DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR USQ STUDENTS
ASPIRING TO DO THINGS LIKE YOU HAVE?
I guess no one knows what the future holds. Follow your
dream. It may take 5, 10, 20 years, but eventually you
will get there. One wise man said to me, “We all have
passion, but passion comes and goes. For instance, I can
be passionate about cooking lamb, then I’ll start cooking
lamb for the next few weeks until I get bored. Then I
want to try something else. That’s desire to learn and
explore. It’s great that you have passion to cook, but it is
the desire that keeps you going.”
HOW DID YOU COME TO BE ON MASTERCHEF AND
WHAT WAS THE EXPERIENCE LIKE?
After working in web design and advertising for 14 years,
I was ready to move on and looking for a new challenge.
Cooking has always been my passion so I thought to
myself “why not give it a go since I got nothing to lose”.
It was tough, but very rewarding. I was away from home
for over 6 months, living under one roof with 23 other
contestants and without any communication with the
outside world. It was challenging physically and mentally
to be part of Masterchef, but I am so glad that I did it, and
the show definitely has opened lots of doors for me and
I am very happy with what I’ve achieved since leaving the
show.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE SOME OF THE STRANGEST
FOODS YOU’VE EATEN?
Balut, a delicacy in Philippines and Vietnam. It is a boiled
egg that had been fertilised for 19 days! Inside was a half
developed foetus with all the trimmings. I don’t think I
can do it again. Flying fox in Vanuatu, one way to get
close to a vampire I guess. Nope, it wasn’t pleasant and
very boney.
Billy has released two cookbooks during
his time as a chef and has a keen focus on
photography and storytelling.
You can catch up with his food blog on the
website A Table for Two and follow his
journey through kitchens around the world
on his Instagram profile (be warned, drooling
may occur). Hear more from Billy at USQ’s
Bookcase in July. If you’ve got a studentfriendly recipe you’d love to
Visit Billy’s
website,
share, email us at USQ
A Table
for Two
social media!