KEY POINTS:
Australian celebrity chef Kylie Kwong is a flag-flying greenie. Billy Kwong, her restaurant in Sydney's Surrey Hills, uses only organic and bio-dynamic produce and it was the first eatery in New South Wales to be recognised as carbon neutral. Kwong herself is an ambassador for the Fair Trade
Association of Australia and New Zealand and Billy Kwong even has a "guiding philosophy":
"To leave as small and light an environmental footprint as possible ... to think globally and act locally."
Imagine how Kwong felt, then, when she first travelled to China, the home of her ancestors, and discovered the land of MSG, overwhelming levels of pollution in the cities and deformed children desperately begging for food on the streets.
That is the surface impression, particularly to western eyes, but China is so complex it has much more to offer, especially for an enthusiast like Kwong. She loves the people, she loves the land, she loves the food - unless it is loaded with the vile MSG.
Her travels have resulted in a sumptuous book, My China, packed full of insightful anecdotes and regional recipes, and a TV series of the same name which launches on Sky's Food Channel tonight. This is her fourth book, after Recipes and Stories, Heart and Soul, and Simple Chinese Cooking, the last two of which were also accompanied by TV series.
During 15 visits to China over the past three years, Kwong has also been able to visit the country's "more pure" rural areas which are rarely visited by tourists. But the pollution, she says on the phone from Billy Kwong, "gets harder and harder" to deal with.
"We all know China is incredibly polluted, it's a fact of life and that affects every part of the food chain. Where I live [in Sydney] is not polluted and I have the privilege of eating organic or biodynamic food every day. But you don't go to China for an environmental experience, it's about the daily rituals, the way they treat their elderly people, the food culture, the connections between the families and so on. But certainly because the environment is my great passion, that becomes more apparent every time I go back."
Kwong's journey started in a tiny rural village called Wong Nai Hang, near Toishan city in the southern province of Guangdong (Canton). It was the original home of her great-grandfather, Kwong Sue Duk, who emigrated to Australia in 1875 in search of gold. The Kwongs are thought to be the oldest and largest Chinese family in the lucky country. Kylie Kwong was the first member of her family to visit the village in 90 years. A group of excited locals were there to welcome her.
"It was amazing when I landed there that first day and walked up the path and was greeted with open arms by all of those people," she says. "We hadn't met each other before, we couldn't speak each other's language but they embraced me because they knew I was blood."
Standing in Kwong Sue Duk's simple home, with its entrance covered with a patina of mould, Kwong took part in a ritual of remembrance for her ancestor, laying out food and wine, lighting joss sticks, burning paper money and bowing three times, before one of the crowd lit a box of red firecrackers, at which point everyone shrieked and ran away, laughing their heads off.
"The Chinese enjoyment of noise, fuss, big crowds, bright lights and loud colours is all to do with driving away bad luck and evil spirits," she writes in the book. "Silence, gloom and white are always associated with loneliness and death."
"Having the opportunity to be in great-grandfather's house, dilapidated as it was, that was quite significant," says the 38-year-old. "I felt very lucky to be able to go back to my roots. So many people are disconnected from their family. If I didn't have that strong family relationship that I have always had, I wouldn't be half the person I am. It gives you so much strength and confidence."
My China is divided into 10 chapters, starting with her visit to the village in Guangdong and moving through various regions before winding up in Hong Kong and Lamma Island. About halfway, Kwong and her team visited Lhasa in Tibet, a profoundly moving experience which she negotiates her way through as carefully as possible in the book.
"Interestingly, every home is flying a big, flashy, red Chinese flag," she writes. "Our guide tells us that the Chinese authorities make the locals put these up, reasoning it creates the right' impression for visitors driving in from the airport. We also notice the huge number of military personnel here..." That is just the first of many subtle, if disturbing, observations.
On the issue of Tibet, Kwong is just as careful as she was in the book. "Especially with what has happened this year [with the riots] ... by reading my book you know which side of the fence I am on. The thing is, I want to return to China and Tibet. I'm not a politician, I don't want to be one. The way I think I can be the most powerful is by talking about it in my cookbook, by mentioning it on my TV show, getting people to talk about the beautiful Tibetan monks and that sort of thing.
