Growing global

SPICE GUY

TUCKED in a shelf in Dempsey's COMO Marketplace - which curates artisanal food products from Asia - is a range of Kampot peppercorns from Cambodia, promising to do for pepper what Himalayan pink sea salt has done for table salt. Available in white, pink and black, the Kampot peppercorn is the latest in trendy seasonings, with a delicate flavour profile that's slightly sweet with a lingering finish, not the one-note nose tickling variety.

What you don't expect is that Kampot pepper is owned by Singaporean Lai Poon Piau, a former civil servant wanting to re…