Hui-Min Tsai
Hui-Min Tsai
Author + Cuisinier
Author and cuisinier Hui-Min Tsai (蔡惠民) knew she loved to craft, travel, and write at an early age, but food has always been her strongest passion. In college, she studied mass communication with the goal of combining her interests and skills into a career. After graduation, Min worked as an editor for various magazines, including the highly esteemed magazine Cosmopolitan Taiwan.
In 2001, she left her position at Cosmopolitan as Managing Editor and moved to the East Coast with her Canadian husband and infant son. As she became an aficionado of local sights and bites, she blogged about it. Travel, food, cooking, and lifestyle—all of her passions—she covered regularly. Min’s blog gained a decent-sized readership in Taiwan, which then landed her a contract for her first book shortly after moving to the Bay Area.
.…
“I am a firm believer in organic, regenerative farming and a lover of farm-to-table meals.”
Moving to the Bay Area was pivotal for Min. “It’s the food lover’s heaven, and I am inspired daily for my writing,” she notes.
Today, Min has authored three books. Influenced in part by Jamie Oliver, all of her books follow the theme of 裸食, which translated into English means “Naked Food.” Her books are a collection of both lifestyle food essays and related recipes. Along with her Instagram, blog, freelance writing, and books (with a fourth one on the way), today, she loves to teach others about food and sustainability. “I am a firm believer in organic, regenerative farming and a lover of farm-to-table meals,” she says. Min is currently working with an edible garden & landscape design team to redo her front and back yard, with the plans to re-open her kitchen to host more farm-to-table cooking workshops.
Min encountered Plow’s Caz Cabin project while researching to write a piece about A-frames for her forthcoming book. After staying at the cabin, Min and Brit started a few conversations about their mutual interests–food and cabins. We’ve been inspired and enamored by her mouth-watering food porn on the ‘gram ever since.
Why is design or creativity important to you?
I grew up in a small town in central Taiwan. I am not academically trained as a designer or anything remotely related to the subject. I don’t consider myself a hardcore design type of person. What I do have is my own opinionated sense of aesthetics. For as long as I can remember, I have loved to search for beauty in daily life. My editorial career fueled this spirit in me, and now that sense of beauty is almost like second nature. To me, design and creativity are two different matters. The former has to be achieved by following somewhat rigid disciplines, whereas creativity is a way to express one’s thoughts and emotions.
I am a creative person with way too many interests—crafting, cooking, gardening, natural dyeing, fermenting, baking, packaging, you name it. But there is no doubt that my strongest passion is food. Writing and taking photos is my way of expressing that creativity. I also have a deep desire to share and am extremely lucky to be able to be an author. It’s probably fair to say that I live and breathe being creative.
What was your turning point as a creative person?
I would say it was when I joined the editorial team of Cosmopolitan Taiwan. In all honesty, I identified myself more with Living, etc—a UK lifestyle and design magazine that I love—instead of Cosmopolitan (actually all women’s magazines, for that matter). I am a homebody through and through. I am more interested in learning how to style a plate than how to wear makeup, but I took what I could get at the time. It was a fun, wild, bittersweet, and stressful 5 years of my life. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I learned a ton, personally and professionally. I proved myself to be a good editor too. It was a time when I got to work with many talented professionals, learned to fully appreciate beautiful things in life, and was inspired by outstanding people that I had the privilege to interview. My creative potential was awakened and has never ceased growing since then.
Which values most inform your work?
Authenticity, Integrity, & Idealism
What I love to write and share is really geared towards a very niche market. This means even if it gets relatively popular, it’s still nothing compared to mainstream content. I am sure if I put my mind to it, I would be able to produce something that is more crowd-pleasing for publishing and social media, but I decided to stick to what I truly believe in and am passionate about.
I only rave about what I love, and I cook to please myself and my family. I insist that food should nourish the body, mind, and soul. I support producers, big or small, as long as they do the right thing.
I photograph the food I eat soon after and never put “makeup” on it to enhance the look. I used to be really against adding components to food that doesn’t help with the flavor. I am loosening up a bit to consider edible flowers as a reasonable addition. Flowers just for show is still a big no-no for me.
I would be lying if I said I have never been swayed, nor never have I doubted my decisions or principles. My mind and my heart fight against each other often enough. My heart has won every single time so far. The bottom line is, I think I would rather be doing something that I enjoy tremendously than doing something half-heartedly in exchange for popularity. Call me an idealist if you will.
“The bottom line is, I think I would rather be doing something that I enjoy tremendously than doing something half-heartedly in exchange for popularity.”
Describe a place that has had a profound impact on you.
The Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. I still remember vividly the awe I felt during my first visit. I had just moved from the East Coast to the Bay Area. If food-ism is a religion, I felt like I had found my Mecca. I was amazed by how beautiful and vibrant the organic produce could look.
Honestly, in my eyes, all the fresh bounties are as precious as fashion brand-name designs. You could pretty much say I lost my heart at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market. I picked up a flyer for Marquita Farm’s CSA that day and signed up for my first box; there was no turning back. I started to learn about organic/sustainable farming and was converted into a supporter and promoter soon enough. I was so inspired by the Bay Area farm-to-table movement that I committed to practicing it in my daily life. Eventually, I was able to publish 3 food books (a 4th is coming soon) in Taiwan, sharing what I have learned from all the farmers/artisan makers I admire here with my hometown people.
Where do you find inspiration?
It sounds like a cliché, but inspiration is truly everywhere for me: the people I meet when traveling, the stores I visit, the food I eat, the scenery I lay my eyes on, the fine products I acquire on the road, the curated shops I browse in, etc.
I am the type of person who will shop at farmer’s markets with nothing in mind to get. I buy whatever catches my attention, whatever is in season and looking pristine. I have no doubt that I will find ways to make them shine in my kitchen. The worse case is just to prepare them in the simplest manner. It’s hard to go wrong with prime, seasonal produce.
If I have to be specific, there are some authors’ writing that I really enjoy reading: Ruth Reichl, Nigel Slater, and Tamar Adler to name just a few, plus some Taiwanese and Japanese authors. I would like to also mention Alice Waters. Her restaurant Chez Panisse, cookbooks, and the Edible Schoolyard Project shaped my view of food.
How do you nurture creativity?
I have been very into neuroplasticity for some years now since working with the brain has solved a lot of my health issues. In the process, I also learned that I am most creative when my body is flooded with happy hormones like endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. I do things that can help to induce those hormones in my brain. It may sound very foreign to you, but in truth, it’s unbelievably easy to do. Being in nature, laughing, music, painting, knitting, dancing, connecting with people, meditation, breathwork, simple exercises like walking or stretching, etc. All do the trick. The key is to keep consistency.
What does being productive look like for you?
It is funny to me—if you had asked me this question 10 years ago, you would have received a completely opposite answer. I used to push myself up to my limit and had to be constantly moving and doing so as not to feel guilty for wasting time. It truly wreaked havoc on my health.
Now I have learned to embrace the chance to rest. I tell myself rest is productive. When you think about it, it is so true. Resting is recharging, which will allow you to make a bigger stride later. I am very lucky to have my husband’s full support to do what I love as well as things that bring me joy. It can be big like writing my books or small like admiring the handsome olive tree in my front yard. It’s always productive to me as long as I strive to do things that make me happy.
What are your three favorite objects and why?
My iPhone Pro
Recently I upgraded my camera from a basic point and shoot digital camera to an iPhone pro and I can’t stop raving about it. It’s like a little toy to me. All the photos I take look a millions times better, particularly the indoor shots. Taking photos was more of a necessary act for my books before, now I take photos just because I love to.
The wooden shelf in my living room
We moved to the East Bay 3 years ago. Our new house has this super shallow wall that is right next to the foyer. It’s so tricky to decorate it. I don’t want a heavy cabinet there as it will look oppressive when walking in. I wanted something that had an airy feel and, ideally, a wooden structure. I was so happy to find this great quality, simple-looking open shelf. The best find for my new home. It really completes the living room.
My red Mini Cooper
I learned to drive after moving to the US, not because I liked it, but because I couldn’t go anywhere without a car. I never felt fun driving until I got my dream car (a red Mini Cooper). I lost it in my husband’s accident, but thankfully he was unhurt. I still miss my mini from time to time.
What’s your hidden superpower?
I am not sure I have any. I guess I am good at spotting cool things. I am also good at eyeballing when cooking unless I am baking, which relies more heavily on correct measurements. I pretty much eyeball everything, and I am usually not far off.
How are you leveraging design or creativity to create change?
Writing is my most powerful weapon to share what I believe, to give a spotlight to small producers/makers who so deserve our respect and are otherwise easily overlooked. Other than my books, I also post regularly on my FB fan page (in Mandarin), and I recently mustered enough courage to start updates on IG in English. I wanted to connect with more like-minded people, both local and afar.
Once in a while, I do question myself why I do what I do as the financial reward is really not that much. Then, as if the universe is listening, a reader or two will show up and tell me how much they enjoy reading my books and how my books changed how they cook and inspires them to look at food from different angles. My heart swells and I get an instant boost and feel so ready to march on.
Illustration courtesy of The Big Issue Taiwan