Dr N K Yong joined the International Wine and Food Society (IWFS), Singapore in 1982, and was elected Chairman of the World Council of Management of the IWFS in October 1992, in which capacity he served for four years to October 1996. He is also currently the honourary secretary of Asian-Pacific Zone Committee (APZC). For his distinguished services to the IWFS, Dr Yong was awarded the André Simon Silver Medal of the Society in November 1989 and the André Simon Gold Medal in April 1998. He was conferred the award of Officier de l'Ordre du Merite Agricole by the French Government in December 1989. Dr Yong was admitted into the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin of Burgundy in 1988 and into the Commanderie du Bontemps de Medoc et des Graves in Bordeaux, as well as the Jurade de Saint-Emilion, Saint-Emilion in June 1989. For further recognition of his services to French wines, the President of the French Republic conferred on him the title of Officier de l'Orde National Du Mérite in 2004.

Sylvia Tan is a popular Singapore food writer with five cookbooks to her name. Her cookbooks are the compilation of her recipes culled from her travels. She writes on Singapore's culinary heritage and Singapore Heritage Food that describe the multicultural nature of Singapore food. She has also given lectures, workshops and cooking demonstrations on Singapore Heritage Food and in particular on nonya cooking. Currently, Sylvia is writing on a healthy eating column called Eat to Live in the Straits Times and is a juror for the international Slow Food Movement started by Carlo Petrini. This movement aims to protect traditional food processing and agriculture from the onslaught of modern methods of commercial food production that includes controversial methods of genetically modified foods.