Food is all about balance

Feeling off kilter? You might need to think about the yin and yang on your plate

Ching-He Huang switched to plantbased eating after seeing how it could dramatically change people’s lives. Her husband, Jamie Cho, started Huang on a “journey of self discovery”, the 42-year-old chef and presenter says. explains. Within a month of trying it himself, Cho noticed improvements in his asthma, eczema and psoriasis.

Of course, everyone’s body is different and may react differently – it’s worth checking with a medical professional if you’re considering big diet changes, especially if you have existing health conditions – but for them, Huang says it was “quite a revelation”.

It encouraged her to experiment with plant-based foods, which initially felt at odds with her background. “Being a Chinese chef, we experiment, and being a Chinese food connoisseur you’ve got to try everything,” she confesses.

However, Huang did find plant-based eating aligned well with the Chinese philosophies she’d been brought up on by her family in Southern Taiwan.

“I’ve always believed in ‘you are what you eat’, [and] a balanced diet,” she explains. “I grew up with my parents and my grandparents, and they eat seasonally.

“Think about yin and yang; balancing hot and cooling foods depending on your body, a little bit like the Indian Ayurvedic principle of eating. If you’re tired and stressed, your body’s very yang – if you’re always cold and shivery, then your body’s too yin, you’re having too many yang and fiery foods.”

So how do you balance this yin and yang? Firstly, Huang says: “You literally just need to listen to your gut” – then you’ll be able to properly judge what your body needs. She remembers her grandmother saying if “you eat too many vegetables, you need to have ginger because vegetables are yin and ginger is very yang – it’s fiery, so it balances your body. On a vegan diet, you need to have more garlic, ginger, chillies – more yang dishes,” she explains. “Mostly, yang ingredients are from meat.”

How you cook your meals also plays a part. “Steaming is more yin and stir-frying is more yang,” says Huang. “Overall, we’re trying to create the perfect balance. I think it’s really hard in the modern day to try and create this balance – to even understand it – but I think food is a conduit to that.

“We could be bombarded with all this technology and science, but you actually have to listen to our instincts.”

For Huang, it made sense to adopt a plant-based diet, saying it “aligns with who I am” – and the results make it worth it. Asked how she feels, she says: “Much healthier and lighter, I just have more energy – but obviously everyone should do what’s right for them”.

The chef doesn’t just think about the personal reasons for going plantbased, but the bigger picture as well. She says: “If we look at ourselves as an entity, then look at ourselves in a greater picture, in a way it is a reflection of what we’ve done to this planet – the way we pollute the planet and the way we over-consume.

“Everything is about balance, so if we’re out of balance, then we’re going to be ill. The same thing; if we over-pollute the planet, it’s not going to create the best environment for us.”

Huang’s personal journey led her to write Asian Green. It might be Huang’s first fully vegan cookbook but it’s her 10th overall, and stays true to her food ethos of getting “maximum flavour with minimum fuss”.

Her recipes are democratic, she says. “Not all of us are from the same background, but we all love food and we want it to be a simple process. If you cook something and it works and you feel happy and satisfied about it, then you’re more likely to cook again.

“Once people cook, it’s a way to express love, because you’re taking care of yourself. And once you learn how to cook and you’re confident, then you know how to cook for somebody else.”

•Asia■ Green: Everyday Plant-based Recipes Inspired By The East by ChingHe Huang, photography by Tamin Jones, is published by Kyle Books on February 11, priced £20.