Musician Yeo wants to build a hotel out of a Malaysian dessert
You’d be forgiven for thinking that someone with a social media handle titled “Snacks with Yeo” was some kind of famous chef.
Whilst Yeo is pretty brilliant in the kitchen (as you’ll find as we go along) it’s music that captured him early on and remains his true love.
Internationally recognised Yeo has been releasing music for over a decade, with his craft taking him across Australia and as far from home as Ecuador, the US, Canada and Singapore. We had wanted to interview Yeo for a while, and when the opportunity record an episode in front of a live audience came up, he was our first choice. It was his appearance on ABC hit show ‘Spicks and Specks’ that sealed the deal for us. We figured we needed someone in the lineup that knew what they were doing! A huge thanks to Siteworks and Testing Grounds for asking us record live at TwoSixty Brunswick, we had an absolute ball!
In his words, Yeo explains that he got into music because he feels he “wasn't good at anything else at school”. His first song was played on national radio when he was just 19 and since then he’s explored pop, r’n’b, reggae and hip hop (his big love).
You’ll find throughout the interview that Yeo is big on DIY - in music and food. This man absolutely loves learning how to do new things and problem-solving. “My attitude is if it’s already broken, there’s no harm in breaking it further to try to make it try to work again”.
photo by Emma Byrnes; naughty dog in righthand corner by us
A QUICK WHIP AROUND THE INGREDIENTS THAT MAKE UP YEO
PRONOUNS: He / Him
HOMETOWNS: Naarm/Melbourne (current), Meeanjin / Brisbane
JOB DESCRIPTION: Musician and producer
Yeo is super proud of his Malaysian Chinese ancestry. More recently, he’s been exploring his roots and is delighted that East Asians are starting to be more visible and represented in mainstream culture. His video project #hotuncleshit played with the stereotype of the single uncle or aunty in an East Asian family, where “you have time to do crazy shit and no one will disturb you”. We also look at the “poor sick people food” trope and how that applies to so many great dishes across cultures. We were surprised to learn that in terms of how his background has affected his own cooking, he actually had to work backwards. Teaching himself to cook in his 20’s, he started with good old casseroles and simple pasta bakes then began making the dishes of his ancestors as he grew in confidence.
“In my family and familial culture… affection is shown by how much you feed someone.
When your Mum or Aunty sees you, the question isn’t even “How are you?”, it’s “Have you eaten yet?”
When we nibble on the “Starving Artist” archetype, Yeo is passionate. He has strong views about how government support is lacking, as well as how the music industry and venues look after their artists. He highlights the issues of venues paying artists in alcohol or only providing alcohol rather than adequate food backstage at gigs. We also chat about how it’s totally ok to do ‘bread and butter work for someone else’ in order to fund your art.
Yeo reminds us that being able to cook is a privilege, especially for those who are time poor and exhausted. He recommends the “Time to Eat” series by Nadiya Hussain on Netflix that features super quick recipes. As for his own recipes, we cannot WAIT to make his steamed fish dish and took particular note of his advice to be meticulous when you julienne the ginger and spring onions.
Yeo’s kitchen superpower is a power that we at What Artists Eat would like a LOT more of and his kitchen disaster story is a romantic pyrotechnic drama for the ages.
WHAT YEO EATS
STEAMED WHOLE FISH
LINKS & MENTIONS
LINKS TO ARTIST INFORMATION, RESOURCES AND ANYTHING ELSE WE CHATTED ABOUT
All photos from the day were snapped by Emma Byrnes - she also looked after our naughty dog Squeak
INFORMATION AND TAKEAWAYS FROM OUR CHAT
Yeo’s favourite Malaysian restaurant in Naarm/ Melbourne is Malaymas in Fitzroy North
Time poor? Yeo’s go-to healthy dish is eggs, tomatoes and rice
Big hearty meals when you’re sick are a love language to Yeo. When he had the flu, his mate Andy made him a giant container of spag bol, and when his mates caught COVID, Yeo made them wonton soup
Yeo’s chicken rice hacks: be patient with the broth, it’s the most important part
Art vs Food: Yeo would make the Eastlink Hotel by Callum Morton out of a Malaysian dessert called kuih lapis;
Yeo was on Episode 10 of Season 11 of the hit TV show Spicks and Specks