Background and career
Ken Hom (traditional Chinese: 譚榮輝; simplified Chinese: 谭荣辉; pinyin: Tán Rónghuī, born May 3, 1949) is a Chinese-American chef, author and television-show presenter for the BBC, specialising in Asian and East/West Cuisine. Already appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2009 for "services to culinary arts", he was further appointed an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2022.
Hom was born in Tucson, Arizona, to parents from Kaiping. He was raised in Chicago, Illinois, by his widowed mother, Ying Fong, after his father died when Hom was eight months old. Hom first learned cooking at the age of eleven when he worked in his uncle's Chinese restaurant. He went to California to study History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley. During this time he taught Italian cooking lessons at weekends to supplement his college fees. This led him on to teach Chinese cookery classes. In 1977 he was invited to join San Francisco's new California Culinary Academy as an instructor.
In 1982, after a 2-year global search, the BBC auditioned him for a Chinese cookery series. The resulting TV series, Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery, had a companion book published by BBC Books. He has since appeared in a number of prime time BBC TV series. His series for KBS called Noodle Road is a five-hour documentary on the history of the noodle. It sold in 23 countries and won the Peabody award in 2009. In 2012, he co-presented the BBC series Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure with Ching He Huang. He has made some of his many appearances on the BBC's long-running weekly show Saturday Kitchen with Huang. Since 2023, he has his own YouTube channel 'Ken Hom'.
Since 2008, Hom has been an ambassador for Action Against Hunger, a humanitarian charity which works in over 40 countries helping families to feed their children and build a sustainable life. In 2010, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had proton radiation therapy in Japan. The cancer was successfully treated and he is now an ambassador for Prostate Cancer UK (formerly known as The Prostate Cancer Charity), building awareness for the early detection and treatment of cancers.
Inducted in the Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America as recognition of significant and lasting achievement in the culinary industry, 1990 Honorary Chairperson of The Institute for the Advancement of the Science & Art of Chinese Cuisine, 1993 Honorary Member of the 48 Group Club, 2002 Appointed Founding Patron of Oxford Gastronomica: the Centre for Food, Drink and Culture, 2007 Honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University for outstanding success within the international food world, 2007 Grand Prize Winner Documentary - ABU Awards, 2009 Grand Prize Winner - Korea's Producer Award for "Noodle Road", 2009 Appointed Founding Patron of the Oxford Cultural Collective, 2017 Awarded Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the culinary arts, 2009 "Noodle Road" nominated for best TV documentary of New York Film Festival, 2010 Honorary Member of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, 2010 Peabody Award for "Noodle Road" TV documentary series for KBS, 2010 Food Broadcast of the Year Award 2013 for "Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure" with Ching He Huang Guild of Food Writers Awards Awarded Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to charity, culinary arts and education, 2022 In Ken Hom's name:
Annual Ken Hom Lecture series at Oxford Brookes University Ken Hom Writer in Residence Fellowship at Oxford Brookes University The Ken Hom Collection at the Oxford Brookes University Book awards:
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
