馋¹

Tell us a bit about your background: what is your family history and where would you call home?

My mother’s side of the family came from the lesser-known region of Yunlin in Taiwan and the whole family moved to Taipei during childhood. My father’s side of the family are from Hong Kong, lineage can be traced back to Xiqiao, Guangdong. Hong Kong is home for me, it is where I was born, grew up and partly spent my schooling year there.

What does home taste like?

The home of Mama Chen’s cooking is predominantly Cantonese homage to laborious double boiled soup, simple steamed fish with ginger and spring onion, silky poached chicken, cloud like steamed egg, stir fried greens. Congee was a frequent guest on the table during the poorly days.

Did you learn to cook back home?

I always observed the kitchen as a kid, but never took too much interest in eating food. It wasn’t until going to university, where cooking and baking became a passion. The smile on the faces of dinner parties brought me joy and invaluable experiences.

For Mama Chen, she didn't have much of a chance of being in the kitchen as a kid. Only when the family started growing bigger, the kitchen became a necessity. Interest in cooking grew after moving to Hong Kong from Taipei, especially when the kids were at school with the daytime television broadcasting the famous Lisa Fong’s cookery shows which developed the passion in creating more delicious food for the family.

What motivated you to make Mama Chen's kitchen?

Mama Chen’s kitchen was created when the demand of festivative dishes grew beyond just family and friends. Especially with the pandemic, people were not able to go back to their homeland thus we wanted to recreate the taste of home even when away from home and to carry on the Chinese culture.

Tell us more about this experience of working with mom/daughter

As a team of mother and daughter, this has brought the relationship closer. It was a fun experience learning from my mother, in a way we have gotten to know each other more as I haven’t lived with the family for such a long extensive period for a long long time.

Has being delivery-based influenced the way you cook?

Yes, for developmental and research purposes it has. Convenience and accessibility are what we crave for during busy hours, meal prepping became very handy. Otherwise we are always on the trial of new dishes.

Your instagram is very interesting, the posts are like a menu. One can see both illustrations and photos of the dish.

Mama Chen’s Kitchen is about the traditional Chinese delicacies and festivals, through the illustrations and calligraphy we wanted to stay in focus in the integrity of Chinese culture by staying in the old school era.

Who is your audience? Is it mainly the Asian population or are there also UK/western buyers?

Even though we are trying to introduce ourselves to the world, the majority of the audiences have been from Asia.

What are your future plans with this IG kitchen? Will you move it off-line?

Future plan is to expand the kitchen and to set up a production line, maybe one day you can find us on the shelves of the British supermarkets.

What's in your fridge?

A lot of jars and bottles of sauces from around the world. Meal prep of a lot Korean style banchan small dishes to last throughout the busy week ahead.

What is the most important cooking ingredient?

A good quality soy sauce, the secret behind all Chinese cooking.

Secret cooking tips! - how to make perfect savoury zongzi?

Make sure to over season the food, whenever making a big batch of food it is very easy to hold back on the seasoning and thus the food ends up being bland.

Your favourite Chinese restaurants in the UK?

Park Chinios in Mayfair, they have a few luxurious classic Cantonese dishes that cannot be found anywhere else in the British isles. Their dim sum is also a top notch in the UK, in fact one of the best. Dim sum is in the soul of every Cantonese person, with the “one bowl with two pieces” term imprinted into our Hong Kong tea culture.


告诉我们一些你的背景：你的成长背景是什么，你将哪里称之为「家」？

我妈妈那边的家人来自台湾不太出名的云林地区，小时候全家搬到台北。我父亲那边的家人来自香港，祖上可以追溯到广东西樵镇。香港是我的家，我在那里出生、长大并在那里上了几年学。


家对你来说是什么味道？

在有陈妈妈的家里，粤菜是主打菜系：耗时耗力的燉湯、快手的蒸鱼、丝滑的水煮鸡、云状蒸蛋、炒青菜。在身心欠佳的日子里，粥是餐桌上的常客。


你是在家学会做饭的吗？

我小时候经常会待在厨房，但从来没有对吃食产生过太大的兴趣。直到上大学，烹饪和烘焙才成为一种热情。餐桌上大家脸上的笑容给我带来了快乐和宝贵的记忆。

对于陈妈妈来说，她小时候在厨房里的机会并不多。只有当家庭开始变得更大时，厨房才成为必需品。从台北搬到香港后，对烹饪的兴趣越来越大，尤其是当孩子们在学校上学时，白天的电视播放着方丽莎烹饪节目，激发了为家人创造更多美味食物的热情。


是什么契机使得你们开始做「陈妈妈的厨房」？

「陈妈妈的厨房」的开始是那时我们身边对节日特定菜肴的需求超出了家人和朋友的范围。尤其是在疫情期间，大家无法回到自己的家乡，因此我们希望即使身在异国也能重现家的味道，并将中国文化发扬光大。


妈妈/女儿一起工作是怎样的体验？

作为一对母女，这拉近了我们之间的关系。向我母亲学习是一种很有趣的经历，在某种程度上来说这让我们更加了解彼此，因为我已经很长时间没有和家人住在一起了。


做外卖平台是否影响了你们的烹饪方式？

是的，出于发展和研究目的，烹饪方式有改变。方便和无障碍是我们在繁忙时间所渴望的，准备饭菜变得非常方便。而且我们总是在尝试新菜。


你的 Instagram 很有趣，帖子就像一个菜单。人们可以看到这道菜的插图和照片。

陈妈妈的厨房是关于中国传统美食和节日的，通过插图和书法，我们希望通过保持孩提时代的记忆来专注于中国文化的完整性。


谁是你的常客？主要是亚洲人口还是也有英国/西方食客？

尽管我们试图向世界介绍自己，但大多数食客来自亚洲。


你对这个 IG 厨房的未来计划是什么？你会把它移到线下吗？

未来的计划是扩大厨房，建立一条生产线，说不定有一天你会在英国超市的货架上找到我们。


你的冰箱里有什么？

来自世界各地的许多罐子和瓶装酱汁。许多韩式小菜的膳食来维持忙碌的一周。


最重要的烹饪原料是什么？

优质酱油，中国烹饪的秘诀。


烹饪秘诀！ 如何制作完美的咸味粽子？

确保对食物进行充分的调味，每当制作大量的食物时，很容易去克制调味料的使用，因此最后做出来的食物往往会变得很淡。 


你最喜欢的英国中餐馆？

位于 Mayfair 的 Park Chinios，他们有几道豪华的经典粤菜，在英国的其他任何地方都找不到。他们的点心在英国也是一流的，实际上可以算是是最好的之一。点心是每个广东人的灵魂，“一碗两片”这个词已经烙印在我们的香港茶文化中。