A recent Masterchef UK episode where contestant Zaleha Kadir Olpin was eliminated as her rendition of a beloved dish, chicken rendang was torn apart by the judges for “not being crispy”.

The backlash was swift and immediate. If your social media accounts have friends and loved ones from Southeast Asia you’ll see posts with passion and fervor regarding the misrepresentation of chicken rendang.

We spoke about the relevance of content, that goes either as evergreen or seasonal in a previous post. The image above was a screenshot that I took for hitting Google up with “rendang masterchef”. Rendangate as it has been coined by the media has become a fiasco big enough for CNN, BBC, and of course, The Malay Mail Online to report about. As

Part of me believes that the cause of the swift reprisal came from how judges of a cooking show who were supposed to be experts when it came to the field of culinary knowledge fell so far off the mark on rendang, a dish that everyone I know personally and hold dear love. A sentiment shared by many, spurring social media interactions that unified people under a banner. At this point, the reach, momentum, and relevance was undeniable.

It wasn’t long content creators jumped onto this to strike. With Singaporean blogger mrbrown teaming up with photographer/poet Marc Nair to do a take with a parody remix of a local song in a video, with its own link on Soundcloud.

KFC Malaysia leveraged by doing a not so subtle stab at the gaffe with an Instagram post which managed to serve two purposes. Firstly, giving encouragement to Zaleha Kadir Olpin and riding the momentum of Rendangate. Secondly, reinforcing their product line with the captions "The only thing that should be crispy is our fried chicken". With these two in hand, it was an easy sell to share and prime a ready crowd.

Ironically, Masterchef UK has probably been searched way more in the last few days, and possibly days to come with Rendangate still accumulating mass. There are a few lessons and observations to be gleaned from this event. From the importance of making sure your subject matter experts are tuned to the market where such expertise is on display, to seeing the different spinoffs and angles that different types of content have angled to make their brands and messaging relevant for the topic of the hour.

What I’ve learned today is to never discount the importance that food holds across cultures and peoples. Even Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman has commented on how this issue has managed to galvanise people who are otherwise divided by differing views. How would you translate this case study to the way you would communicate within your company, and to better align the needs of your customers with your team? Definitely food for thought.