Arts & Culture

Taiwanese chef cooks up a storm on British TV

Taiwan chef turned British TV celebrity Ching-he Huang demonstrates how to use fresh strawberries to make spring rolls. (Courtesy of Ching-he Huang)

• Publication Date：06/25/2010
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Steven Crook

Very few people in the U.K. follow baseball, so Wang Chien-ming, Ni Fu-te and Taiwan's other exports to Major League Baseball in the U.S. are completely unknown to the British public.

Which Taiwanese person, then, is best known to the people of the U.K.? Oscar-winning movie director Ang Lee is one candidate; his films have been box-office hits there. Another is Ching-he Huang, a young woman whose cooking shows on British TV have brought her considerable international success.

Huang's most recent series, “Chinese Food in Minutes,” was broadcast by Five, a terrestrial TV channel, between February and May this year. According to statistics compiled by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board, each of the 13 episodes was watched by an average of around one million people.

The series was based on Huang’s cookbook of the same title, published by HarperCollins last September. That collection was preceded by “Chinese Food Made Easy” (released in 2008 to accompany a TV series of the same name) and “China Modern” (2006).

Huang did not plan to work in television. After obtaining a degree in economics from the University of London, she ran a catering company for a decade.

“It was during those early years that I got my opportunity to do TV cooking,” she says. While promoting a cold-noodle dish, she explains, a friend suggested she try getting on a food show. “I went for a screen test and really enjoyed it. It was a bit of fun and glamour and so different from a hot kitchen. I was fortunate to continue and then several opportunities followed.”

Since “Chinese Food Made Easy” was shown on the BBC in 2008, the six episodes of Huang's first series have been broadcast in Australia, New Zealand, Germany and several other countries.

Despite having spent two-thirds of her life outside Taiwan, Huang remains close to her roots. “Although I have lived away from Taiwan for many years, through food and cooking, I feel I have managed to keep my heritage and culture.”

“I try to return at least once a year,” she says. “Most of my relatives are in Taiwan and we have a big family. I was born in Taipei but lived with my grandparents in Kaohsiung before my family left to go to South Africa. My grandparents taught me how to cook, eat, share and ‘bai-bai’ to give thanks to our ancestors.”

Growing up, she also learned about the traditions connected to celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year, and became fluent in Holo, “which I can still speak today.”

“My parents wanted a better life for us when we were young. My father dreamed of having his own enterprise and by chance he met a South African businessman who convinced him to go to South Africa, so he moved us all there.”

Huang lived in South Africa between the ages of five and 11. Then the family relocated again, this time to the U.K.

“My cooking is a blend of my favorite dishes, whether Taiwanese, British-Chinese, Cantonese, Sichuanese or Eastern Chinese. I like to share the dishes that I enjoy most and that I think are a joy to cook and eat,” she explains, adding that her recipes have to take into account the facilities and limitations of typical British kitchens.

Being based so far from Taiwan occasionally presents obstacles. “I miss all the traditional ingredients we can't get in the U.K., like Taiwanese 'nine-level pagoda' basil for my three-cup chicken, fresh bamboo shoots, sweet potato leaves and stinky tofu,” says Huang. Nevertheless, she has been able to work into her cooking a surprising number of British products, such as soy sauce made in Wales, and tofu from Melton Mowbray—a town in the English Midlands better known for pork pies.

According to Huang, Taiwan has a great deal to offer those whose interest in things Chinese goes beyond food. “Because Taiwan didn't suffer the Cultural Revolution, the people have managed to retain their 'Chineseness,'” she says. “Chinese traditions and festivities like the Dragon Boat Festival, Tomb-sweeping Day, the Mid-Autumn Festival—I grew up with all these traditions, whereas my friends from China who are in the same age group did not grow up experiencing some of them,” notes Huang.

Asked if she would like to follow in the footsteps of American celebrity chefs Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain and make a TV show about foods eaten in Taiwan, Huang replies: “I would love to do a culinary tour of Taiwan. There is so much talent and delicious food crying out to be shared with the rest of the world.”

“It would be a great way for me to re-explore my roots,” she says, adding “Taiwan is incredibly exciting because it has so many influences—from Japan, various regions of China including Sichuan and Hunan, Hakka people, indigenous aboriginal people—and also just the sheer inventiveness of food entrepreneurs. I remember going to one restaurant where the dishes they served used only edible flowers or green tea as a base for their food!”

—Steven Crook is a freelance writer based in Tainan. Copyright © 2010 by Steven Crook

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