Erwan Heussaff champions Filipino dining traditions through The Fat Kid Inside Studios

Eating, cooking, travelling, writing, engaging in competitive sports and creating video content—Erwan Heussaff has done a stellar job of professionalising his hobbies. After creating content online for ten years, he built a pioneering food-and-culture-focused digital video media company in the Philippines, FEATR. The media company, which has millions of followers, produces shows and documentaries on diverse subjects, from the state of salt-making in the Philippines to traditional cooking in the Cordilleras, and features on lay people and chefs. “Our journey traverses beyond just business. We’re on a mission with FEATR to create content that not just captivates but also contributes. Right now, there is an increased interest from the larger public in forgotten dishes and endemic local ingredients and practices,” Heussaff says. “And the more interest there is, the better chance farmers, artisans and producers will be able to increase their production of crops, items and so on that were slowly being replaced by cash crop farming, importation and modernisation.”

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Heussaff ’s production studio, The Fat Kid Inside Studios, which creates all the videos for FEATR, also strategises and produces content for top brands and TV networks such as GrabFood, the Department of Tourism and Discovery Networks. His mission has been to spotlight his country and Filipino food and history. “The power of the Philippines is with our people,” Heusaff said. “We are everywhere and are so passionate. We must learn to appreciate all the dishes from every region of the Philippines.”

This success is the result of years of hard work. The Fat Kid Inside started out as a blog when Heussaff was based in Russia. It took plenty of trial and error, and Heussaff had to find time to prioritise filming and production before he took a leap and turned it into his full-time occupation. “When you are creating content online, you need to be believable and the best way to do that is for your passion to come through the screen,” he says. “I always tell anyone trying to get into social media that they should first do it as a hobby. If they enter the sphere with aspirations of popularity or money, they might be greatly disappointed.”