Prof. Dato’ Zamzani Abdul Wahab DPMT, (born 19 April 1970) popularly known as Chef Zam is a Malaysian celebrity chef.^[1]

Background and education

Prof. Dato' Chef Zam was born and raised in Kuala Terengganu where he practised cooking in the kitchen with his mother since the age of 7 years old. He obtained a Diploma in Chef Training from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) in 1993. After that, he worked as a chef in several hotels before pursuing an Associate of Science in Hotel-Restaurant Management and a Bachelor's Degree in Hotel-Restaurant/Institutional Management both from Johnson and Wales University, USA as a MARA scholar. Chef Zam worked in New York for three years upon graduation. While being employed at the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, New York, he participated in the organization of the month-long 'Malaysian Food & Cultural Promotions' (1997), housed at the United Nations building. Then he returned to Malaysia and worked at KDU College in January 1998. In 2003, he won a teaching scholarship to study for a Master's Degree in Hospitality Management from Thames Valley University, London. During his studies and as part of the Teaching Scholarship requirements, he was also tasked to teach the Junior Chefs Academy classes, mainly attended by European, African other international students alike. He was also commissioned by MATRADE (London) as well as Tourism Malaysia (London) to assist with promoting Malaysian food products in the UK & Scotland. He was also featured at the International Food Exhibition (IFE) 2005. After two years there, Chef Zam returned to Malaysia and continued teaching at KDU College until he tendered his resignation in July 2010 to start his own culinary school. In 2011, he was conferred a Visiting Professor Award by the University of West London, Ealing, London.

Career

He served as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer before being promoted as Head of Special Projects at the renowned KDU College's School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts, Selangor, Malaysia from 1998-2010. During his 12.5 years tenure at KDU College, Chef Zam had led, organized and conducted numerous culinary-related events with students under his care. Amongst others: Malaysian Apprentice Chef Competition in conjunction with MIHAS, bi-annual Inter-College Culinary Competition, etc.

He has appeared in a wide varieties of television productions in Malaysian, Singapore, The Nederlands, (cookery progams, travelogues, sitcoms, dramas, telemovies, talkshows, etc. such as Garam Gula, Citarasa Selebriti, Ole-ole Malaysia, Serimas...Selera Dunia, Aroma Selebriti, Chef Selebriti Realiti TV (Suria TV, Singapore), Sajian Ramadhan 2008, Biscotti, Dapur Chef Zam", etc. As a prominent Celebrity Chef in Malaysia, Chef Zam had also served as the Brand Ambassador for Philips Malaysia, Heinz ABC, Harvey Norman, Barilla, Colavita, (just to name a few) and is currently attached to BOSCH Home Malaysia. Besides that, he is working with a myriad of well-known brands local as well as international brand names on special campaigns alike.

An avid foodie, Chef Zam always strives to have a better control of his TV show contents. To materialize that, he began producing his own TV cookery shows for local TV stations i.e. RTM, TVOkey and the likes. To date, he has successfully produced a total of 6 cooking series, two Telemovies and counting.

Honours

•  Terengganu :
  • Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Terengganu (DPMT) – Dato' (2021)^[2]

References

https://www.astroawani.com/topic/chef-zam https://www.nona.my/18-tahun-jaga-emak-chef-zam-rindu-senyuman-allahyarhamah-chik-minah-mak-awang-pergi-yer/ https://www.utusan.com.my/gaya/hiburan/2023/02/jangan-jahanamkan-keaslian-sajian-cef-zam/