“You hear a lot of adults talk about how they got teased for taking their diverse lunches to school,” says comedian, Lizzy Hoo with humorous preparation. “Well, that wasn’t me!
“At primary school, I had a Vegemite sandwich and an apple. I didn’t even have a drink in my lunchbox. My best friend was half-Japanese and she had cool lunches, so I always stole her food.”
Hoo swears the Vegemite tales of her school days didn’t scar her for life though. Before and after school, and on the weekends, the varied home-cooked meals of the Hoo household were so delicious, that repetitive school sandwiches became a side note.
“My dad is Chinese-Malaysian,” says the 40-year-old, Melbourne-based comedian, a regular guest on The Cook Up With Adam Liaw. “So I grew up eating a lot of noodles and curries. We didn’t have a Sunday roast in our house. We had a Sunday curry.”
Hoo's food preferences have always leaned in favour of her father’s heritage. However, the Asian flavours of Hoo’s youth only describes half of her food story.
Her mother, "a white-Aussie with an Irish background", used to make 'epic' soups and stews, based on recipes that linked back to Irish family traditions that Hoo didn't know a lot about.
“Oxtail soup is one of the soups my mum would cook in winter. She’d also make [homemade] corned beef and pickled pork.”
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Irish stew
It wasn’t until Hoo featured in the new SBS series that she truly got to explore the Irish side of her identity.
“I reckon that my ancestors left China to go to Malaysia around the same time that my ancestors left Ireland,” she says. “But when I say ‘I'm Chinese’, people say ‘oh cool’. There are no questions. I should get exactly the same response for my Irish side.
“So why wouldn’t I explore my Irish culture?”
Stream free On Demand
Shaun Micallef's Origin Odyssey
series • documentary
PG
series • documentary
PG
Reclaiming culture and identity
Currently, Ireland’s in the midst of a culinary resurgence as chefs and home cooks across the country reclaim their lost language, forgotten traditions and traditional recipes after centuries of foreign rule and oppression. However, Hoo jokingly says, she never got to taste the culinary specialities of gourmet Ireland while filming.
“We were mostly eating at pubs and hotels that served a full Irish breakfast,” she says, tongue in cheek. “There was a lot of stodgy food and a fair bit of Guinness. By the end of the trip, I really needed soupy noodles!"
“But the show really sparked an interest about Irish culture within me,” she continues. I feel that the Ireland that my relatives left was such a harsh place, and there wasn't a lot of opportunity for them back then.
“The people of Ireland have been through so much and have a real empathy for people from other countries who have been colonised. I'm just so interested in [learning] more about the Irish reclamation of identity and language.”
The trip to Ireland to film the show clearly empowered her to start a journey of discovery to reclaim the true extent of her cultural diversity – on the plate and in day-to-day life.
I think it’s really important to celebrate those differences.
“Being mixed race will mean something different for everyone. For me, it's still a bit of a thing that I'm discovering about myself.
“As a kid who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, you did everything in your power not to be different. But, as you get older, you want to embrace the different parts of who you are. And, I think it’s really important to celebrate those differences.”