Chinese and British Food Stories

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This event took place on 17 April 2023

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Chinese and British Food Stories

Watch event again now

This event took place on 17 April 2023

Food is at the heart of the Chinese British experience. Arriving, or growing up with multiple food traditions, cooking was always a means to survive and to integrate and at a time in the 1980s, it was estimated that over ninety percent of Chinese British employment was in catering. Whether Cantonese, Sichuan or Zhejiang, and however much it has been adapted, ‘Chinese’ food is now the most popular cuisine in the UK, continuing to evolve and bring fresh discoveries.

At this event speakers from very different food backgrounds share their stories, and their passions for food, as part of this remarkable and sometimes challenging cultural and culinary journey. With Ken Hom, one of Britain’s best-known food broadcasters; Angela Hui, author of Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter; restauranteur and writer Helen Tse and two-Michelin-starred chef Andrew Wong; all in conversation with School of Wok founder Jeremy Pang.

This event is broadcast live from the British Library as part of their 2023 Food Season. This event ties into our current exhibition Chinese and British, which you can visit at libraries across the UK. Find a list of participating locations here.

Speakers

Ken Hom

Chef

Ken Hom OBE is a Chinese-American chef, author of many books and a television host who came to national fame with his 1982 BBC series Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery. He is recognized as one of the world's leading experts in authentic Chinese and Asian cooking. Among his many accolades, in 2009, Ken was awarded Officer of the Order in the British Empire for service to the Culinary Arts and honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Chopsticks event.

Headshot of Ken Hom

Jeremy Pang

Chef

Jeremy Pang is a TV Chef, best-selling author and founder of acclaimed cookery school School of Wok. One of three generations of Chinese chefs, the School established a permanent home in London’s Covent Garden in 2012 where it specialises in teaching Eastern cuisine. Jeremy's recipes have been featured in a wide variety of publications and online media including and he has made regular appearances on TV and radio, from Sunday Brunch and Nadiya's Family Feasts to Ready, Steady, Cook and BBC Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet. His own show Jeremy Pang's Asian Kitchen ran on ITV last summer and his latest book Jeremy Pang's School of Wok appeared in 2022.

Headshot of Jeremy Pang

Helen Tse

Writer and Restaurant Owner

Helen Tse is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and award-winning restaurant owner and part of three generations of remarkable Chinese women. Her memoir Sweet Mandarin recounts a journey from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to the UK, where Helen’s grandmother, Lily Kwok, opened one of Manchester's earliest Chinese restaurants. It is a tale of how food and a talent for cooking pulled them through despite many challenges. Helen took these learnings to join with her sisters Lisa and Janet in creating the award-winning Sweet Mandarin restaurant while continuing her writing career.

Headshot of Helen Tse

Andrew Wong

Chef and Anthropologist

Andrew Wong is an award-winning chef and anthropologist. British born of Chinese heritage, his environment and nurture have had an equal impact. Combined with a strong academic background, the marriage of both has led to a cooking style that has one foot placed firmly in the future and the other inspired by the past. Andrew opened A.Wong in 2012 with his wife Nathalie – the ‘A’ paying homage to his parents Albert and Annie – and the restaurant was awarded its first Michelin star in 2017. In 2021 A.Wong was awarded a second Michelin star, the first outside Asia to achieve this honour. He is also a research associate at the School of Oriental & African Studies’ Food Studies Centre in London.

Headshot of Andrew Wong

Angela Hui

Journalist

Angela Hui is an award-winning journalist, editor and author of Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter (2022). Her work has been published in gal-dem, Guardian, Financial Times, HuffPost, Independent, Lonely Planet, Refinery29, Vice, among others and is a former food and drink writer at Time Out. Currently, she is currently editor at REKKI, a free app transforming the way chefs order ingredients.

Headshot of Angela Hui