Ching-He Huang (; (born 8 April 1978), often known in English-language merely as Ching, is a

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

ese-born

food writer Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians. Definition Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food ...

and TV chef. She has appeared in a variety of television cooking programmes, and is the author of nine best-selling

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...

s. Ching is recognized as a foodie entrepreneur, having created her own food businesses. She has become known for Chinese cookery internationally through her TV programmes, books, noodle range, tableware range, and involvement in many campaigns and causes.

Early life

Born in

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of hi ...

, Ching spent most of her early childhood (up to age six) in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, before her parents moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, when she was 11 years old. Educated at Queen Mary and

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

, England, and Bocconi Business School in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, Italy, Ching graduated with a first class

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

degree and set up her own food businesses, Fuge Foods, which was dissolved in 2014 with final abbreviated accounts for the year ended 30 June 2008.

Broadcasting career

Ching is known for her appearances on various cookery programmes, including ITV's '' Saturday Cooks'' and '' Daily Cooks'', and UKTV's ''

Great Food Live ''Great Food Live'', formerly ''Good Food Live'', was a British magazine programme hosted by Jeni Barnett and broadcast on UKTVFood part of the UKTV Network between 2001 and 2007. Jeni Barnett was joined every day by a chef co-host. The first ...

''.. She is a regular guest on the BBC's ''

Saturday Kitchen ''Saturday Kitchen Live'' is a British cookery programme, that is broadcast live on BBC One every Saturday between 10.00am and 11.30am produced by Cactus TV. History 2002–2003 After a pilot hosted by Ainsley Harriott on 14 April 2001, th ...

'' hosted by

Matt Tebbutt Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

(and previously hosted by James Martin). Ching has also hosted ''Saturday Kitchen'' in 2016. She makes regular guest appearances on ITV's ''

This Morning This Morning may refer to: * ''This Morning'' (TV programme), a British daytime television programme * ''This Morning'' (radio program), a Canadian radio show which aired from 1997 to 2002 * '' CBS This Morning'', an American morning show, succe ...

'' and ''

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of G ...

''. She has also appeared on ''

Food and Drink ''Food and Drink'' is a British television series on BBC Two. First broadcast between 1982 and 2002, it was the first national television programme in the UK to cover the subject of food and drink without cookery and recipe demonstrations. Histo ...

'' hosted by

Tom Kerridge Thomas Kerridge (born 27 July 1973) is an English chef. After initially appearing in several small television parts as a child actor, he decided to attend culinary school at the age of 18. He has since worked at a variety of British restaurants, ...

, ITV's ''John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen'', Channel 4's ''

Sunday Brunch ''Sunday Brunch'' is a British television programme presented by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It is broadcast live on Channel 4 on Sunday mornings and features cookery and interviews with celebrity guests. Format The programme began on 25 ...

'', CBBC's ''

The Munch Box ''The Munch Box'' is a children's cooking game show that aired on CITV from 5 October 2013 to 13 December 2014, hosted by Layla Anna-Lee "Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded by Derek and the Domino ...

'', BBC's ''

Christmas Kitchen Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

'' and ''Spring Kitchen'', Channel 4's '' Weekend Kitchen with Waitrose'', UK Food's ''

Market Kitchen ''Market Kitchen'' is a British cookery television programme, made by Optomen, that premiered on the Good Food channel in 2007. Presented by Rachel Allen, Amanda Lamb, Matt Tebbutt, Tom Parker Bowles and Matthew Fort, the programme concentrat ...

'', as well as guest appearances on ''

Ready Steady Cook ''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsl ...

'' and ''Cooking the Books''. Ching has cooked live for

Melanie Sykes Melanie Ann Sykes (born 7 August 1970) is an English television and radio presenter. She is best known for co-hosting '' Today with Des and Mel'' with Des O'Connor and '' Let's Do Lunch'' with Gino D'Acampo. She also co-hosted '' Going Out with ...

on '' Grand Designs Live''. She appeared as an occasional guest on Sky Television food show ''

Taste The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste recepto ...

