While Johnathan Chew's classmates were bent over teeth and cavity fillings, the third-year dental student was toiling away in the kitchen handling a different kind of filling. The self-taught chef is a contestant in the third — and latest — season of MasterChef Singapore, a spin-off of the popular British reality television show. When AsiaOne catches up with Johnathan virtually,...
While Johnathan Chew's classmates were bent over teeth and cavity fillings, the third-year dental student was toiling away in the kitchen handling a different kind of filling.
In fact, he was so determined to participate in the show, which was filmed last year, that he even took a leave of absence from school for an entire term.The foodie's Instagram is peppered with his creations that wouldn't look out of place in a fine-dining restaurant. But growing up, he says he never really had fancy meals due to due to his financial background.
"From a very young age, she has always been cooking a lot for me, because I grew up living with her," he explains.While Johnathan adores his food, you'd never have guessed from his trim physique that he used to be on the chubbier side when he was a child."I've always loved food and that love for food made me overweight. Then, I got bullied," he reveals.
"At first, I thought the others were so much better than me because they have so much more experience." "My school was very nice to make a lot of alternative arrangements for all the crazy amount of exams," he tells us gratefully.