By Emily Chapman Laing
Sixty-one-year-old Sri-Lankan born Cranbourne resident Corina Foenander will show off her cooking skills at the internationally renowned World Food Championships in Melbourne later this month.
“I look like an old fuddy duddy there in front of all of the young people,“ she said.
“But there is no age for anything, if you’ve got a passion just go for it.
“I should have done this years and years ago.“
Ms Foenander found her flair for home cooking after years of “burning everything“ in the kitchen.
“I didnt know how to cook at all when I got married at 21, I tried cooking but I just couldn’t,“ Ms Foenander said.
“But when you have children you learn to do different things, and my mum was a very good cook so I got a lot of recipes from her.“
Ms Foenander found her passion after she worked as a caterer and became disillusioned with the quality of food in restaurants.
“I enjoy food, I love eating,“ she said.
“When I go to restaurants I’m a real food critic, I’m disappointed at the quality of food.“
Ms Foenander made the most of the extra time offered to her during the pandemic, and begun “experimenting“ with different recipes at home.
“I had nothing else to do,“ she said.
“A lot of my friends told me I should have a restaurant.“
During this time, Corina started her YouTube channel, “Corina“, where she shared her recipes.
In 2019, Ms Foenander applied for the World Food Championships and in 2022, she was contacted to participate.
“The other cooks showed up with all of these different things and I just had one knife,“ she said.
“The judges are really nice and they say don’t give up.“
Ms Foenander placed in the top 5 for the beef category.
Ms Foenander is known for her signature chilli crab dish, which she created “according to [her] own palette“.
“Chilli crab is a fusion between Sri-Lankan, Singaporian and Malaysian,“ she said.
The semi-retired mother will compete for the second time this year, participating in the golden ticket category for seafood.
“I’ll be more organised and professional this year, I wont go with a suitcase and one knife,“ Ms Foenander said.
“I’m used to audiences but not with cooking, and when you’re competing with people who have been on MasterChef and run restaurants it’s not easy to be there.“
Last week, Ms Foenander started her new blog, Cook with Corina.
“I want to go into peoples homes and interact with them, cook in their own homes and then televise it,“ she said.
The 2023 World Food Championships will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, 30 June until 2 July.
With hosts and celeb appearances such as Manu Feildel and Tigga Mac, this event will be an oasis for all types of food lovers and cooks alike, offering chances to compete, spectate or participate in the much-loved event.
Australian local John McFadden won the entire World Food Championships 2022 competition in Bentonville, Arkansas, USA, taking home the top prize money of USD $100,000.
This year, Ms Foenander is hoping to keep the Australian winning streak going.
