Talks By The Firelight 3.8: Braise The Bar
Christine Ha, chef, writer and TV Host
You’re in the kitchen. Now close your eyes. Turn on the stove and reach out for your ingredients.
Seems quite perplexing and frankly impossible, does it not? When smell and touch are your only companions, life can get frustrating. Well…not so much for Christine Ha.
Also known as “The Blind Cook”, Chef Ha created history by becoming the very first visually impaired contestant to compete and win the third season of MasterChef USA (2012). Tackling every obstacle that came her way, her artistry knew no bounds.
From teaching herself to cook when she gradually lost her vision to owning her very own restaurant, her journey is an inspiration to everyone. The LA-based chef extends her passion beyond the kitchen to writing and literature as well. Chef Ha passionately advocates for the visually impaired and her work teaches us that there are no excuses to putting out the fire within us. Read on to learn her recipe for success!
A lot has been known about your passion for cooking, but we also observe that you are into writing and literature. We’d like to know the story behind what drove you to write.
When I began losing my vision and was diagnosed with Neuromyelitis Optica, which also caused me to sometimes experience paralysis due to spinal cord inflammation, I had to leave my corporate job and undergo treatment and physical therapy. Later, a particularly bad NMO attack left me completely blind and paralyzed from the neck down — and the only way for me to pass the time was listen to audio books. It helped me rediscover my love for literature.
I started writing to help me process the healing phase. That was when I decided to pursue the field of creative writing professionally — by returning to graduate school to get a degree in creative writing.
What does food mean to you, and who inspires you the most when it comes to cooking?
Food is a universal language, and I think it has the power to unite people. My mom is my inspiration in the kitchen. I am also inspired by all the other chefs and cooks I’ve met and the dishes I’ve eaten during my world travels.
The MasterChef title must’ve come with tons of challenges that often might have led to frustration. How did you overcome your stress at times like that?
I really don’t know. I guess it is innate in me to persevere and try my best. That is a trait I received genetically from and learned from my parents who were refugees who came to America with nothing and eventually built a life for themselves here.
We’ve heard a lot about your legendary palate from leading chefs like Gordon Ramsay himself. How have they influenced your professional line of work?
They taught me to trust my intuition with food. Food can be subjective — not everyone likes the same things. Therefore, you can’t please everybody with your cooking. But what matters most is, did you cook something you would enjoy eating? That’s what’s the most important.
If you believe in your own food, then surely there will be others who do, too.
The culinary journey is endless. But you sure do have tons of experience. What are some unforgettable things/ incidents that came along your way?
First and foremost, being on MasterChef and learning from great chefs like Gordon; and secondly, publishing my first cookbook, which married both my love of cooking and writing. To me, they are both arts and means for one to express oneself and share with others common experiences. Such things led me to be blessed with opportunities to travel all over the globe, meet others, learn their stories and taste their recipes.
What’s the most challenging bit about creating — be it food or literature, and how do you overcome your creative blocks?
Creativity is a muscle. Oftentimes, we feel stuck and feel like we can’t produce anything creative or think of anything new. The truth is, everything has already been done. The only new thing you can do is put your own personal story or spin or experience on a dish or subject matter. Creativity is, plainly and simply put, work. You can’t sit around and wait for inspiration to strike. You have to just DO IT.
Something I heard in grad school is, you have to write a thousand terrible sentences before you get one good one.
That means, you just have to do the work, and from there, grandiose things can-and will- emerge.
What do you feel about culinary arts as a profession in developing countries and its opportunities?
Our world has become very global. Before the pandemic, global travel was becoming increasingly common. We have the internet where we can watch people living on the other side of the world cook and eat. We can pull up recipes upon recipes with a few strokes of the keyboard. With the internet, you can reach a massive, worldwide audience. So if you have internet access in your developing country and you love to cook, you can garner interest in what you’re doing. People are always seeking new experiences and want to learn new things. You can show them what is unique about your cuisine or your own style of cooking. People are hungry.
Where do you think cooking will advance towards in the future, and in particular, for the visually impaired?
Hopefully, technology helps appliances and life become more accessible, so more and more people with various abilities and disabilities can cook for themselves. We still have a long way to go, but there is slow progress. I think with the current pandemic, people are reverting to activities that offer comfort — and there is no such activity better than home cooking, which our parents, grandparents and even ancestors indulged in.
You’ve crossed countless hurdles in your life, and this perseverance is truly inspiring to us. What keeps you going?
Self-care — it is an ongoing journey, but learning to prioritize my well-being and happiness comes a long way; also, setting boundaries and being okay with saying no to some things. This goes hand-in-hand with self-care.
You have to take care of yourself first before you can care for others.
Oftentimes, I want to say yes to everyone and everything because I am so focused on making others happy, that I end up exhausted and unhappy.
You’ve won a MasterChef title, published your very own cookbook, started your own restaurant “The Blind Goat”, and received countless accolades for your inspiring work. What’s next on your menu?
I’m getting ready to open my second restaurant in Houston called Xin Chào, which means ‘hello’ and ‘welcome’ in Vietnamese. I am working on bottling my own Vietnamese hot sate sauce called the G.O.A.T. sauce. I’m also slowly working on a second draft of my memoir which has been in the works since 2012. And I’m currently filming a documentary in which I am the subject — it’s about my life as a blind cook and restaurant owner, how my Vietnamese-American heritage has influenced my food, and what life as such has been like during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a period where we’re scrambling for excuses to switch off videos and switch on streaming services, chef Ha’ indomitable urge to not just adapt and explore, but also broaden the horizons of her creativity is humbling to witness. It kindles in us an ember of awe and drive to keep lethargy at bay, for the pandemic has made it crystal clear that time is too short for us to sway idly like a buoy in the sea, waiting for things to ‘happen’.
According to chef Ha, everyone in this world is dealt a different hand — some better, some worse than others — but what’s more important is how you play that hand. This is what builds character. And with great character comes great reward.
It is unfortunate that we are going through a pandemic, but with the year coming to an end, let’s move forward with hope. At the end of the day, we are just given one chance at life and let’s be grateful for that.
It’s no doubt that the restaurant industry was one of the many industries that were hit the hardest by this lockdown. Head over to chef Ha’s YouTube page to get an insight on how she deals with these challenges.
To learn more about her life as a blind chef, visit her blog page.
This article was written in collaboration with Sabharinathan
