Filling Stomachs and Empowering Women: Yip Hiu-wai dishes out appetizing social good 自煮自主 葉曉慧以住家美食鼓舞都市人和婦女

The old Tai Po Market is always crowded—more so on the eve of the Lunar New Year. My father being out of town, the annual task of making the festive cakes fell to me. And so on a Thursday afternoon before the holidays, I found myself drifting in a stream of veteran home cooks in the market, pretending that I knew too where to look for what I was told is the best sugar for the sticky rice cake.

I had just rushed back from an interview in Tsuen Wan, and rarely had I ever had the leisure to explore the market though living just a few blocks away. There were choices aplenty, in units and prices that I had to scramble to convert on my phone. I was at a loss. Stupefied as the regulars around me deftly went on to make a dozen other purchases, I came to admire even more the work of my interviewee, Yip Hiu-wai, better known as Ding Ding.

A 2016 graduate of CUHK, Ding Ding is the founder of Festyle, a social enterprise offering meal kits to those lacking the time and knowledge to get their hands on quality ingredients like myself.

‘It could be eight or nine o’clock by the time dinner’s served if one is to work with raw, fresh food, having first had to travel back from work in another district and get hold of them,’ said Ding Ding, noting the long working hours endemic to Hong Kong. ‘Let’s not forget the point of going to work day in, day out is really to stay nourished.’

This is where Festyle comes in, providing the many overworked Hongkongers with the ingredients and recipes they need to prepare a proper, home-cooked meal for themselves and their family at the end of the day. As Ding Ding believes, good food is the groundwork for both physical and mental health. It brings people together and is a testimony of love.

大埔舊街市一年到晚人潮如鯽，歲末尤甚。筆者父母出了埠，準備年菜的重擔落在我身上，於是在過年前的一個下午我也跑到那裏，糊里糊塗的跟着一眾常客，張羅用來做年糕的糖。

我當日早上有訪問，剛剛才由荃灣趕回來。來到這個在家附近卻從未嘗深究的地方，眼見貨攤上如同亂碼的銀碼和單位，手腳就亂了起來。躊躇之際，身邊的哥哥姐姐早已鎖定目標，一手交錢、一手取貨，不慌不忙，施然轉身走向下一個攤檔。此情此景，令我想起早上和葉曉慧（丁丁）的對談，對這位校友的妙想更是欽佩。

丁丁於2016年畢業，五年前創辦社企「妳想煮意」。這個專營即煮餸盒的品牌，對象正是筆者這類忙碌又不懂得選購新鮮食材的打工仔。

「下班後從區外回來，買了餸菜還要洗切烹調，八、九時才開飯乃等閒事。」丁丁談起香港長得不人道的工時，感慨說道。「本來日出而作，營營役役，為的就是滋養身體。」

妳想煮意的使命，就是讓一眾香港人經過一日辛勞，得以輕鬆和至親吃上豐富均衡的住家飯。誠如丁丁所言，美食是身心健康的根本，也是人與人之間的橋樑。

But besides feeding busy families, these meal kits—designed and prepared by housewives wishing to put their culinary wisdom to use beyond the confines of their household—are also about helping women to break out of their gender role.

‘It might seem we’ve achieved gender equality in Hong Kong, but the fact is only one out of 10 company directors here is female, and women still make up the majority of homemakers,’ said Ding Ding. ‘Surely a woman is free to take up housework if that’s where she finds her calling, but no woman should be made to do that and give up on her aspirations.’

Such sacrifices are all too familiar to Ding Ding. Her mother used to be an English teacher, and she has always wanted to write. She still found the time to be a freelance writer at first after giving birth to Ding Ding and her two siblings, but then it got harder for her to keep writing while taking care of the family.

She is just one of the hundreds of thousands of housewives in Hong Kong hoping to broaden their horizon. As the city’s population ages and its workforce shrinks, Ding Ding believes it would revitalize the labour market to get them employed as well as helping them gain a foothold outside their home, and Festyle is her solution.

‘As a woman myself, I don’t want to have to give up on my dream either when I have my own family.’

Entrepreneurship has been Ding Ding’s passion ever since she was in secondary school, though she started out having a café in mind. It was with this vision that she chose sociology and management as her specializations, hoping they would equip her with critical-thinking skills and foundational knowledge of the commercial world.

‘As we moved on to senior years and kept being drilled to critique capitalism and all sorts of institutions, many of us in sociology became overwhelmed by a sense of futility,’ she recalled. ‘I wondered, though, if I could be part of the solution to all these problems instead of going with the flow when I graduate.’ By definition a commercial venture that works towards the greater good, a social enterprise was the solution she was looking for.

Being one of the first New Senior Secondary (NSS) students, Ding Ding had an extra year at university to explore her interests and prepare for a career as an entrepreneur. ‘Believe me when I say I was a good student,’ she said with a laugh. ‘I was the kind of person who reads every mass email and pays attention to the resources available to us.’ She took part in the human resources coaching sessions and joined the Center for Entrepreneurship’s Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge (HKSEC), and she remembered showing up at a talk on starting an SME, being the youngest person in the conference hall.

‘I asked people who had made it in the trade how I should begin. They told me to just do it.’

