Ep 15: Yi Jun Loh - Malaysian Food Blogger, Writer & Podcaster

Yi Jun Loh is a Malaysian food blogger at Jun & Tonic (nominated for the Saveur Blog Award 2018), a food writer for TASTE, Saveur & Food52, and podcaster for Malaysian’s national radio channel BFM (Baking Bread) & his own podcast, Take a Bao. If you’ve ever wondered how you can break into the Malaysian food industry, then this is the podcast episode for you! Now you would’ve expected for one in the creative industry, that Yi Jun always had a deep love of food & pushing the boundaries of what he can do. But that was not the case. While completing his engineering degree at Cambridge University, he ended up rooming with a friend, Andrew, who brought him into the world of food. Cooking elaborate dishes in their shared kitchen awakened the chef in him. An awakening that led him to consider breaking the convention upon graduation. Rather than taking on an engineering or consulting job, why not give Le Cordon Bleu a go? In this STIMY episode, Yi Jun shares his experiences: - Studying at Le Cordon Bleu & whether he thinks every food aspirant should attend the school; - Why he chose to starge at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant at New York; and - What he learned from working in a professional kitchen & alongside farmers growing unique strains of crops. After his working stint in the US, Yi Jun returned to Malaysia and worked to establish himself in the Malaysian food scene. He shares: - How he first started writing for Food52 & the process of pitching to such publications; - How he ended up hosting BFM’s food channel, Breaking Bread; - His favourite episodes & why that stood out for him; - How he comes up with the quirky recipes found on his blog, Jun and Tonic; and - How he eventually started his own podcast, Take a Bao, and the challenges behind producing investigative food episodes. Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhycom/15