MY BLUE TEA CHEF PROFILE
Vegan Chef Dave
Sailing across the seas as a chef on one of the world's most prestigious cruise liners was to be one of the highlights of Chef Dave's life - but something just didn't sit right with his soul.
He realised he didn't know where his ingredients came from, and then he didn't like what he found out. So he decided to make a fresh start, and become a Vegan Chef, and educate others on how easy and delicious this new life path can be!
Chef Dave
The Vegan Chef
"I'm currently working on veganizing all traditional Malaysian, and Asian food to showcase to the world that being a vegan is much easier than you think."
Things didn't start off Smooth Sailing for this Chef-on-the-Seas
Vegan Chef Dave hails from a small-town called Jementah, in Segamat, Johor, Malaysia. He started his culinary career in a culinary school in Malaysia, and has also graduated from UK universities, attaining a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management, and an MBA.
He then went on to work with 5 Star international brand hotels such as Shangri-La Hotels and Resort since 2012, and in 2019 was sailing with the Disney Cruise line as a western cuisine chef.
But all was not sailing smoothly for Chef Dave, as he became more aware of the issues of climate change, and the contribution of the animal and agriculture industry towards it. The end of 2019 marked a turning point in his life, when he came across two videos about cruelty in egg industry as well as dairy industry. So he started to assess the impact of his actions, as a chef sailing around the world and working with top companies. He realised he did not know where his ingredients were coming from.
Making an impact
So, he decided to go vegan and stand solidarity with animals. To fight for injustice happening towards animals and be a voice for the voiceless.
That decision truly impacted him a lot especially when thinking about his career and future. Dave choose to be a person who lives happily without harming himself, environment and others [he meant to reduce and avoid as much as he could].
While still trying to find the best way to be a voice for the voiceless, he realised that he doesn’t need to stop doing what he loves – which is making delicious food – he just needed to change how he did it!
Dave started cooking vegan food and inspiring people on how we can survive and thrive with delicious, nutritious food without bringing harm to animals. This is especially a feat in Malaysia, where the awareness of veganism is truly lacking.
His current project:
Veganizing all traditional Malaysian, South East Asian and Asian food stage by stage to showcase that being a vegan is much easier than you think. It is a simple choice that could set another life free.
Chef Dave hopes that through his social media presence he can share his journey as a vegan chef who will inspire others through his contents on vegan life, food and travel.
After 10 months on this new journey, Chef Dave currently has more than 50,000 followers across social media, and is recognised as one of the chef under Masters of Malaysian Cuisine promoting Veganised Malaysian cuisine to international audiences, and started his plant based food business as a social mission to make Malaysian healthier with Whole Food Plant Based meals.
And Vegan Food is Delicious!
Making a presence
Chef Dave can be found posting tips, challenges and just day to day stories across his many social media channels in multiple languages (he speaks English, Bahasa Malay, Tamil, and Mandarin)
As if that wasn't a full time job enough, Chef Dave also presents at hotels, educates the public on TV shows, or partners up with other prominent chefs on some shows!
Both Dave and Jackie are currently doing live cooking shows with Tourism Malaysia and Masters of Malaysian Cuisine, MOMC.
Want more?
Looking to make your own culinary creations? Then check out the My Blue Tea Blog and TV Channel for gorgeous recipes created by chefs from the world over!