Ken Hom: Belfast shows that food can be a force for good, says legendary TV chef and Tayto fan

It’s been 40 years since Ken Hom appeared on our television screens. Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery catapulted the Arizona-born chef, who only reluctantly agreed to a BBC audition in 1983, into a household name.

Since then, he has written 37 best-selling books, featured in countless TV programmes, started his own YouTube channel and received numerous honours for his services to culinary arts.

‘The man who showed us how to cook Asian food’ was in Belfast to visit the Academy Restaurant, owned and operated by Ulster University, as well as to meet aspiring young chefs studying at the Belfast Campus.

It is part of the University’s Culinary Salon series, a series of dinners prepared by some of Britain and Ireland’s most sought-after chefs and food writers.

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Hom has been to Northern Ireland before. He first visited Belfast eight years ago and said that the food scene here has “went from being good to even better”.

“Everything has stepped up, it’s on a different level,” he said, adding: “The Academy Restaurant and Belfast as a whole are showing that food can become a force for good.”

Referencing the city’s troubled past, he added, “anything that helps Belfast become known for positive reasons is fantastic”.

“Nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing the peace and love that has come here to Northern Ireland,” he said.

“I wish to contribute by coming here to supporting that peace and love.”

When asked to name his favourite Northern Ireland delicacy, Hom quickly said: “I’m going to be bringing some of your famous Tayto crisps home with me.”

And not just the renowned cheese and onion, either: “I want to bring all of the flavours home,” he smiled.

He admitted he is yet to try an Ulster fry or a Belfast bap, but does want to visit a local chippy at some stage.

Northern Ireland managed to interfere with some dinner plans more than 25 years ago, recalled Hom, when he was due to host then prime minister Tony Blair and his wife, Cherie.

“In August 1998, Cherie and Tony were coming to my house in south-west France for a lunch, but at the last minute, Tony had to cancel because of the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process.

“His wife and mother-in-law still came for the lunch and Tony apologised to me.

“But he had nothing to apologise for, what he was doing was so much more important – and good for him, peace in Northern Ireland made me very happy.”

While television audiences the world over have been learning from Hom for 40 years, he proudly declares that 2024 is his 64th year of cooking.

“I started when I was 11 years old,” he said, “that is when you absorb a lot of things.

“Like a brand-new sponge, you soak up all the knowledge around you.”

Cherie and Tony Blair were coming to my house in south-west France for a lunch, but at the last minute, Tony had to cancel because of the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process... He had nothing to apologise for, what he was doing was so much more important – and good for him, peace in Northern Ireland made me very happy

—  Ken Hom

The chef started cooking in his uncle’s restaurant in Chicago’s Chinatown, an experience Mr Hom is grateful for.

“I’m glad I started early because it really formed the basis of what I do.”

“The fact I am able to share that through my books, my cooking and with the young chefs here at Ulster University fills me with great energy and joy.”

He also had some advice for those students, saying: “Don’t enter the industry if you don’t have passion for it.”

“You must love cooking, eating, every part of it,” he said.

“You must be honest with yourself; if you don’t have that passion, don’t pursue it. But if you do have that passion, give it your everything.”

He encourages students to take chances when they present themselves, as he himself did when he got his own ‘big break’ thanks to a chance meeting with a famous TV chef at a party.

“In June 1982 I met a woman named Madhur Jaffrey at a big food party,” he recalled. “She told me, ‘I have just finished a series for British TV,’ and I gave her my congratulations before heading off to France for the summer.

“On my return, I got over a dozen telegrams,” – laughing infectiously, Hom reminds me that this was before mobile phones - “which read, ‘Please call me, the BBC wants to talk to you.’

“I called her and told her my doubts. ‘I’m not sure I would be interested,’ I said.”

“‘At least talk to them,’ Madhur Jaffrey said.”

After speaking to a BBC producer in California in November 1982, an audition was arranged for Hom, who at the time was working as cooking instructor in San Francisco.

“I got a desperate call: ‘Please come to London,’ it said, so I flew over in February, did the audition and then a series was commissioned, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.”

The celebrity chef is also well known for his charity work, including his role as an ambassador for Prostate Cancer UK following his own diagnosis of the disease in 2010.

“It’s my way of giving back, and since I’ve stepped back from writing and doing other things, I can spend my time raising money for causes I believe in, especially food.”

Following on from this, Hom also spoke of his mother’s pride in his work: “My proudest moment was my mother’s 80th birthday. She invited over 250 of her friends, she was deeply proud of everything I did, and this is what I am most proud of.”

After 64 years of cooking, there is no doubt that the industry has seen its fair share of changes, which Hom views positively.

“Food has become a part of globalisation,” he said.

“Everyone now has the chance to learn about food from, say, Thailand, China or anywhere else in the world.

“That has only served to enrich places such as Belfast. If we can make this city a top destination for visitors, part of that has to be great food and hospitality.

“Great food and great places to stay, that is an integral part of a top destination.”