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On Channel News Asia: BonAppetour with Annalisa Burgos

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On Channel News Asia: BonAppetour with Annalisa Burgos

We’re chuffed to announce that we have been featured on Channel News Asia!

Recently, BonAppetour enjoyed a hearty dinner with Annalisa Burgos, TV anchor and food reporter for Channel News Asia’s morning show FirstLook Asia. Last Friday, Annalisa and her co-presenter, Timothy Go, explored the concept of food sharing on the show’s “What’s Cooking” segment. 

Discovering Food Sharing

Food sharing is a component of the sharing economy, defined as ‘a socio-economic system built around the sharing of human and physical resources’. The sharing economy concept also goes by other names, such as peer-to-peer economy, mesh and collaborative consumption. It is rapidly gaining a surge in popularity, not just in travel-related industries (think Airbnb and Couchsurfing), but also in other sectors like transport, as seen from the likes of Uber’s rapid expansion.

Food sharing is proving to be a travel trend quickly rising in popularity among travellers, appealing particularly to those who are keen to meet locals in a new destination, and to discover about a new culture, insights and cuisines from a local’s point of view.

Food Sharing: Host and Traveller Concerns

Dining in people’s homes may not be for everyone, as travellers and hosts may have their concerns about this concept.

From the diner’s perspective, it may be more than a little unsettling to dine with hosts in a foreign land, feasting on cuisine that they may never have heard of. However, the benefits do outweigh the cons, as foodsharing connects travellers with locals who are passionate about food and travel, and who warmly welcome strangers into their homes for a heartwarming dining experience.

The hosts may have aspects that they are concerned about as well – what are their guests like? Will it be a risk to invite strangers into their homes?

Our host, Kirit, addressed this question based on his host experiences, indicating that he and his family were wary in the initial stages of signing on as a host. However, their concerns disappeared after hosting a series of dining experiences, as they realised that there was nothing to worry about.

Annalisa says of her BonAppetour dining experience: “What started out as a meal for strangers turned out to be a meal among friends”.

We cannot agree more, and hope to bring this experience to even more travellers seeking to forge new friendships with the locals in their sojourns abroad.

Many thanks to our hosts, Kirit and Gopi, for the amazing dinner – be sure to check out their splendid dining experience in Singapore!

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BonAppetour Hosts: Jean’s Private Kitchen

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BonAppetour Hosts: Jean’s Private Kitchen

We are very excited to have Jean join us as a host on BonAppetour!

Currently residing in Hamburg, Germany, Jean works as a private chef, and is also a business consultant in the food industry. She caters to diners around the world, and flies to various locations to host private meals for her clients. Her high profile clientele ranges from ambassadors and diplomats (UN, WHO, WTO), to high flying professionals from all industries.

We are very intrigued by Jean’s passion for cooking, as well as her personal experiences with food. Read on to find out more about Jean with regards to her food and culinary experiences!

On her inspiration for delving into cooking…

Coming from a Peranakan family, food has always played a big role in my family gatherings, as well as get-togethers with close friends. As a child, I have always loved being around the kitchen to help my mother out be it chopping up the vegetables or pounding various spices. To learn about the ingredients, experience new smells and see how each dish is being lovingly prepared and cooked. 

My mother is a fantastic cook. I grew up watching her prepare meals for family, friends, people from our church and hosting numerous dinner gatherings in our home. I got my love for cooking from her, and I love hosting dinners for friends and family.

On her motivations for starting up Jean’s Private Kitchen…

I found that there was a lack of authentic Asian food available in Europe. One could find plenty of restaurants that claimed to offer Chinese, or even Singaporean cuisine, but these dishes were very different from the ones that I had back home. I had been living abroad for eight years then, and the long time spent abroad made me determined to correct the misconceptions that the Europeans may have about our local cuisine.

When I was in Italy, I started out by hosting dinners for friends, and cooked Asian dishes to introduce them to our local flavours. I started Jean’s Private Kitchen in Geneva as I felt that Peranakan dishes formed a niche market. It was a unique way of promoting our local cuisine and culture to my customers.

On her aspirations…

Hamburg has offered me amazing business opportunities. There are a few exciting works in progress in terms of business development, so I am excited about what the days ahead have in store for me. I would love to be a food ambassador for Singapore one day! 

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