked which dish made by his relatives he misses the most, Christopher said it was stir-fried lala (venus clams) made by his late grandfather.
"I started helping out at my grandfather's tidbits stall when I was about eight to nine years old during school holidays and he would cook lunch for me. I feel that he was like a 'god of cooking' because he could cook good meals with simple ingredients.
"I miss his stir-fried lala the most. I remember he put preserved soya bean paste and coriander, but when I tried to cook it myself later at home, I couldn't get the same taste," he shared.
Christopher shared that his interest in cooking also led him to learn how to make braised duck and Teochew steamed white pomfret.
Dishing with Chris Lee, which features guests such as Taiwanese singer-actor Tony Sun from 5566, local celebs Kym Ng, Richard Low and Xiang Yun, will be available on-demand for free on mewatch from May 27 and premieres on the same day on Channel 8.
You can also catch season one of the show on mewatch now.
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