For cookbook author Kei Lum Chan, food and family are forever entwined. The son of one of China’s most famous food writers and critics, he grew up with his father, writing, researching and talking about food constantly.
Kei Lum’s father was a war correspondent turned editor for a Hong Kong newspaper and wrote several columns, one of which was about food.
“He wrote about his experiences through the years in China and people he met, the things he ate and how they cooked them,” Kei Lum says. These columns culminated in a set of 10 volumes called Food Classics, which were first published from 1951 to 1953 and are still being published and sold today.
“So this is sort of a tradition in our family,” he adds.
This year Kei Lum and his wife of 38 years, Diora Fong Chan, have added their own special contribution to their country’s culinary heritage with their spectacular 700-page gilt-edged epic, China: The Cookbook. Covering more than 30 Chinese regions and featuring more than 650 authentic, traditional recipes, it takes readers through many popular Chinese staples, along with rarely recorded regional specialities.
The couple has been writing about food for years – it became a second career after they retired (Kei Lum from an IT career, Diora Fong from structural engineering). On retirement, they started travelling throughout China, eating different foods and experiencing different cultures, and the idea of writing about food and sharing recipes was born.
After 38 years together, and 16 cookbooks, Kei Lum and Diora Fong Chan still have "no arguments". Source: China: The Cookbook
Now, 16 cookbooks later, they became the ideal choice to compile a comprehensive collection of their country’s recipes, although Kei Lum says it could have been so much larger.
Kei Lum says he and Diora were always intent on making sure that all of China was covered in the book, instead of just the eight major regions usually featured.
“We said, well if this is a book about China, we should write about the whole China, not just a few regions, so we decided to expand the scope to include all the areas of China. Major or minor, it doesn’t really matter. They should all be represented. I think that’s been worthwhile.”
Source: China: The Cookbook
The book was designed for all types of kitchens, from those of home cooks to chefs; Kei Lum and Diora tested every recipe during their research, adapting some to make them easier, or to cater for hard-to-find ingredients.
One of 650 recipes: barbecue pork from the Guangdong region.
Source: Phaidon Press
It did help that the couple worked so well together, Kei Lum says.
“We have been married for 38 years and not once have we had an argument,” he says proudly. “That’s why working with my wife was great. We work together very well, no arguments and we have a very good understanding. So, as we work together we know exactly what each one of us will have to do, and so things go very smoothly. It’s the only reason why we were able to finish the book in only 15 months.”
“I think it is a blessing that after retirement at our age we were able to work together and I think that is something very few couples can boast of.”
Husband and wife are firm believers in the power of home cooking, which is why they were so keen on producing such a comprehensive book of their country’s traditional recipes, so they are kept for posterity and not lost over time.
“We believe it that if you can cook good food at home it will bring about a lot of family harmony,” he says. “I want to make cooking a family thing. Food should be about families, not going out or entertaining. It’s more than just eating.”
China: The Cookbook by Kei Lum Chan and Diora Fong Chan (Phaidon, hbk, $59.95) is on sale now. Kei Lum Chan and Diora Fong Chan will be touring Australia in November – find details of dinners and other events here.
Cook the book
Chicken with black bean sauce Source: Phaidon Press
These are the reasons why you don't have to go very far to get your fried rice fix. Source: Phaidon Press
Source: Phaidon Press
Source: Phaidon Press
