Taiwan-born Huang Ching-he has built a veritable Chinese cooking brand in the UK by unraveling the secrets of Chinese cuisine in her popular TV series and recipe books.
Her most recent book, called Ching’s Fast Food, was published in the UK last month and again demonstrated why she has commanded such a large following in not just the UK, but in many other English-speaking countries.
“I think Ching’s adaptations are really easy and quick. A lot of the recipes are sort of 7 minutes to 10 minutes to prepare, and 10 minutes to cook,” said Carole Tonkinson, a publisher at Harper Collins who has worked with Huang on her three most recent books.
BIG NAME
“She’s the first, the biggest name in Chinese cookery active today anywhere, I think, in English-language territories,” Tonkinson said.
Huang said she drew inspiration for the book from fans who wrote to her that they loved Chinese food from take-out restaurants and wanted to learn how to cook the dishes at home.
However, because Chinese food outlets in the UK vary widely in quality, Huang decided to simplify the process by writing a book that taught people the easy and healthy way to prepare the dishes.
MODERN LIFESTYLE
According to her publisher, Huang said each of her 110 recipes takes an average of 30 minutes to cook, which is ideal for the modern lifestyle.
“People want food they can make after work that’s easy and healthy,” Tonkinson said.
Huang, who did not receive any formal cooking training, explained that ideas for new recipes might come anytime and anywhere — while traveling or dreaming in bed.
“I like to experiment and I enjoy eating. I also like to go to other countries to see what they eat,” she said.
The 33-year-old Huang was born in Taipei, but spent most of her early childhood in South Africa, before her parents moved to London when she was 11 years old.
UPSCALE
Educated at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London and the Bocconi Business School in Milan, she opened a food company after graduation, selling health drinks and adapting Chinese dishes that made inroads into upscale department stores, such as Harrods and Selfridges.
Huang is known for her cookery programs, her first being Ching’s Kitchen, which was first shown on UKTV Food in 2005. Her Chinese Food Made Easy series aired in 2008 and launched her to stardom, and she hosted a 13-part cookery series on Channel 5 last year.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said