WSFC17 Dialogue Speaker 

To purchase Dialogue Ticket-
http://wsfcongress.com/ticket-pricing-registration/ 

Andy Yang

Andy Yang, the affable Michelin-starred chef behind the expanding Thai concept Rhong Tiam brand is on a mission to feed New Yorkers with the bold, intricately spiced yet balanced flavors of what he calls “Bangkok cooking” with its Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean influences . He combines his hard-toned culinary skills, refined palate and pure passion to create dishes that express the essence of his native city’s cuisine. The road that led to Chef Yang from Bangkok to his faithful following of foodies in New York and growing brand began in his mother’s kitchen.

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Anthony Bourdian

International food & travel celebrity Anthony Bourdain will be giving updates at The WSF Dialogue on his upcoming Bourdain Market in New York. He is also keen to seek potential partners  and vendor/hawkers for the project. WSfC founder KF Seetoh has been tapped as a consultant to the Bourdain Market.

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Anton Diaz

The creator of the widely read food and travel blog in Philippines, Our Awesome Planet, Anton Diaz is also the co-founder of Mercato Centrale, a popular weekend night street market in 2010. Together with RJ Ledesma, Diaz aims to promote and celebrate Filipino heritage food and street food culture. Impressed with the hawker centres in Singapore, they are looking to set up Filipino hawker stalls around Metro Manila to improve the education and incubate the next generation of successful home-based food entrepreneurs, and elevate the quality, cleanliness and branding of street food.

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Arbind Singh

Arbind Singh is an activist and social entrepreneur who works with itinerant street vendors and their families in India .The founder of Nidan, Singh bridges the gap between the community and the policy makers. Singh also founded the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI), which is spear-headed by his wife, Sangeeta Singh. A non-government organisation, NASVI is constantly challenging and defending the rights of about 10 million street vendors in India, of which 6 million hawk food.

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Claude Tayag

Regarded as a maven of Philippines’ culinary scene, Claude Tayag is known to have uplifted Pampanga cuisine through his private dining restaurant, Bale Dutung. He was recently honored the People’s Choice Award at the Embassy Chef Challenge 2016. The author of the Best Philippine Culinary Travel Guide (by Gourmand World Cookbook 2007 Awards), Food Tour: A Culinary Journey, Tayag is also the first Filipino to cook for Prince Albert Rotisserie at the Intercontinental Manila. Catch him at Lifestyle Network, where he travels around the Filipino archipelago to unravel the hidden flavours of Philippines.

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David Yip

David Yip is a chef and food consultant who led a successful 30-years career in journalism and publishing before embarking on his culinary passions. David has owned restaurants in Hong Kong, teaches gourmet cooking, and write for major Singapore newspapers including the Business Times, and regional online media such as the Michelin website. He travels frequently to research on Chinese culinary history, and conducts food talks and demonstrations focusing on heritage foods. His has a big following on his blogs in the Chinese WeChat online site.

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Greg Drescher

The vice-president of strategic initiatives and industry leadership at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), Greg Drescher is also the creator of the college’s influential World of Flavour International Conference & Festival as well as the annual Worlds of Healthy Flavours and Menus of Change leadership conference. Before joining the CIA in 1995, Drescher jointly spearheaded a multi-year collaboration of some of the world’s leading health experts and organisations like the Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organisation. He was awarded the 2006 Silver Spoon award by Food Arts magazine.

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KF Seetoh

KF Seetoh a TV host, author and Founder of World Street Food Congress and Makansutra. He began his career as a photojournalist before spending almost two decades as commercial lensman. He saw opportunities in the world of street food in the 90s and set up Makansutra, a company dedicated to promote and celebrate heritage and street food. It has interests in street food market operations, street food guides, events and consultancy. He created the charming Makansutra Gluttons Bay at the Esplanade Singapore about ten years ago.  He hosts his own TV show on local channels and on the Asian Food Channel. He has his own Food Surprise show on TLC, Discovery. In 2012, he saw the need to champion the causes and opportunities available in the planet street food and gathered his faithful pals and buddies, including Claus Meyer, Jean Ian Kittichai and Anthony Bourdain and a host of top international hawkers, and created The World Street Food Congress in 2013. The WSFC17 is the second international edition of the event after two successful runs in Singapore & Philippines. CNN calls him the “Guru of Grub” and The New York Times cites him as a “food maven”.

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Malcolm Lee

This young and confident head chef and owner of the first Michelin-starred Peranakan restaurant, Candlenut, Malcolm Lee, is also the first Singaporean recipient of the Miele Guide Scholarship.  Infusing modern techniques with traditional flavours, Lee has created several notable dishes such as the Buah Keluak Ice Cream – buah keluak nut ice cream made with 80 percent Valrhona chocolate, served on a bed of salted caramel, chocolate crumble and topped with milk chocolate espuma.

