To Australians, Adam Liaw may be well known as a celebrity chef, but he prefers "regular home cook".
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After all, that's the type of cooking that brings him the greatest joy.
"To me, cooking is not just about making a great plate of food. It's about the ability to share that with people and home cooking is the only way to do that," he says.
"It's the fact that after you've finished cooking, you get to sit down with the people you love most and it eat it and you get to see how they respond to it."
Liaw's passion for simple cooking is understandable when you see what a busy man he is - not that he is complaining.
The 2010 MasterChef Australia winner is currently working on a new cookbook and is about to begin filming the fifth season of the popular SBS series Destination Flavour.
"It's a busy few months coming off a busy few years, I never can complain about being busy because I'm busy doing something that I really do enjoy," he said.
And now he has added another feather to his cap, having been named a Japanese Cuisine Goodwill Ambassador for his contribution to the promotion of Japanese food culture in Australia.
He joins 12 other ambassadors around the globe, including Sydney-based Japanese chef Hideo Dekura.
Sitting in the autumn-tinged gardens of the Japanese embassy in the leafy Canberra suburb of Yarralumla, Liaw admits he is hugely proud to join such a distinguished culinary class.
"It's quite honour [because] it's the first time it's been presented to people outside of Japan," Liaw said.
"There were 14 ambassadors before this latest batch and they were all the heads of the top culinary schools in Japan so I'm quite honoured."
Liaw spent seven years living in Japan, which is where his love affair with the country's cuisine began.
"I think it was probably in a sushi restaurant in the small town Hakui in the Ishikawa Prefecture and the chef when I was asking for a particular type of fish, he looked out the window and he said, 'With the weather like this, there's no way that they're bringing that fish in today'," he said.
"I'd never really even thought about food in that context before that, that it could be that temporal and that simple and that connected to everything around you.
"I think it's that connection between the food and the seasons and the people and the place that I find most fascinating with Japanese cuisine over and above any other."
Not only does Liaw love Japanese cuisine, he also has a deeply personal connection to the country's food and culture.
"I'm not Japanese... but my kids are, my wife [Asami] is Japanese. I enjoy showing them my culture - Australia, Malaysia, China and various other places I consider part of my culture - but I also like teaching them theirs as well," he said.
"Japanese cuisine is extremely close to me but it's not mine. I don't pretend to be Japanese but I academically enjoy learning it because it is part of the culture of so many people in my family."
Liaw believes the appeal of Japanese cuisine lies in its simplicity and in his role as an ambassador, he wants to make it more accessible to Australians.
"It's an incredibly simple cuisine that is also healthy that uses very few ingredients other than what you have around," he said.
"As artistic as it is, it's intensely practical. It's produced one of the healthiest, longest living, most vibrant people and also a food culture that has more Michelin stars than any other. There are so many different aspects to like about Japanese food but at its essence, is unbelievable simplicity where every ingredient just tastes like the ingredient."
