If you don’t already know about this food blogger and TV cook, you probably want to. I first discovered Erwan Heussaff while browsing through Tastemade’s Snapchat account. He made cooking look so easy and fun, so being a budding cook myself, I made it a point to try out all the recipes that he had shown.
Looking at Heussaff, you would have never guessed that the French-Filipino writer and restaurateur was once overweight and had zero discipline when it came to managing his eating. Fuelled by a breakup with his girlfriend at the time, Erwan got up and got moving and is now healthier than ever and runs a very successful food blog called The Fat Kid Inside.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to interview him recently, so read on to find out more about Erwan Heussaff:
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m half French and half Filipino, lived the first half of my life in the Philippines then moved to Paris for college. While in college, I took summer jobs in Shanghai, Hanoi, Rhodes and Paris to build up my experiences. After college I took a job in Bangkok and then in Siberia, for about 2 years before returning to the Philippines and continuing my previous work as an operations manager for industrial catering management. While in Russia, I started doing instructional cooking videos and then when I got back to the Philippines I decided to share the weight loss story I went through in Greece to whoever fell upon my blog. From there the online persona, The Fat Kid Inside was born and I started creating more health/fitness oriented articles, as well as slowly professionalizing my food video content. Now I still work in the food industry by managing and creating restaurant concepts as well as continuously making online /tv food and travel content.
You’ve been quite open on your website about how unhealthy eating and over-indulging caused you to pile on weight until you ended up weighing just over 100kgs. What made you stop and realise that you had to start getting and eating healthy?
I was just too comfortable in a relationship that I stopped caring about what I looked like. When that ended and I found myself in Greece, I realized how unhappy I was because of how slow and big I felt and looked. So, I just decided one day to stop my bad eating habits cold turkey and to focus on leading a healthier life.
I think that when you’re used to eating junk, the biggest challenge is eating healthy. How did you begin that process?
I never really ate junk. I’ve always loved food. Good food and any kind of food. I would just eat large quantities, all the time and at the worst of times. I started by reading about 10 diet books and making a summary of what were the common points. I found that if I focused on natural, fresh food, mostly vegetables, fruits, meats and whole grains, in good quantities, without doing too much to ingredients, it would be easy to eat healthy.
What does your diet consist of on an average day?
Eggs and fruit in the morning, chicken, vegetables and brown rice in the afternoon, Fish and some vegetables at night. All just seared in olive oil and seasoned with salt.
What’s your favourite go-to superfood?
I love nut butters. They are calorie dense and great for a pick me up.
Give us a quick dinner recipe that takes under 30 minutes.
I’ll give you one that takes 5 minutes. Chop up a red onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 1tbsp of ginger, 1 red chili, 1 sweet potato and some water spinach. Sear everything in a wok with some olive oil. Add in about 250 grams of boneless chicken thighs, sliced. Brown. Add in ½ cup of coconut milk. Spice up with cayenne, dried coriander, cumin powder. Serve over some steamed broccoli or brown rice.
How do you hope to inspire people through food?
I just want people to be more comfortable in their skin and live a healthier life.
What do you like most about the KL food scene?
The spice and the diversity of food.
What advice could you give those that wants to eat healthier and lead a more clean lifestyle?
Just do it. Everyone knows what to do. They just usually don’t have the mental fortitude to see it through.
For more on Erwan Heussaff, food and other fun stuff, head on over to The Fat Kid Inside.
