Chef Wan is the second generationFederal Land Development Authority settler who was born and raised in a poor family at Sungai Koyan Felda, Lipis, Pahang. In an interview in February 2010, Chef Wan highlighted that he is of mixed ancestry; his father has Malay ancestry from Indonesia while his mother has Chinese and Japanese ancestry. Chef Wan has two children. One is Serina Redzuawan, an actress who has appeared in several Malaysian drama series; Chef Wan's son, Muhammad Nazri Redzuawan who is commonly known as Chef Riz, is following in his father's footsteps by becoming a chef as well.
Career
His early career was as an accountant. He says after seeing the popularity of many types of Asian food in Western countries he decided to promote Malaysia and other South East Asian countries using their food. He has an associate degree in Professional Chef Training and Hotel Management from the California Culinary Academy and a Ritz Escoffier Diploma from the Hôtel Ritz Paris. In 2009, he won the Best Celebrity Television Chef of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Chef Wan is Tourism Malaysia culinary ambassador. He is currently a brand ambassador for AirAsia. In 2005, Anthony Bourdain introduced Chef Wan to American audiences during his trip to Malaysia in season one, episode five of . In 2009, Chef Wan appeared in Episode 4 of Rick Stein's television seriesFar Eastern Odyssey. On 26 July 2018, Chef Wan's Kitchen at Esplanade Mall ceased operations after only a year. Chef Wan said, "It's not because the cooks are not good, and neither are the staff to blame. The culinary team just did not follow my recipes... and as a result, many diners were not satisfied... It's better to close it than to invite further criticism from guests who enjoy what I cook." Chef Wan was the recipient of 2019 Felda Icon Award at Felda Settlers Day in 2019.
Controversies
Chef Wan was widely criticized for making an inappropriate joke with regard to the missing MH370 flight when he posted a photo on his Instagram account of an object which he linked to the search efforts and referred it as "an old toilet door from Cik Kiah's house". He further enraged the public as he subsequently refused to apologize and defended the joke as a means to gauge the public reaction. In 2015, while criticising a CNN ranking of the world's best food destinations for its low placement of Malaysia, Chef Wan stated that " Philippines is known to have the worst food in Asia, ask any chefs and they will tell you I am right". In 2017, Chef Wan, being the son of a Felda settler, vented his frustrations and disappointments over the Felda scandals by quipping the agency as "Felda then, Failed dah now" and condemned the culprits. In January 2019, he said he wants to slap former prime ministerNajib Razak and ex-Felda chairman Mohd Isa Abdul Samad for mismanaging the agency into a financial mess while on a cooking programme and campaign trail at the Felda community in the Cameron Highlands by-election. He however apologizes later for the coarse language he used and that he had made. After the award presentation of himself as the 2019 Felda Icon, Chef Wan was chided for claiming that some of the Felda settlers were lazy and tended to “breed like cats” in analogy for having polygamous marriages and large families after getting rich and comfortable life when he stressed the importance of hard work and a need to avoid laziness among the settlers based on his own life observation living in the Felda. Najib Razak had again embroiled in a war of words in the social media with Chef Wan over his remarks this time. Chef Wan has told the disgraced ex-PM to ‘shut his mouth’ and ‘don’t bark like a mad dog’.
