{"id":162689,"date":"2019-12-20T09:35:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T01:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/?p=162689"},"modified":"2024-11-20T18:49:32","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T10:49:32","slug":"veda-hetty-mckinnon-interview-ovolo-central","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehoneycombers.com\/hong-kong\/veda-hetty-mckinnon-interview-ovolo-central\/","title":{"rendered":"We speak to Hetty McKinnon about life as a vegetarian chef and designing the menu for VEDA"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know that we are vegetable freaks here at Honeycombers. From the seasonal vegan hotpot available at Pure Veggie House<\/a> to our top vegetarian restaurants in Hong Kong<\/a> to these menus with vegan options<\/a>, we can\u2019t get enough carrots, corn and kale. So when we found out that Hetty McKinnon of Arthur Street Kitchen fame had worked with Ovolo Central to launch veggie-forward restaurant VEDA<\/a>, we just had to find out more.<\/p>\n

An interview with Hetty McKinnon<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019re from the Antipodes, you might be familiar with Hetty McKinnon, thanks to her cookbooks: Community, Neighbourhood, and Family, which will be released worldwide early next year. For those of us who grew up vegetarian in the 00s, she was something of a hero, making lush salads out of her own kitchen, and getting a name for herself thanks to her creativity with the humble vegetable.<\/p>\n

\"Veda
Diners at VEDA can look forward to an inventive, including the likes of this Miso Ramen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 2015, Hetty and her family moved to Brooklyn in New York, where she works in her daylight studio kitchen: Neighbourhood, a space used as a test kitchen, where she shoots her recipes and for regular pop up events. And now Hong Kong has the pleasure of her company and talents thanks to VEDA, the newest restaurant from Ovolo Hotels, set to open at Ovolo Central in 2019.<\/p>\n

Hey, Hetty. Thanks so much for chatting with me today. We love VEDA! How did you become involved in the project with Ovolo?<\/h3>\n

Actually, one of the owners\u2019 daughters emailed me, as she was a fan of my first book: Community. So kind of just started from there. It was a pretty interesting opportunity, as I\u2019m always trying to bring vegetarian food to whoever wants to eat it. <\/p>\n

My family is actually Chinese, though I grew up in Australia, and I still have family in Hong Kong, so it\u2019s kind of like bringing all of my cultures together.<\/p>\n

How long have you been vegetarian?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I\u2019ve been vegetarian for 25 years. I grew up in a very Cantonese household, so we ate a lot of meat, and we ate everything\u2013I\u2019ve probably tried every meat known to man!\u2013but I just didn\u2019t really like the taste.<\/p>\n

I remember a moment in my teens when we were having a BBQ at home, and the smell just kind of repulsed me. So at 19, I just started cooking my own food and went vegetarian, to the great disgust of my family. My uncles own a Cantonese restaurant in Sydney, and, even now, they still ask me if I\u2019m still vegetarian!<\/p>\n

The term \u2018vegetarian\u2019, and certainly \u2018vegan\u2019, still conjures up somewhat hippie stereotypes for many people. How do you combat that?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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A post shared by Hetty Lui McKinnon \u96f7\u745c (@hettymckinnon)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n