It’s not unusual to read about Singaporeans and foreigners facing-off in cyberspace. Now imagine pitting them against one another, face-to- face, in a cook-off. Considering the often tense and cut-throat nature of such cook-offs, you can almost see the knives being brandished and the “clinks” as they strike one another.

But the reality could not be further from the truth.

When we put five people of different nationalities together in a kitchen, they turned out to be the nicest, bend-over- backwards-for- each-other bunch without a single nasty bone in their collective bodies.

You have to see it to believe it:

Of the five, one was Singaporean while the others hailed from China, India, Thailand and the Philippines. And none seemed to be interested in winning.

Which was all the more intriguing as it was moderated by the first winner of MasterChef Asia, Woo Wai Leong.

Ok. We digress.

Contestants were given 45 minutes to finish the challenge, which could only be completed with a special ingredient: eggs, which is as friendly a special ingredient as you can get considering its ubiquitous nature.

To make the competition a pinch less benign, some kitchenware were taken away (not sure what exactly but enough to inconvenience our MNCs - multinational chefs), forcing our contestants to engage in this lost art that adults hate to partake in called sharing.

One even rushed through his dish so that he could share his pan with his fellow contestant – a move totally unheard of in the long, illustrious history of cook-offs.

If the organizer was expecting fireworks with this “stressor”, they must’ve been sorely disappointed because it only made contestants friendlier, and encouraged more communication.

Indeed, contestants got to know one another’s cuisines and cultures better and even learnt the importance of sharing – a lot like how we used to borrow soya sauce/salt from our neighbours in the old days but stopped because paiseh.

Heck, one of them even had this to say: “One thing I’ve learnt from this experience is to be more engaging as one community and not one person doing something.”

In the spirit of competition, judges or tasters were invited to give their verdicts on the dishes. All, however, betrayed their jobs as judges and turned cheerleaders instead.

Guess it didn’t matter really, because it was an afternoon well spent making new friends and having a great time.

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