Some of the best stories I got were from out of desperation. This was one of those. Chef Zam was a recommendation, I was looking for a celebrity with a cause to fill my quota for the month. Turns out he back the Food Aid Foundation, an organisation that advocated against food wastage.

What made the foundation special is that it is made up of food industry practitioners. It was supposed to be the subject of the story, but as our chat continued on, Chef Zam began to talk about another side of himself.

He lamented how media often sees him only as a celebrity chef and brushed aside his academic achievements.

For the story Professor Zam shared his history, how he started as an underachieving student to becoming a professor of the culinary arts. His thoughts on the local food landscape alone could have been made into a story.

I was torn.

On one hand this story is supposed to be for a section that highlights celebrities with a cause. On the other hand, that’s the least interesting part about Professor Zam’s story. Turns out this story was kept for so long that the section no longer exists.