Artist, chef Cam Wong explores how Hong Kong food habits have changed by collecting recipes cooked at home amid Covid-19

While the government has eased social-distancing rules, the pandemic cooking craze remains intriguing for Cam Wong Lai-yan, a chef and award-winning artist.

Earlier this month, the 39-year-old created an exhibition about what she calls “our emergency recipes” at Oil Street Art Space in North Point. There, she invited Hongkongers to share dishes they made during the pandemic. In just two weeks, she collected a multitude of recipes.

“I was surprised at the turnout and how hardworking people were to write down their recipes,” the artist said.

Her conversations with visitors about food and art made her reflect on how she found her passion in cooking.

Wong studied fine art at Chinese University and graduated in 2006. Led by wanderlust, she went to New York to immerse herself in the big city’s art scene.

During her half-year trip, she shared a flat with her friend and took up cooking duties since dining out was expensive and they missed homestyle meals. The young artist had never cooked for herself before, so she scrambled to learn from scratch. But as she started cooking more often, she found herself excited by the craft.

“That is when I think I [started to] like cooking. I felt quite talented at it,” she chuckled.

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After returning to Hong Kong for a year, she went to Macau and earned a diploma in culinary arts from the Macau Institute for Tourism Studies. “But that diploma was not too fulfilling to me ... There was so much I still did not know,” Wong shared.

On one of her occasional trips back to Hong Kong, she had dinner at Catalunya, a Spanish fine-dining restaurant that is now closed. There, she was blown away by the food.

“I was so impressed that I asked them, ‘What would it take for you to hire me?’” Wong recalled. The staff told her she needed experience.

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“Then, I asked, ‘Would you take me after I graduate from Le Cordon Bleu?’” she said, referring to a historied and prestigious network of culinary schools.

“He said: ‘Sure, you can try.’”

So, Wong abruptly flew to Spain, obtained her Le Cordon Bleu certificate and returned to Hong Kong in triumph.

While Wong was busy cooking up a storm in professional kitchens, she did not forget her other passion for art. Throughout her career, she has cooked in various establishments, including at Catalunya, and has exhibited her artwork in Hong Kong and around the world.

She would usually switch between focusing on art or cooking – never both at the same time. But her two interests have melded together for the recipe exhibition at Oil Street.

“It’s an investigation,” the artist said.

“These three years, many people suddenly became quite the whizz in the kitchen. I even have friends who would only cook instant noodles before, but during Covid, they kept going on YouTube to watch cooking videos. [They] felt like a talented cook and eventually opened a restaurant,” she said, in awe of how drastically the pandemic changed some Hongkongers’ dining habits.

For her exhibition, she asked people to write down one recipe they used during the pandemic, in exchange for a bottle of her home-made fragrant oil or vinegar.

She prepared 240 test tubes of oil and vinegar for the two-week exhibition. But to her astonishment, she had given away half before the first week even ended.

“I had to refill the batch from my backup,” she said. “I didn’t think people would be that dedicated to sitting down and writing out their recipes.”

By the time the collection period ended, Wong had received about 300 recipes from the community.

From elaborate heartwarming meals to quick and easy recipes, Wong read through all of the submissions and observed several categories of “emergency” recipes.

Some dishes made use of pantry essentials when people were at a pinch. “Eggs, tofu and century eggs. There are so many recipes about them, probably because you can store them easily in your fridge,” she said.

Another type included international recipes inspired by holiday destinations, such as Italy, Korea and Japan.

“We have not been able to travel for so long. People really miss their food,” Wong said.

Despite a brief fresh food shortage and bouts of panic buying, Hongkongers did not experience “emergency” the way others did in places with strict lockdown measures.

“In Hong Kong, our resources and supplies are relatively stable and abundant,” the artist noted. “If we were doing this project in a place where resources are scarce, I’d get a better feel of the pandemic and emergency.”

With the exhibition now over, she is posting the recipes on social media and considering whether to publish them. “A lot of people asked if I will turn them into a book ... It will take some time to try all the recipes beforehand to make sure they are legitimate,” she laughed.

For Wong, the pandemic has also caused her to spend more time in her home kitchen. “Usually, I just open my fridge and decide what to cook depending on what’s in there,” she said, adding that she cooked at home four times a week on average.

“It always tastes better when you cook it yourself.”