Chua Lam

Chua Lam 蔡瀾
Hong Kong Book Fair 2008, 25-7-2008
Born	(1941-08-18) 18 August 1941 (age 83) Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean[1]
Occupation(s)	Columnist, food connoisseur, film producer, television presenter
Spouse	Chong-wen Chang 張瓊文
Parent(s)	Chua Boon Suan (1907-1997) Hung Fong Ping
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	蔡瀾
Simplified Chinese	蔡澜
Transcriptions

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chua (蔡).

Chua Lam (also known as Mandarin: Tsai Lan, Cantonese: Choi Lan, Teochew: Chùa Lāng) (simplified Chinese: 蔡澜, traditional Chinese: 蔡瀾, born 1941 in Singapore) is a Singaporean columnist, food critic, and occasional television host based in Hong Kong. He was also a movie producer for the Hong Kong movie studio Golden Harvest.

Career

Media career

Chua was a producer of several movies for Golden Harvest, including several films for Jackie Chan. Notable films include Mr. Nice Guy (credited as executive producer), Thunderbolt (credited as producer), Sex and Zen and City Hunter (credited as producer).

Chua is primarily known in Japan as a judge on the Fuji TV series Iron Chef.

Writing career

Chua was a columnist on Oriental Daily in Hong Kong. Chua later switched to writing columns for the Next Media's publications, namely Next Magazine (on movies and a restaurant guide), Apple Daily and Eat and Travel Weekly. All columns have continued as of 2007.

Chua has written a number of books and restaurant guides on Hong Kong in Japanese.

In recent years (2005 - current), Chua has organized special tours in Asia and around the world to sample the best local speciality food. Chua often writes, in his newspaper columns, about the tours' organizing trips where he and others sample food from four or five restaurants per day in order to select the best restaurants.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title
1985	Heart of Dragon
1986	Dr. Yuen and Wisely
1987	Armour of God
1987	Born to Gamble
1987	Killer's Nocturne
1987	Erotic Ghost Story
1988	Profiles of Pleasure
1988	Peacock King
1989	Four Loves
1990	A Sau-loh
1991	Robotrix
1991	Erotic Ghost Story II
1991	Au revoir, mon amour
1991	Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
1992	Erotic Ghost Story III
1992	The Cat
1993	City Hunter
1993	Crime Story
1994	Girls Unbutton
1994	Chinese Torture Chamber
1994	Spirit of Love
1995	Trilogy of Love
1995	Thunderbolt
1995	The Christ Of Nanjing
1996	The Imp
1997	Mr. Nice Guy
1998	Extreme Crisis

Television

• 2007: Market Trotter (蔡瀾逛菜欄)
• 2007: Ten Years After (拾年)
• 2008: Chu As Choice (蔡瀾歎名菜)
• 2009: Be My Guest (志雲飯局)

Gastronomic philosophy

One of Chua's most beloved dishes is stir-fried bean sprout with fried tofu and fish sauce.

Chua is famous for advocating the use of pork drippings in food preparation and as a condiment. He has cited and promoted the usage of pork fat in most of his TV shows.

Personal life

Chua's father, Chua Boon Hean (蔡文玄), was a native of the Jio Mung Chua (蔡門石) village in Chaozhou who immigrated to Singapore. His father worked in a high-ranking post at the Shaw Brothers Studio and died in 1997.

Chua was a student in Japan and lived there for several years.

Chua holds Singaporean citizenship, although he has been based in Hong Kong since 1963.^[1]

References

1. Na, Guo. "蔡澜:怎样煮一个完美的鸡蛋？". www.lifeweek.com.cn (in Chinese).

External links

• Chua Lam's official website
• Chua Lam at IMDb
• Goo Movies (Japan)
• Cinemasie
• The New York Times entry
• Chua Lam's ebook website
• Food Critic Chua Lam Slammed Over Hotpot Critic