"There's no point in me going, Free Tibet!' and that sort of thing. What would happen is that I would be banned from going to the country. We are a lot smarter than that, we are not going to do that. Certainly I have come away from many situations when I'm thinking, um, this is getting quite political and I'll have to be very discreet about it', but I think I have been quite clear about my views on Tibet".
On her most recent visit to China, when she took a group of 17 people on a food culture tour earlier this year, she and her group were about to go to Tibet for five days - then the riots erupted. "So we didn't go. That was a very intense experience, terribly upsetting. I can only hope that something good will come out of it."
One of her favourite regions is Yunnan province in the south-west, home to 26 minority groups, including the colourful Naxi people who number 295,000. She notes that the capital, Lijang, is a major tourist attraction, especially with younger Chinese, who are "beginning to idealise and envy the minority groups, whose lives - from the outside, at least - seem far simpler than their own struggles for financial success and happiness in China's overcrowded and sometimes turbulent eastern cities".
"Those groups are incredibly vibrant, not just in what they wear but also their food culture. I think for any young person that has an impact because of the strong tradition. A lot of young Chinese people have never set foot outside of China, so anything like that would be quite arresting. If only more people could see what life was like outside China, their eyes would be really opened. It's a wonderful, complex country but there is a lot of control within [it].
"When people ask me to describe China, I have to stop and think for a few minutes. It's complex, wonderful, dark, scary, brilliant. There is no one word for China."
Just as there is no one word for Chinese cuisine. "Every 100km, the region changes, the people look different, the food changes," says Kwong. "My favourite food is the food of Szechuan, which is hot and spicy, and also the Yunnan province which has very unusual flavours. Where my family is from, the old Canton, that's the food most of the world is familiar with, very balanced and mild."
To her surprise - and delight - Kwong discovered organic vegetables being grown near Shanghai. But organic food in China is still an elite practice. "They were all grown in glasshouses but at least they had the attitude right and they were getting there. Most of the produce they sold went to upmarket international restaurants in Shanghai - they are the only people who can afford to buy organic produce, it's so expensive."
Kwong learnt to cook Cantonese food from her mother, then trained with Neil Perry at Rockpool in Sydney for two years before taking over as head chef at his Wockpool noodle bar for four years. In the late 90s, she headed the kitchen for another high-profile Sydney chef, Bill Granger, at bills and bills2, before going into partnership with him in 2000 at Billy Kwong - hence the name. Granger is no longer a partner but the name remains as recognition.
Billy Kwong has always been about ethics, she says. "Our carbon credit goes towards supporting a wind farm in the north of China. Whether it's China or Australia, we are all on the same planet."
As for the business' guiding philosophy, this is clearly a passion.
"I think it is very important for a business to have some sort of spiritual backbone. That philosophy is a template for everything we do. The people we employ, the suppliers, they all have to fall within that philosophy. If we can maintain that, it creates a very strong presence within the restaurant and that's the reason why we are still able to be so busy after eight years.
"People are attracted to that sort of thing - it's not just about serving great food any more, it's about food that is ethical. We are feeding 800 people a week, we are influential within the community, so let's send out the best message we can about food. The actual produce is so much better. People feel better when they walk out of here because they are not bogged down with chemical and preservatives. Everyone wins in this situation."
Don't go to Billy Kwong expecting to see her in action at the stove, though. That's pretty much reserved for the TV series these days. "I haven't cooked here for four years," she says. "This old girl has done her dash. I oversee it, do the menus with my head chefs and the rest of my time is spent waving the flag, doing my cookbooks and TV shows. I do a lot of community work, lots of talks, the travel, all sorts of things. I am getting too old to stand behind the stoves."
My China: A Feast For All Seasons (Lantern/Penguin $89.95)
Kylie Kwong: My China begins on the Food Channel tonight at 9pm.
