Celebrity chef goes cuisine cruising

BBQ tragic and J-Pod owner Bob Hart is not the only celebrity chef to get a helping hand from Jayco chairman Gerry Ryan.

Ryan recently signed off on a customized Starcraft caravan for 84-year-old cookbook author, TV chef and educator Elizabeth Chong, which replaces an older caravan she used for more than a decade.

“We were delighted to help Elizabeth and come up with a unique fit out for her Starcraft van,” explained Ryan. “It’s now geared to help cook and entertain for her family and friends as well as cooking demonstrations at RV shows."

Jayco customised the Starcraft van, taking consideration of Chong’s requirements and helping to accommodate her culinary skills when cooking on the road.

Her first stop after the Dandenong factory was Ryan’s Mitchelton Winery in Nagambie, Victoria, where she joined Hart to produce a series of Cruising Cuisine cooking videos that are on various websites for caravanners.

When not presenting cooking shows at RV expos around the country the Starcraft will most likely be located at the Kilcunda Holiday Park located on South Gippsland’s rugged coastline where Chong and her family have spent many summer holidays.

“It is here that I love my time entertaining and cooking for the many family and friends that come to stay and play throughout the year,” she said.

Born in a small rice-farming village outside Guangzhou, formerly Canton, in May 1931 Chong arrived in Australia aged three.

For more than 55 years the Elizabeth Chong Cooking School has conducted classes, teaching more than 35,000 Australian students the art of preparing Chinese and Asian cuisine.

Her exclusive Gourmet Club, now in its 27th year holds seasonal dinners at leading Asian restaurants in Melbourne. Known as ‘The Empress of Chinatown’ she shares stories about her heritage when hosting monthly walking tours of the historic Chinatown precinct.

Chong has written several cookbooks including the award-winning ‘The Heritage of Chinese Cooking’ and appeared on various TV shows including her Tiny Delights series on Foxtel.

To compete with Australia’s favourite meat pie, it was Chong’s father William Wing Young who produced the first Dim Sim in 1942 at his Wing Lee restaurant in Melbourne.

“My father used to deliver them in his Chevy to the football where he set up in competition with the Four ‘n Twenty pie,” she recalled. “Before long his factory was producing many thousands of them for sale throughout Australia.”