Abang Brian

Guest at Chef Dr. Abang Brian | Award-Winning Chef, Food Researcher, Culinary Educator & Host of The Hungry Immigrant

Some people find their calling early. Others find it in the middle of heartbreak and rebuild their lives around it. When his father was diagnosed with cancer, Brian Chen’s world changed. He made the brave decision to walk away from a stable career as an auditor and return to the one thing that had always felt like home: food. What began as a leap of faith grew into the journey of Abang Brian — a MasterChef Malaysia alumnus, award-winning cookbook author, food researcher, culinary educator, and storyteller whose work bridges food, culture, identity, and migration. With nearly two decades of experience across food, media, education, and entrepreneurship, Abang Brian has trained and taught at Le Cordon Bleu, authored seven cookbooks, and received recognition at the Gourmand International Cookbook Awards. He later completed his PhD at Sunway University, where his research deepened his commitment to understanding food not just as nourishment, but as memory, heritage, belonging, and cultural practice. Today, he teaches at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, following his previous role at Le Cordon Bleu, while continuing his work as host of The Hungry Immigrant, a podcast dedicated to exploring immigrant food stories and preserving Asian food culture across generations and borders. His story is a reminder that food is never just food. It can be grief, courage, reinvention, identity, and legacy and in this episode, Abang Brian serves it all with honesty, warmth, and heart.