'', hosted by Beverley Turner. In the US, Ching is a regular guest on the NBC's ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It ...

'', as well as a guest on ''

The Rachael Ray Show ''The Rachael Ray Show'' is an American television talk show hosted by Rachael Ray that debuted in Broadcast syndication, syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006 and also airs in other countries. It is taped at Chelsea St ...

'' on CBS. She has been a judge on ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, whi ...

'' on the Food Network primetime. She has also been a guest judge on Poland's ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...

''. Ching has hosted eleven international television programmes, her first being '' Ching's Kitchen'', which was originally shown on

UKTV Food Good Food was a cookery channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, latterly as part of the Discovery, Inc. network of channels. The channel originally launched on 5 November 2001 and relaunched in its final format on 22 June 2009. ...

in 2006. In 2008, Ching hosted the thirteen part series '' Chinese Food Made Easy'' for

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

. This television series was subsequently licensed into The Cooking Channel (USA), New Zealand, Germany, Iceland, Poland, Australia, and Belgium, and was also allocated to the BBC's Lifestyle channel for all its Asian feeds, including China, Hong Kong SAR, Republic of China, Singapore, and Korea. In 2010, Ching hosted a new thirteen part cookery series on Five. The series '' Chinese Food in Minutes'' was based on her book 'Ching's Chinese Food in Minutes', published by HarperCollins in September 2009. It included a branded

microsite A microsite is an individual web page or a small cluster of pages which are meant to function as a discrete entity (such as an iFrame) within an existing website or to complement an offline activity. The microsite's main landing page can have its ...

, with video, recipes, episode guides, and competitions, plus additional exclusive content websites. In 2011, her thirteen-episode series '' Easy Chinese San Francisco by Ching He Huang'' debuted on the

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcas ...

. Ching returned to

in 2012 for '' Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure'', which showed her travelling and exploring China's culinary culture with Cantonese chef, Ken Hom. There is an accompanying book to the series. Ching has described this as her most enjoyable television production. Ching has hosted other television shows and series including ''Easy Chinese: New York and LA'' (2012) ''Easy Chinese: New Year Special San Francisco''(2013), ''Restaurant Redemption'' (2013 and 2014), '' The Big Eat'', for the Food Network UK (2015) and '' Ching's Amazing Asia'' (2015). Ching-He Huang was appointed

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to the culinary arts.

Publications

Ching-He Huang launched ''Click & Cook'', an online video recipe library, offering exclusive step-by-step nutritious Chinese fusion recipes for people to cook themselves at home. In 2006, she published her first

recipe book A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cours ...

, ''China Modern: 100 cutting-edge, fusion-style recipes for the 21st century'' (pub:

Kyle Cathie Kyle or Kyles may refer to: Places Canada * Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada Ireland * Kyle, County Laois * Kyle, County Wexford Scotland * Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshi ...

), which contained a variety of Chinese influenced recipes. In 2008, she published a second recipe book to accompany a six-part peak time television series '' Chinese Food Made Easy'', commissioned and shown by

and

BBC HD BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...

. ''Chinese Food Made Easy'' aired in June 2008, and was an instant success, attracting millions of viewers. Her book, also called '' Chinese Food Made Easy'', was published alongside the series, and was a number one best-seller for six weeks. Chings's third book, ''Ching's Chinese Food in Minutes'', was published on 3 September 2009. In 2011, ''Ching's Fast Food'' (UK edition), and the US version ''Ching's Everyday Easy Chinese'' were released featuring her most memorable childhood experiences, intertwined with Chinese superstition, etiquette, and original suggestions for exciting variations on classic recipes. In 2012, '' Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure'' was published. The book accompanied the

BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...

series, following Ching and 'godfather' of Cantonese cooking, Ken Hom, as they travelled and explored China's culinary culture. In March 2015, Ching released ''Eat Clean: Wok Yourself to Health'' for Harper Thorsons, promising simple, nutritious dishes that will detoxify and nourish your body. In September 2017, Ching released ''Stir Crazy: 100 deliciously healthy wok recipes'' for

Kyle Books Kyle or Kyles may refer to: Places Canada * Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada Ireland * Kyle, County Laois * Kyle, County Wexford Scotland * Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrsh ...

