Bio
Ching-He Huang (born 1978 in Taiwan) is a chef and television presenter who has appeared in a variety of television cooking shows.
This foodie entrepreneur, who was born in Taiwan to Chinese parents, was raised on freshly-cooked home meals for which ingredients were bought on a daily basis.
However, her major food influences stem from the traditional cooking styles of her farming community grandparents who lived out in the countryside of southern Taiwan.
With their paddy fields and bamboo farms, they also cultivated an orangery, sweet potato patch, and mango trees. So for Ching, weekends were a chance to eat meals and snacks which originated from age-old recipes but were fresh from the soil.
At the age of five, Ching and her family emigrated to South Africa where she was exposed to a wholly different diet and climate.
As the only Chinese children in their school, she and her older brother caused a stir with their packed lunches of stir-fried rice and vegetables with dried meat powder and cucumber pickle with chilli or mustard leaves’ pickle.
But the biggest change was to come when she was 11 and Ching moved again, this time arriving in London.
From her early teens, with her parents involved in running their own businesses and as her mother was frequently abroad, Ching had to cook the family meals.
She was taught the basic philosophy behind Chinese cuisine - the emphasis on balancing yin and yang through ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ ingredients - but was then was left to improvise by herself.
Soon she was preparing everything from bamboo-leaf parcels of glutinous rice to simple, nutritious stir-fried rice dishes and noodle soups.
As a self-taught cook, therefore, this experience was to be the inspiration behind her launching her own food company, fresh from graduating from university with an Economics degree.
Ching’s products can now be found at retail outlets such as the Whistlestop chain and in food service outlets. She also provided the salads at the Chelsea Flower Show and Wimbledon as well producing for a number of blue-chip companies in the city.
This was followed by the launch of Tzu, a healthy soft drinks range, which are now stocked in prestigious outlets such as Harrods, Selfridges, Fresh and Wild, as well as luxury hotels and health spas including The Metropolitan, The Soho Hotel, the Charlotte Street Hotel and Champneys.
Ching’s dynamic approach made a television presence inevitable. She was given a cookery series on the UK Food Channel at the beginning of 2005 called Ching’s Kitchen.
Her approachable and versatile style appealed to a younger yet sophisticated market and the show was a success.
In autumn 2006, Ching launched her new venture. Her first cookbook, “China Modern”, which features over 100 recipes, promises to give a 21st century twist to the cuisine which has been consistently popular within British food culture for over 50 years.
Ching also appeared on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen with James Martin, ITV’s Saturday Cooks and ITV’s Daily Cooks with Antony Worral Thompson. She has written for Food magazines such as Olive, Delicious, BBC Good Food and Sainsbury Magazine.
Ching's second book, “From China with Love”, launches in July 2008.