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The Big Break hits the screens this Wednesday, 14 November. And while we’ll have to wait till then to find out who the contestants are, we can give you a mini introduction to our two lovely hosts - meet Farah and Alan!
Meet Chef Farah Quinn
Farah has been a fan of the culinary arts since childhood. As a young girl she spent her days cooking and baking with her mother in their house in Sumatra, Indonesia. Although she graduated with a degree in finance, she began her professional career in the culinary arts working at a famous Italian restaurant in Pennsylvania called Lydia’s Pittsburgh. During this time, Farah studied part-time at the Pittsburgh Culinary Institute focusing on pastry techniques. Upon graduation, she took a position in pastry at the Arizona Biltmore Resort.
Farah furthered her knowledge by attending classes at the World Pastry Championships, grabbing opportunities to study under pastry moguls like Ewald Notter and Colette Peters.
In 2005 she was invited to the G8 Summit at Sea Island Georgia, creating specialty desserts for the likes of First Lady Laura Bush and other world delegates under the guidance of celebrity chef, James Mullaney. In the same year, Farah and her husband, Carson Quinn, opened their own restaurant in Arizona called Camus. She created a decadent menu of desserts, and infused the restaurant with her personality and style. Camus was awarded 4 stars for its extraordinary cuisine alongside other accolades.
In her free time, Farah loves traveling and hanging out with her close friends in Indonesia or in the United States. She also takes great pride in being a loving and devoted mother, and focuses her life on her family, faith, career and all the people around her that make her life special.
Meet Chef Alan Orreal – Executive Chef at Resorts World Sentosa
From five-star hotels to fine dining restaurants, Chef Alan Orreal has accomplished much in his 24 years in the culinary industry.
He has trained under notable names – like Cheong Liew and Tony Bilson – as well as Otto Weibel and Peter Knipp as part of Singapore’s National Culinary Squad in 2000-2004. His style of cuisine can be described as modern and global.
Individually, Alan has won trophies and medals from numerous culinary events including Food Hotel Asia, and Culinary Art. In 2000 and 2001, he won the ‘Most Innovative Menu’, and the ‘Top Restaurant Award’ at The Wine and Dine Awards in Singapore. He is currently the National Culinary Coach for the Japanese National Junior Team and clinched Gold and Silver medals at the 2008 Culinary Olympics.
A strong advocate of continuous education, he is heavily involved in various international apprenticeships and National Cuisine training. He regularly appears as guest lecturer at food colleges across Asia and is actively involved with the Chefs Guild of Lanka. This year, Alan was elected to the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS) MCC committee as Advisor for the Global Development of Junior Chefs.
Between coaching the Japanese National Junior Team – a team that clinched Gold and Silver at the 2008 Culinary Olympics – and his role at Resorts World Sentosa, Alan is now working towards his Master Chef Certification.
What is The Big Break? A project by the RWS Corporate Social Responsibility team, in partnership with Asian Food Channel (AFC), The Big Break is a reality TV series featuring 12 less privileged youths from Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Mongolia, Thailand and the Philippines in a culinary competition for a scholarship at Singapore’s top culinary academy – At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy. Read more about it in our introductory post.
The Big Break will air on these channels:
Astro Channel 703 (Malaysia and Brunei)
StarHub Channel 435 (Singapore)
First Media Digital 1 Channel 76 (Jakarta, Indonesia)
TelkomVision Channel 116 or Channel 401 (Groovia TV) (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Indovision Channel 240 (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Aora TV Channel 318 (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Nexmedia 210 (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Centrin TV Channel 515 (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Topas TV Channel 302 (Jakarta, Indonesia)
now TV Channel 527 (Hong Kong)
Skycable Channel 22 (Philippines)
Dream Satellite Channel 27 (Philippines)
Cignal Channel 30 (Philippines)
Univision Channel 84 (Mongolia)
PPCTV Channel 22 (Wireless) or Channel 7 (Digital) (Cambodia)
C-Skynet Channel 59 (China)
More information on The Asian Food Channel.