Tony Tan talks about the inspirations for his new book, breaking myths and changing tastes

"I've never considered myself to be a very good cook or a very great writer but what I wanted to do was to bridge a gap."

Tony Tan has been a name in Australian food for decades as a chef and writer, known for his work with Gourmet Traveller and now his cooking school in Trentham, a little over an hour outside Melbourne. When I came back to the recording of this interview, I realised that there were many moments, in fact whole swathes of interview that wouldn’t make the edit. The conversation went from talking about Tony’s life and work to my own which then culminates in what can only be described as a Tony Tan pep-talk to tell my story.

Tony asked me whether I’m writing a book or have thought about it. I flubbed about a little. As open as I am about many things, admitting when asked outright that I would one day want to see a book (or many) on shelves with my name down the spine still feels very self-indulgent and vulnerable. I’m not going to unpack that here, but it says something of the curious vulnerability of writing, that you can write for national and international mastheads like The Guardian or delicious., and edit a state restaurant guide, but still feel a sense of who am I to do that when you think of writing in a different form.

One of my observations that I put to Tony about the book was that it reminded me of a well-worn Indian cookbook that I took to university with me. Mum packed me off with it in the hope that I wouldn’t starve. My point to Tony was that when you love people you cook for them and when they move away you might not be able to cook for them but giving them a cookbook that puts the means to nurture themselves in their hands, it’s another form of showing love. I see that in Tony’s book in that it’s one to give to those in your life who maybe need a guiding hand to good food.

Tony Tan’s Asian Cooking Class kind of says what the book is about but is there a deeper mission than teaching people how to cook the dishes?

I've never considered myself to be a very good cook or a very great writer but what I wanted to do was to bridge a gap. That's my mission in life, to bridge that misunderstanding about Asian food, because there's a lot of people, and I particularly see this living out in the country, that still don't really quite get it. Apart from the essentials or classics like fried rice, butter chicken and pho - though some people still don’t even know what pho is. It triggered a curiosity as to why we are living in the year 2024 and yet at the same time the wider world out there, apart from in maybe main cities, many people don’t know much about Asian food.

When Murdoch Books approached me to see if I really wanted to do something, a more definitive cookbook, I was a little bit staggered because I don't consider myself to be a guru or a legend as some people call me. I'm not. I just happen to be one person who is really very nerdy, that is the only word I can think of, and has a curiosity about what food is all about. Does that make sense to you?

Yes absolutely. Tony, I'd be a bit concerned if you were walking around saying I’m a legend because we've all met those people, and usually they're not actually very legendary.

Jane Willson came out with Jane Morrow (from Murdoch Books) and you know, it all started. I was just wondering why is it that they want to come up, not really thinking that they want to put a book together. So, as it gathered momentum, it just kept growing and growing and growing. And that's how this book came about. They said, just keep writing, and obviously they wanted a dateline and I found I was working til about three or four in the morning, trying to put the words together when your mind is half dead.

You seem a little bit surprised by the books early success?

I was brought up to be a very, very diffident Chinese boy. You know, always listen to your elders, be seen but not heard. And then suddenly being given all this, it's just a little bit too much. And, you know, one of the journalists the other day called me an unassuming chef. I don't actually see myself as a chef. All I'm actually doing is trying to tell the world that there is a huge counterpoint out there and that we all have got to go on the same journey together.

I said in the introduction that this cookbook is an Asian cookbook, but one written and cooked with fresh eyes. I love my Asian heritage, but I’ve also got my life in Australia. The foods I've cooked and eaten in Malaysia are part of me, eating a meat pie or a sausage roll is also a part of me. I straddle the Asian world as much as the Western world, and while the soul of my cooking lies very much in Asia, in particular Southeast Asia, there are techniques and ingredients in this book from the West that ensure the dishes in it are not only a joy to eat, but also a pleasure to cook. I'm trying to convey that message.

You’ve been in Australia now for close to fifty years. What have those decades looked like and how has the attitude to Asian food changed in that time.

Since 1976. So it's a long time. I spent three years in Sydney when my partner and I really wanted to start our own restaurant, but we didn't really quite know what the Sydney scene was all about. It was quite a hilarious experience, to put it very mildly. You’re English, aren't you? You can understand what I mean then having seen Fawlty Towers.