Ken Hom
Beloved all over the world as the gentle, smiling face of Chinese cookery, Ken Hom has graced our screens for decades and helped demystify one of the world's oldest and most complex food cultures.
Ken was born and raised in Chicago, and actually spent much of his early life cooking Italian food. He started working in his uncle's Italian restaurant when he was just eleven years old, and would teach Italian cooking lessons to help pay his fees at the University of California, where he studied history of art.
By 1977 though he had rediscovered his Chinese roots; he started teaching at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and just a few years later, he was discovered by the BBC, who were on the hunt for someone to present a new TV series on Chinese cookery. Ken auditioned for the role and was an instant hit – he was a natural in front of a camera, and his gentle demeanour endeared him to millions. Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery became a phenomenon not just on screens but on shelves too – the cookbook of the same name sold over one and a half million copies; to this day it remains one of the BBC's best selling cookbooks.
Fast forward to today and Ken is still as active as ever on the culinary scene. He continues to appear on TV, and he was awarded an OBE for services to the culinary arts by The Queen in 2009. He also remains an active ambassador for Action Against Hunger. It's fair to say at this point, that few if any have contributed as much to British cookery as Ken Hom.
Beloved all over the world as the gentle, smiling face of Chinese cookery, Ken Hom has graced our screens for decades and helped demystify one of the world's oldest and most complex food cultures.
Ken was born and raised in Chicago, and actually spent much of his early life cooking Italian food. He started working in his uncle's Italian restaurant when he was just eleven years old, and would teach Italian cooking lessons to help pay his fees at the University of California, where he studied history of art.
By 1977 though he had rediscovered his Chinese roots; he started teaching at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and just a few years later, he was discovered by the BBC, who were on the hunt for someone to present a new TV series on Chinese cookery. Ken auditioned for the role and was an instant hit – he was a natural in front of a camera, and his gentle demeanour endeared him to millions. Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery became a phenomenon not just on screens but on shelves too – the cookbook of the same name sold over one and a half million copies; to this day it remains one of the BBC's best selling cookbooks.
Fast forward to today and Ken is still as active as ever on the culinary scene. He continues to appear on TV, and he was awarded an OBE for services to the culinary arts by The Queen in 2009. He also remains an active ambassador for Action Against Hunger. It's fair to say at this point, that few if any have contributed as much to British cookery as Ken Hom.
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