www.cookoff.com.Sg

www.cookoff.com.Sg: There is no denying Singaporeans’ love affair with food. But aside from scouting great food venues and snapping pictures of tasty eats for their blogs, some have taken their passion one step further – into the kitchens. Visit www.cookoff.com.sg

This trend is made evident by the numerous cooking schools, such as the Wiltshire Baking Studio with Palate Sensations by Brandt at Robinsons, The Centrepoint, that have opened in the last couple of years. Add to that the number of specialty groceries shops and butcheries, and you have everything you need to be the next Jamie Oliver, minus the lisp.

The home gourmet is further encouraged by NTUC FairPrice’s 24-hour supermarkets, which offer fresh ingredients available any time inspiration hits. Ms Christina Lim, deputy director, Retail Marketing, NTUC FairPrice said: “At FairPrice, we have seen an increase in demand for fresh food items and we have been looking to expand the range of produce we have in our stores.

“For example, we recently brought in a range of green leafy vegetables from Indonesia under our ‘Pasar’ housebrand. We have also heard from our local suppliers that they have seen increases in sales of their food products, such as pre-mixes and sauces.”

NTUC FairPrice is also encouraging the home cook with its first reality TV series, FairPrice Family Cookoff. The series is an adaptation of a well-known Australian reality TV cooking competition and participants compete to be Singapore’s best family of cooks.

“Reality shows are now one of the preferred entertainment among Singaporeans today. Increasingly, viewers are seeking to watch real people at play and at work. Reality TV gives viewers the ability to relate with real people and issues.

“The FairPrice Family Cookoff will feature families that are truly gifted with real talents and ideas for cooking. These contestants cover a wide spectrum of families in Singapore with culturally diverse backgrounds – from multicultural families to young couples to a team of four young sisters – they will showcase their cooking abilities and battle it out to be Singapore’s family of cooks”, said Ms Lim.

NTUC FairPrice hopes the series will also ignite the passions of other Singaporeans to try cooking at home. “The FairPrice Family Cookoff show has allowed us to address a few of our marketing strategies, such as functional needs, as it shares simple, easy-to-cook recipes; it also lets us engage with grocery shoppers because most ingredients can be easily bought in our stores, providing customers a head start in preparing their dishes; and interestingly enough, since cooking is always about self expression, our contestants are offering entertaining and informative contents about their own recipes which are unique to each family,” said Ms Lim.

“The show aims to promote home cooking as an activity that bonds both families and community – it is synergistic to our strategy to position FairPrice as the place where families and community meet and bond,” she added.

Recipe cards of dishes featured in the show will be available in selected stores and online at www.cookoff.com.sg after the series airs and the show will have a complement of in-store activities and promotions of recipe partners’ products.

There will also be a voting contest where NTUC FairPrice customers can pick their favourite dish and submit them for the Cook and Win contest. The programme will be broadcast on Oct 22 on MediaCorp TV Channel 8. r