Sashi Cheliah heads up Taste of Australia in Brunei

MasterChef Australia winner 2018, Sashi Cheliah, impressed audiences as part of recent Taste of Australia celebrations in Brunei Darussalam.  Hosted by the Australian High Commission over 30-31 March, the engaging food program showcased Australia’s diverse and innovative culinary culture. Highlights included a Food Fair, Culinary Challenge and Culinary Master Classes at Institute Brunei Technical Education (IBTE).

Sashi enjoyed promoting fresh Australian produce available in Brunei at the Food Fair that attracted over 400 people.  Popular local food blogger, Thanis Lim, joined Sashi in judging the Culinary Challenge which required entrants to prepare a dish using Australian and Bruneian ingredients.  Winners were chosen from 36 entries across Youth, Culinary Student and Open categories.  The winning dish was ‘Aussie Nasi Katock’ which used a creative mix of Australian avocados, Vegemite, local chillies, spices and rice – yum!

Sashi delivered Master Classes for culinary students a the IBTE, Brunei’s largest technical and vocational education training centre. The classes centred not only food, skills development and culinary excellence, but on the importance of leadership and connectivity in hospitality and tourism – in keeping with Australia now ASEAN’s focus on connecting and engaging youth leaders.

The 2019 Taste of Australia event has been Brunei’s largest and most successful to date, bringing home Bruneian’s cultural love of food and avid interest in the MasterChef Australia program.