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Mai Pham

Mai Pham is the chef-owner of Lemon Grass, one of the top restaurants in Sacramento, California. She also runs Star Ginger, operating in 19 locations across the US – at the FDA, Patent Trade Office, universities like Stanford U, Liberty, U of Mass, and Notre Dame and at hospitals and corporate headquarters like Delta Airlines. The author of several award-wining cookbooks – The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking, Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table and Flavours of Asia – Pham is also a food columnist at the San Francisco Chronicle and contributed to the Los Angeles Times. Her articles and recipes have earned her a Berte Greene Award for excellence in Food Journalism.

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Michelle Adrillana

Michelle Adrillana started her culinary journey at International School for Culinary Arts & Hotel Management, where she was awarded the Market Basket Silver medalist in 2009. Adillana went on to open a popular catering business in Manila, Flavours on Fire, she is also the food consultant for Emborg Uhrenholt, the brand ambassador for Gastro Chef and is on the panel of judges for Manila’s Best Kept Restaurant Secrets since 2014. 

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Professor Nguyen Nha

The former head of institute for Vietnamese Gastronomic Research, Professor Nguyen Nha is now leading Vietnam Cuisine for the World Project. The author of several research books on the gastronomy of Vietnamese food, Professor Nha is also part of the founding committee of Vietnam Gastronomic Culture Association. His mission is to develop gastronomy tourism in Ho Chi Minh City

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Odilia Wineke

A food editor at DetikFood.com since 2002, Odilia Wineke has been in the food industry for over 20 years. Odilia took on many roles; she was the food editor for Femina Magazine, a food stylist for various restaurants in designing their advertisements and food specialist at PT Nestle Indonesia. The author of 12 cook books, she was also the executive producer for several Indonesian cooking programs.

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Peter Lloyd

The former executive chef of Michelin Star Spice Market at the W Hotel, Peter Llyod kick-started his impressive culinary as a trainee at the House of Commons and Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane. Fast forward years later, Lloyd was the head chef at RSJ Restaurant Waterloo, at a tender age of 23. From there he went on to be the head chef at BANK restaurant, City Inn Hotels, as well as television appearance on several shows like BBC Celebrity Masterchef and Saturday Kitchen. He is now the chef-owner of his first ever restaurant, Sticky Mango – a modern take on South East Asia street food.

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Richard Tan

The former Director of the Hawker Centres Division of the National Environment Agency (NEA, which oversees operation and development of the hawker centres) in Singapore, Richard Tan was responsible for the formulation and implementation of Hawkers’ Policies and the planning and development of 10 new hawker centres. Under his watch, he managed 107 hawker centres and markets with about 15,000 stallholders. Richard has since retired from the public service in 2015, and is now presently engaged as Business Development Director by NTUC Foodfare, a social enterprise and one of the largest F&B operator in Singapore in the Food Court, Cafes, Coffeeshops and Hawker Centres space.

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Ruth Alegria

Trained in classic French techniques at Le Cordon Bleu, Ruth Alegria marries her skills with her Latin heritage which results in New York Times’s “two stars” Mexican restaurant in Greenwich Village and Princeton, New Jersey. She also founded the Princeton Cooking School, and is now organising cultural culinary tours and acts as guide for chefs, writers and media personalities. Alegria has appeared on various international television and radio shows such as Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.

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Sau Del Rosario 

The chef-owner of Café Fleur, the popular modern-Kapampangan café, Sau Del Rosario has been making waves with his culinary journey. He finished his degree in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from the University of the Philippines and realised his calling was to be in the kitchen – he flew to Paris and completed his stages with several restaurants.  He then went on to open M Café at the Ayala Museum in Makati and Chelsey in Serendra. He continues to create culinary magic at is Café Fleur and his newly-opened farm-to-table restaurant, 25 Seeds is the talk of the town.

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Shen Tan 

Known as the spunky nasi lemak (coconut rice) chef, Shen Tan delights with her unique innovations like Nasi Lemak Sushi and Bak Chor Mee Pasta. The former Forbes’ events director, Tan went on to create trail blazing dishes at The Wok & Barrel, defunct Ujong at Raffles Hotel and now at Revolution Coffee serving mouth-watering creations such as Buah Keluak Pasta and Shendol Delights – creamy smooth panna cotta, drizzled with gula melaka syrup and served with red bean ice cream. She recently won top honours at the Street Food Fesstival in Palermo, Italy, dazzling them with her rendition of Nyonya Laksa.

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Ulf Tassilo Muench

A culinary consultant, entrepreneur and chef, Ulf Tassilo Muench is also a certified ramen and udon chef.  An advocate for street food, he has spoken at several conventions such as Street Food Convention 2016, and is also a contributor for Street Food Business and Rolling Pin. The founder of Tashiro, Dim Sum to the people, he has guest-starred in “Experts meet Expert”, a popular Japanese television programme.

Do check back for the full speaker list!