Ken Hom (, born May 3, 1949) is a Chinese-American chef, author and television-show presenter for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

, specialising in Asian Cuisine. Having already appointed an honorary

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in 2009 for "services to culinary arts", he was further appointed an honorary

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in 2022.

Early life

Hom was born in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black

ill ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...

, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive ...

, to

Taishanese Taishanese (), alternatively romanized in Cantonese as Toishanese or Toisanese, in local dialect as Hoisanese or Hoisan-wa, is a dialect of Yue Chinese native to Taishan, Guangdong. Although it is related to Cantonese, Taishanese has little ...

parents. He was raised in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, by his widowed mother, Ying Fong, after his father died when Hom was eight months old. Hom first learned cooking at the age of eleven when he worked in his uncle's Chinese restaurant. He went to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

to study History of Art at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. During this time he taught

Italian cooking Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with wav ...

lessons at weekends to supplement his college fees. This led him on to teach

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

cookery classes. In 1977 he was invited to join

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

's new

California Culinary Academy The California Culinary Academy (CCA) was a for-profit school, and an affiliate of Le Cordon Bleu located in San Francisco, California. Danielle Carlisle established the school in 1977 to train chefs using the European education model. The origina ...

as an instructor.

TV career

In 1982, after a 2-year global search, the

auditioned him for a Chinese cookery series. The resulting TV series, ''Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery'', had a companion book published by BBC Books. He has since appeared in a number of prime time BBC TV series. His series for KBS called ''Noodle Road'' is a five-hour documentary on the history of the noodle. It sold in 23 countries and won the

Peabody award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

in 2009. In 2012 he co-presented the BBC series '' Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure'' with

Ching He Huang Ching-He Huang (; (born 8 April 1978), often known in English-language merely as Ching, is a Taiwanese-born food writer and TV chef. She has appeared in a variety of television cooking programmes, and is the author of nine best-selling cook ...

. He has made some of his many appearances on the BBC's long-running weekly show ''Saturday Kitchen'' with Huang.

Charity

Since 2008, Hom has been an ambassador for

Action Against Hunger Action Against Hunger (french: Action Contre La Faim - ACF) is a global humanitarian organization which originated in France and is committed to ending world hunger. The organization helps malnourished children and provides communities with acc ...

, a humanitarian charity which works in over 40 countries helping families to feed their children and build a sustainable life. In 2010, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had proton radiation therapy in Japan. The cancer was successfully treated and he is now an ambassador for

Prostate Cancer UK Prostate Cancer UK is a prostate cancer research, awareness and support organisation which is a registered charity in England and Wales, as well as in Scotland. History The organisation was founded in 1996 as The Prostate Cancer Charity by Prof ...

(formerly known as The Prostate Cancer Charity), building awareness for the early detection and treatment of cancers.

Awards and honours

* Inducted in the Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America as recognition of significant and lasting achievement in the culinary industry, 1990 * Honorary Chairperson of The Institute for the Advancement of the Science & Art of Chinese Cuisine, 1993 * Honorary Member of the

48 Group Club The 48 Group Club (originally, the 48 Group of British Traders with China) is a London-based nonprofit organisation dedicated to promoting trade between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United Kingdom. The group is named after a Britis ...

, 2002 * Appointed Founding Patron of Oxford Gastronomica: the Centre for Food, Drink and Culture, 2007 * Honorary doctorate from

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The university was named ...

for outstanding success within the international food world, 2007 * Grand Prize Winner Documentary - ABU Awards, 2009 * Grand Prize Winner - Korea's Producer Award for "Noodle Road", 2009 *Appointed Founding Patron of the Oxford Cultural Collective, 2017 * Awarded Honorary

OBE by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

for services to the culinary arts, 2009 * "Noodle Road" nominated for best TV documentary of New York Film Festival, 2010 * Honorary Member of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, 2010 *

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

for "Noodle Road" TV documentary series for KBS, 2010 * Food Broadcast of the Year Award 2013 for "Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure" with

Guild of Food Writers Awards * Awarded Honorary

CBE by

for services to charity, culinary arts and education, 2022 In Ken Hom's name: * Annual Ken Hom Lecture series at Oxford Brookes University * Ken Hom Writer in Residence Fellowship at Oxford Brookes University * The Ken Hom Collection at the Oxford Brookes University Book awards: * "Ken Hom’s East Meets West Cuisine" (Macmillan, 1987) Shortlisted for Andre Simon Memorial Book of Year * "Easy Family Dishes: A Memoir with Recipes" (BBC Books, 1998) Winner of the Andre Simon Memorial Book of Year * "The Taste of China" (Pavilion Books, 1990) Shortlisted for Andre Simon Memorial Book of Year * "Ken Hom’s Quick Wok" (Headline Books, 2001) Cookbook of the Year from Food and Wine magazine, USA * "Truffes" with Pierre-Jean Pébeyre (Hachette, 2001) Shortlisted for Prix Litteraire de la Gastronomie Antonin Careme * "Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure" (with

) (2012) Gourmand International Awards 2013, Paris Cookbook Fair – ‘Best in the World’ award for the Culinary Travel Category. Short listed for The Guild of Food Writers Awards 2013 for both the Food Broadcast of the Year Award and the Award for Work on Food and Travel * "Truffles with Pierre-Jean Pébeyre (Serindia 2014) Winner Gourmand World Cookbook Award 2015 for Best Mushrooms (USA) * The Best25 (25 years of cookbooks) The Gourmand Awards: Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure By Ken Hom & Ching He Huang 2021 in at Paris Cookbook Fair

Business interests

Since 1986 Hom has had a base in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. In 1997 he settled permanently in south west France in a restored 13th century tower in

Lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...

. Hom has also spent more time in his adopted home of Thailand since 2003. Hom is an author of more than 20 cookery books. Alongside his best known work on Chinese cuisine, his works also include topics on

Cambodian Cambodian usually refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Cambodia ** Cambodian people (or Khmer people) ** Cambodian language (or Khmer language) ** For citizens and nationals of Cambodia, see Demographics of Cambodia ** For ...

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regar ...

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode bloc ...

Singaporean Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, I ...

, and

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

cooking. He has worked as a consultant for hotels and restaurants and cooked personally for presidents, celebrities and royalty. In 2009, Hom entered into an exclusive agreement with British supermarket chain

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

to launch a 32-product range of Ken Hom branded Chinese ready meals. Despite semi-retirement, he continues to travel extensively worldwide and divides his time between France and Bangkok.

Television

* ''Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery'' (1984) * ''Hot Chefs'' (1992) * ''Ken Hom’s Hot Wok'' (1996) * ''Ken Hom’s Travels with a Hot Wok'' (1998) * ''Foolproof Chinese Cookery'' (2000) * ''Take on the Takeaway'' (2007) * ''Noodle Road ( KBS)'' (2008) * '' Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure'' (with

) (2012)

Books

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

General references

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*
Ken Hom on the My Kitchen Table website

contains all the books that he used throughout his career, with an emphasis on Asian cookery, including Chinese, Korean, Thai and Japanese, as well as memorabilia to do with his television shows and consulting work, including menus, invitations, photographs and artifacts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hom, Ken 1949 births American chefs American male chefs Living people American people of Chinese descent Writers from Tucson, Arizona Writers from Chicago University of California, Berkeley alumni Honorary Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Asian American chefs Chefs from Berkeley, California