Planting It Forward

Hong Kong-based chef Peggy Chan shares the heart behind sustainable dining.

- Joseph Koh

Peggy Chan may come across as reticent and soft-spoken on the surface, but once we begin to explore the nexus of food and sustainability, her face immediately lights up. She’s the chef and owner of Nectar, a progressive plant-based restaurant in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, and her obvious delight in food was fostered from a young age.

Her mother, an adventurous gourmet, would regularly take her family to an austere Vietnamese restaurant in Jardin Place for yellow curry with baguettes and balut (fertilised duck egg). Given the visceral nature of this family ritual, it remains as one of her fondest memories involving food. “The combination of the creamy hard-boiled yolk and tenderness of the carcass, accompanied with what is essentially a healing, bone broth simmered in its own shell, was so memorable to me,” recalls Chan. This unbridled joy found in uncovering new flavours and textures was only amplified when her family emigrated to Montreal, Canada — most notably when she tasted cheese for the first time. “It was just cheddar and crackers, but this was how my love affair with cheese began,” says Chan.