1 . I’m now the chef and owner of a restaurant. Nothing in my early years led me to ______ my life would connect to food and cooking deeply. My family did eat together often; we had a ______ that my grandmother cooked the weekly big meal on weekends, but food was hardly the ______ of my family’s story. After I entered college, I was still ______ about what I wanted to do. Maybe I was supposed to ______ the crowd, getting a decent job, like in medicine or something similar.

When accepting the job assisting cooks after finishing college, I just ______ to pay my rent. That didn’t ______ any big life plans. However, as I worked longer, the food world showed me amazing ______ .

Too little salt, and a dish is ______ to be “tasteless‌”. A bit lemon juice helps prevent cut apples and peaches from turning brown and ______ their appealing colors. The lesson that small things matter reminds me to never ______ tiny stuff in all parts of life. Also, working with food teaches me to really taste, smell and touch. I learn to observe my ______, watching ways birds land, the growth of trees along roads... and ______ wonders in everyday life. ______ , I head down my own path, which is ______ from going to medical school as my parents did, but gives my life purpose and direction.

4 . Advice for Cooking on a Tight Schedule

From my experience, there are three main reasons why people don’t cook more often: ability, money, and time.

    1    Money is a topic that I’ll talk about another day. So today I want to give you some advice about how to make the most of the time in the kitchen. Here are three tips for great cooking on a tight schedule:

Think ahead. I usually think cooking is a pain when I’m already hungry and there is nothing ready to eat. So think ahead of the coming week. When will you have time to cook? Do you have the right materials already?    2    

Make your time worth it. When you do find time to cook a meal, make the most of it and save yourself time later on. Are you making one loaf of bread?    3    It takes around the same amount of time to make more of something. So save yourself the effort for a future meal.

    4    This may surprise you, but one of the best ways to make cooking worth your time is experimentation. It gives you the chance to hit upon new ideas and recipes that can work well. The more you learn and the more you try, the more ability you have to take control of your food and your schedule.

Hopefully that gives you a good start.    5    And don’t let a busy schedule disappoint you and stop you from making some great changes in your life!

★ #ChefsChallenge!

Love cooking? Join famous chefs with this online challenge—cook, have fun and share your best healthy recipes!

When it comes to food, it’s difficult to match East Asia & Pacific in terms of variety and tastiness. From wontons to dumplings, from spicy fish to noodle soups, East Asia & Pacific’s amazing food culture is a central part of life for millions of people and indeed tourists from across the world.

However, changes in diet and lifestyle in recent years have sadly destroyed traditional food cultures, and the health of millions of people. Cheap “fast food” and unhealthy snacks that are high in sugar, salt and fat are now all too common but offer little nutrition.

★A new challenge

Today, there are more than 25 million of malnourished children living in the region, but the picture is changing. While the number of stunted (发育不良) children is slowly falling in many countries, overweight and obesity are growing, and at a much faster rate.

In many countries, three forms of malnutrition—undernutrition, hidden hunger and overweight-co-exist. A family may have an overweight mother and a stunted child. Or a child may be both stunted or too short and overweight. Unhealthy diets are a major cause of all forms of malnutrition.

★Join us!

One way to slow this tide is to reconnect families and young people with food. That’s why chefs from across the region are taking part in the #ChefsChallenge, asking you to show off your cooking skills. Get involved today by sharing your recipes with videos, photos or any other creative ways on social media using #ChefsChallenge and tagging UNICEF East Asia Pacific on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.