Hannah Che is an American plant-based/vegan writer, chef, and author, as well as a pianist. Her cookbook, The Vegan Chinese Kitchen, won the 2023 James Beard Foundation Award.
Hannah Che | |
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Born | Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
Occupation |
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Alma mater | B.M, M.M. Shepherd School of Music, Rice University |
Subject | Plant-based/Vegan cookbooks |
Notable works | The Vegan Chinese Kitchen |
Notable awards | James Beard Foundation Award |
Early life and education
Che was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan,[1] to immigrant parents from China.[2][3] When she was 9, her father's work took them to Shenzhen, China for three years before returning to the United States.[3] She trained as a pianist at Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, receiving both a B.M. and M.M.[1] She then studied vegetarian cooking at the Guangzhou Vegetarian Culinary School in China.[4]
Career
Che states that after reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, she "chose to shift to plant-based eating for health, environmental, and ethical reasons."[5] She then began to study "other culinary traditions, like plant-based Thai and Mediterranean cuisine."[5] She states that she learned that "plant-based eating is a long-standing tradition in Chinese cuisine."[5][6] She started the blog, "The Plant-Based Wok," as a result of these changes.[7]
Book
The New York Times and The Washington Post named her first cookbook, The Vegan Chinese Kitchen (2022), one of the Best Cookbooks of 2022,[8][9] and the Food Network listed it as one of the “10 Best New Vegan Cookbooks” for 2023.[10] VegNews listed it as one of the "Top 100 Vegan Cookbooks of All Time" in 2024.[11]
It won the 2023 James Beard Foundation Award[12] and 2023 International Association of Culinary Professionals Julia Child First Book Award.[13]
Awards and honors
Cookbook
- The Vegan Chinese Kitchen. Clarkson Potter, 2022. ISBN 978-0593139707.
References
External links
- Official website
- The Plant Based Wok
- Hannah Che’s Vegan Chinese Recipes Modernize a 1,000-Year-Old Tradition-Sunset Magazine