Tupperware brand ambassador ‘Fast Ed’ Halmagyi will be joining us at the Tupperware Manager Conference in Kuala Lumpur. We catch up with this much-loved Aussie chef…

Whether you’ve seen him co-hosting the travel programme Discover Tasmania, or you tune into Channel 7 every Friday to catch him on Logie winner Better Homes and Gardens, chef Ed Halmagyi is instantly recognisable. ‘Fast Ed’, as he’s affectionately known, is not only passionate about food, he wants people everywhere to enjoy cooking delicious meals in their own kitchens.

When I speak to him, Ed is in his car, parked outside the shops, drawing up a shopping list for a photo shoot. “There’s never a quiet moment!” he laughs.

Ed’s interest in cooking started very early on. “I came from a family where it was expected that I would to get a job,” he says. “When I was 15, I started working on weekends as a kitchen hand at a local bistro. It all developed from there.”

Ed refined his skills at restaurants such as Rockpool and Cruise in Sydney, and the Wickaninnish Inn, a luxury hotel in Canada. While this versatile chef can turn his hand to just about anything, he does have a cooking specialty. “A lot of my life has been spent as a pastry chef – I’m especially passionate about pastry and baking,” he adds.

Ed is not only a regular on TV and radio, he now has his own magazine, Fast Ed’s Better Basics, and he has also produced a couple of cookbooks. His latest offering – Dinner in 10 (published in July 2009) – is full of fast, fresh food for the family.

It’s this focus on making great food quick, simple and accessible that made him a natural fit with Tupperware. In 2009 the company approached Ed to be a brand ambassador. “I was delighted to be asked!” says Ed.

“The great thing about Tupperware is there is no fluff about it,” he explains. “It offers people great solutions to real problems.”

Ed values quality and function and, in his view, Tupperware is a well-designed, well-conceived product. “One of the greatest stumbling blocks in getting people to enjoy their kitchens, is being more organised. Tupperware addresses that need.”

Ed is hard-pressed to choose just one favourite Tupperware product. “My top Tupperware products right now are the Quick Chef II (with Salad Basket), which is so versatile, and the Bake 2 Basics Digital Scales, which have conversions on the top – as a pastry chef, I think that’s pure genius!” he says.

Ed is also a fan of the TupperChef Forms and Alegra ranges. “I love the colour orange and I have the entire Alegra range in that colour. It looks so vibrant and beautiful – especially for photo shoots.”

Tupperware is also a staple in the Halmagyi home. “My wife, Leah, loves the Alegra range too, but she’s also a huge fan of the Sandwich Keepers with attached covers,” says Ed. “As parents of two school-age kids – daughter Luca (7) and son Finn (4) – we know that they’re always losing the tops of lunchboxes, so this range is fantastic.”

While Ed clearly knows his way around a kitchen, Tupperware still has the capacity to surprise him. “My association with Tupperware, and my experiments with the TupperWave® Stack Cooker and 1 Litre Jug, have opened my eyes to the possibilities of microwave cooking,” he says. “It requires different techniques, for instance, the moisture content in your cake recipes has to be higher, but you can produce some great results.”

Ed got his first taste of the Tupperware team in February, hanging out at the Sessions. He’s excited to be attending the Tupperware Manager Conference in August/September. “The thing I’m most looking forward to at the Kuala Lumpur conference, is meeting all the great people. Lots of companies say that their real product is the people, but it’s true of Tupperware.”

Ed has a profound respect for the Tupperware brand. “What I admire most about Tupperware is the extraordinary level of opportunity it offers people,” he explains. “It changes lives for the better and also validates people such as mums returning to work, who may have felt disempowered by the expectations and demands of the regular, office-hours workplace.”

The chance to travel to Malaysia for the manager conference is a concrete example of the way in which Tupperware broadens people’s horizons. “If you ask some of the people who will be attending the Kuala Lumpur conference, some of them will say that they have never been overseas before. Tupperware is giving them that opportunity; the value of that just can’t be underestimated.”