Serving up rainbow meals
between shows, we wonder, and Wong quips in reply: “I don’t question my company’s (TVB) policy!”
Her yearly TVB dramas are usually 20 or 30 episodes long, which allows her to also spend time on her cooking.
There is a difference between acting and hosting a cooking show, Wong explains.
“Acting is about following a script, getting into character, and interaction with other actors. As an actress, I can assume many characters. Acting calls for teamwork and a good script, good actors and a good director,” she says.
“But when I host a cooking show, I just need to be myself. The end result depends on me alone – my recipes, fire control (when cooking) ....”
Starting young
Perhaps because of her rather unusual entry into food TV, Wong says she rarely compares herself with other cooking show hosts. Cooking, she feels, depends on an individual’s background, homeland and family’s taste preferences.
Contrary to what most would assume, though, Wong did not learn cooking from her mother. Neither can she sing praises for her mother’s cooking and claim it is the best.
She explains: “My mother did not know how to cook. We came from Guangzhou in China. I’m the second in the family. I have an elder sister and three younger brothers. My parents worked in a chemical factory.
“We had a servant until my parents emigrated to Hong Kong in 1958 (before it became a Chinese Special Administrative Region with the British handover of the territory in 1977).
“The eight of us – that’s including my grandmother – had to put up with a drastic change. From living in a big house, we were cramped into a small space, for instance.”
There were no servants, either. So, since both parents worked, Wong and her elder sister divided the chores between them: Her sister did the family’s laundry while Wong did the cooking. She had to learn how from Mrs Leong the neighbour – even though she was just eight years old then!
“I followed her when she went marketing. Whatever dish she cooked, I would cook for my family,” she says. And no matter how horrible her cooking, Wong says her family would still eat her dishes.
“When I successfully learnt to fry a fish,” she says, “my father rewarded me. I was very happy.”
No comparison
Though Wong went into acting, she never lost interest in cooking and kept perfecting her culinary skills through the years. She didn’t go the academic route, though: “In 1970, I signed up for a few cooking lessons and that was all,” she says. With love: A COLOURFUL platter whets the appetite and brightens the mood. Not only that, a meal of “rainbow colours” encourages us to eat different phytonutrients from fruits, greens and grains for a variety of health benefits.
According to cooking show host Gigi Wong Suk Yee, food can generally be divided into seven colours: red, green, yellow, black, white, brown and purple. The different colours of fruits and vegetables indicate different nutrients. So it is essential to consume food in various colours to protect against diseases and to maintain a healthy body.
This is the concept behind a new healthy cooking show, Eat A Rainbow, hosted by Wong. She will share seven-colour meal recipes in six half-hour episodes in a show sponsored by Kinohimitsu Superfood and Mitsubishi Electric Fridge.
The series, recently filmed in Malaysia, is designed to promote healthier eating habits.
Taking into account that people are dining out more
Academia was not for her, she explains: “One must cook from the heart so that people will appreciate it. Whether my cooking technique is different or not, I don’t know. I just like homestyle cooking.”
Wong cites a Cantonese saying which literally translates as “Next door’s rice is fragrant”, explaining that when the palate is jaded, one finds other people’s food more tasty. But she adds: “I rarely compare my food with other people’s dishes or even restaurant dishes. I frequently nowadays and eating at irregular hours due to busy daily routines, the show simplifies things by going back to basics, with each episode featuring a “hero ingredient”.
A team comprising Wong, an artiste from Astro and a nutritionist will discuss the ingredient, its health benefits and nutritional value, and show how it can be incorporated into a healthy yet delicious meal comprising appetiser, main course and dessert.
Wong will cook together with Ivan Tan, the champion of the Hokkien cooking competition Hua Hee Star Chef, and Lim Tiong Leong, one of the top five contestants in the competition.
Whether it’s a single working adult, a mother cooking for a young family, newlyweds or families with older parents, all will be able to benefit from the “rainbow food recipes” on the show.
From Dec 25, will air every Sunday at 8.30pm on Astro Wah Lai Toi (Ch 310) and TVB Jade (326). rarely eat out, so I am not in a position to compare or offer my opinion.”
Her reason for not dining out frequently is that she dislikes monosodium glutamate. “Also, I feel that if one kg of greens is HK$4 (RM2.20), the price is escalated several times in restaurants. So I’m frugal. It’s just more economical to eat at home,” says Wong.
Although her focus is on Chinese cuisine, Wong admits she likes Western food. Like steak: “It’s easi- er to prepare. You sprinkle salt and pepper on the meat, wrap it in foil and bake it in the oven,” she says.
While she feels it is important to know how to cook, whether you need to cook or not depends on your family.
She says: “Many times a woman might want to do something for her other half, especially if he enjoys her cooking. But if the hubby disapproves of oil and smoke in the house and prefers eating out, so be it.”
Hubby enjoys soups
When complimented about her cooking, Wong humbly retorts: “No, no. I love to cook. It’s different. If you don’t like to do something, you will find it difficult as you’re forced into it.”
She divulges that her youngest son, Shaopin, 26, sometimes blurted out “Yuk!” even though others praised her cooking. “Well, he is an oddball! That’s because he prefers Western food and his own cooking,” she says.
Wong has published 12 Chineselanguage cookbooks on Chinese and Western cooking. In March, she plans to release another one.
Shaopin, who is an actor in Hong Kong now, also has two cookbooks out, on Western cooking.
Asked to comment on the Chinese phrase “The mistress’ soup is better”, Wong laughs.
“Well, it’s not that the wife’s soup is not good, but, sometimes, the man thinks next door’s rice is more fragrant and likes to taste other people’s soup. And there are many willing to boil soups for him!” she says, laughing.
This adage, of course, refers to a third party involvement in a marriage; if it rings true, Wong reckons there should be a “proper examination” between the couple.
She adds: “But I believe my hubby is not like that. He enjoys all my soups, which are boiled for at least three hours!”