. Promising simple, nutritious dishes, it won best UK Chinese Cookery Book at the Gourmand Awards 2018. In September 2019, Ching released ''Wok On: deliciously balanced Asian meals in 30 minutes or less'' for Kyle Books, containing delicious balanced Asian meals in 30 minutes or less. Again winning best UK Chinese Cookery book at the Gourmand Awards 2020. In January 2021, Ching is due to release her tenth book, ''Asian Green'' for Kyle Books. The book contains everyday plant-based recipes inspired from across Asia to create delicious simple, healthy, vegan dishes that everyone can enjoy.

Other writing

Ching has also written for several food magazines; such as ''

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

'', and ''Delicious''. Her magazine contributions include a red carpet report from the Emmy's for ''

Grazia ''Grazia'' (; Italian for ''Grace'') is a weekly women's magazine that originated in Italy with international editions printed in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Colombia, France, Germany. Greece, Indon ...

'', ''

BBC Good Food ''BBC Good Food'' is a global food media brand, with a monthly magazine, website, app, live events and series of books. It has had four editors since its launch: Mitzie Wilson (1987–1997), Orlando Murrin (1997–2004), Gillian Carter (2004– ...

'', ''

Women's Health Women's health differs from that of men in many unique ways. Women's health is an example of population health, where health is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not mer ...

'', '' BA Highlife'', ''

Jamie Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film an ...

'', '' OK!'', ''

Hello! ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the ''Norwich C ...

'', ''Sainsbury’s'', ''Stella'' at

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of '' The Daily Telegraph'', also published by the Tele ...

, '' The Sun TV'', ''Metropolitan Global Times'', ''Chinese Weekly'', '' Vegetarian Living'', ''

Which? ''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights and offering independ ...

'', '' Healthy Living Magazine'', and ''The Mayfair Times''.

Awards

*''Chinese Food Made Easy'' won the award for Second Best Chinese cuisine book in the world at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2009. *''Chinese Food in Minutes'' won the award for 3rd Best Chinese cuisine book in the world at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2010. *''Chinese Food Made Easy'' 2011 NAMIC Vision Awards Winner - Lifestyle Category *Best Food Broadcast Award for BBC 2's ''Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure'' at the 2013 Guild of Food Writers Awards. *Best Culinary Host nominee for Cooking Channel's ''Easy Chinese'' in Daytime Emmy Awards 2013. * Gourmand Award 2013 for BBC 2's ''Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure''. *''Stir Crazy'' won the award for the Best Chinese cuisine book in the UK at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2018. *''Wok On'' won the award for Best Chinese cuisine book in the UK at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2020. *''Guinness World Record'' for participation for an online sandwich making relay by Al Roker and friends on NBC's ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It wa ...

'' on 6th August 2020. *In the

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

made Ching a

(MBE), for services to the Culinary Arts.

Personal life

Ching-He Huang lives with her husband, actor Jamie Cho, in Surrey.

Published works

Books

# # # # # # #'' Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure''. London.

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidiary of the British Broadca ...

. 7 Jun 2012. . # # # #

E-book

Video

# #

References

External links

www.ChingHeHuang.com
— official personal website
Chinese Food In Minutes
— official website at five.tv (Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd. 2013), via archive.is
Ching He Huang profile
— at VisibleChinese.com, via Archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Huang, Ching He 1978 births Living people People from Tainan Taiwanese emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of Queen Mary University of London British broadcasters British food writers British publishers (people) British television chefs British television personalities British television presenters British women television presenters Cookbook writers People from Cricklewood Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Women cookbook writers Taiwanese women television presenters Members of the Order of the British Empire Taiwanese television chefs Women chefs Taiwanese emigrants to South Africa