但除了為港人帶來一餐溫飽，這些由家庭主婦設計和製作的餸盒，亦讓她們將自己的飲食智慧轉化為事業，用一雙巧手打破性別定型，在當「一家之煮」以外有所成就。

「香港似已達至性別平等，但原來每十個香港公司董事之中，只有一個是女性，而家庭中主內的，依然以女人居多。」丁丁說。「女性若在家務找到歸宿，當然也有成為主婦的自由，但沒有人應該被迫而為之、放下理想。」

因家庭犧牲自我的例子，丁丁家裏就有一個。她的媽媽本來是教英文的，一直希望成為作家。後來她誕下丁丁和兩個弟妹，起初尚有空投稿，但最終還是發現，家庭與志業難以兼顧。

觀乎香港數十萬名主婦，盼望走出四面牆、創一番事業的，何止丁丁媽媽一人？丁丁深信，在人口老化、勞動力萎縮下，幫助一眾主婦就業除了令她們得以在家庭外立足，亦可為勞工市場帶來生機。妳想煮意的「妳想」，亦無非是這樣。

「身為女性，我也不想自己成家立室後便要放棄夢想。」

早在中學時期，丁丁已立志創業，不過當年想着要開的是咖啡店。她在大學選讀社會學和管理學，也是一心希望學會批判思考和從商的基本概念，為日後創業作準備。

「我們不斷鑽研資本主義的問題、審視各種制度的弊端，上到高年級，不少同學開始有一種無力感。」她憶述自己在社會學系的日子。「我當時在想，離開山城後是否一定要隨波逐流，抑或可以為解決這些問題略盡綿力？」以公益為宏旨、結合商業與人文關懷的社企，正是丁丁一直尋找的藥方。

丁丁是首批新高中學生之一，有多一年時間在大學探索興趣、裝備自己。「我可是個好學生，大學寄來的電郵、各種給學生的資源，我都有留意。」她笑說。她上過人力資源培訓班，也參加了創業研究中心舉辦香港社會企業挑戰賽（HKSEC）。有次她跑到會展一場談中小企創業的講座，全場年紀最小的就是她。

「我問一班前輩創業從何入手，他們說了一句：『你開始了再說吧。』」

Perhaps they were really trying to be secretive, but no model or formula, indeed, could have predicted what was in store for Festyle. When what started to be the project of a team of five students first turned into a full-fledged enterprise, they ran into numerous unexpected problems. Having a limited fund, they resorted to using shared kitchens, which did not always work out. They were once forced to vacate the kitchen at such short notice they had to move all the equipment to Ding Ding’s home overnight, and one evening she went knocking on every restaurant’s door in Sham Shui Po on her own, hoping someone would share their kitchen with them. These frustrations pale, however, alongside what happened to one of their partners, also a CUHK student.

‘Just after he signed a contract with us and as the operation was about to go live, he killed himself on campus. There had been no signs whatsoever.’

To say they had a bitter start would be an understatement, but Ding Ding could be sure her family would have her back. When Festyle was in its infancy, her mother chipped in over a hundred recipes, compiled in the course of one night. Her father, a devotee of fine Chinese dining with backgrounds in the catering industry, has also been a great source of advice and inspiration.

Having picked themselves up, the Festyle team has now built up a database with 2,000 recipes and expanded into catering services. More importantly, they are moving closer to their goal of empowering women in Hong Kong.

‘There’s a housewife called Ah Hoi who joined Festyle after her daughter told her about us. It’s always nice to see how cheerful she’s become with her signature steamed pork patties being now enjoyed not just by her family but also by our many customers,’ said Ding Ding. In her sixties and going strong, Ah Hoi is now appearing in radio shows and documentaries with the team. Recently, she’s been invited to be an instructor, taking centre stage and becoming herself the kind of celebrity chefs she has seen on TV all her life.

也許這群前輩只是不願把心得外傳，然而丁丁遇上的風浪，縱有經天緯地之才，亦委實難以預見。妳想煮意本為五個學生的一個小小構想，正式開業後，意想不到的問題馬上接踵而至。公司資金有限，唯有在共享廚房落腳，過程一波三折。他們試過被逼遷，連好好收拾的時間也沒有，要漏夜把廚具搬到丁丁家裏暫存。丁丁又曾在夜裏孤身跑到深水埗，拍遍區內餐廳的門，但求覓得一個讓他們棲身的廚房。但相比他們一位同為中大人的拍檔遇上的事，這些挫折實在不足為道。

「就在他簽了合約、萬事俱備之際，他回到了中大，在校園了結自己，事前全無徵兆。」

一句「萬事起頭難」，無以說盡他們的苦楚，尚幸一路走來，丁丁的家人始終在旁。孩子們為籌組公司忙得焦頭爛額，丁丁的媽媽便在一夜間寫起過百道食譜，為他們提供最堅實的資本。醉心中菜、有餐飲業背景的爸爸，自然也為他們帶來不少建議和啓發。

時至今日，妳想煮意積累了逾二千道食譜，近來更擴展業務，涉足到會服務。但最令丁丁欣慰的，是她慢慢接近為婦女充權的目標。

「有位名叫阿開的主婦在女兒鼓勵下加入妳想煮意，做着做着，人也變得比以前開朗。在她家裏尋常不過的一道馬蹄蒸肉餅，如今成了我們的皇牌產品。得到來自家人以外的讚賞，令她十分高興，我們看着，也頓覺苦盡甘來。」已「登六」的開姐依然有心有力，不時跟着丁丁等人上電台、拍紀錄片，最近還獲邀擔任導師。

「她當年在《婦女新姿》看到的名廚，如今自己也當了起來。」丁丁欣喜說道。

Ding Ding is now planning on expanding her team and rolling out a ‘hometrepreneur’ programme, in which housewives can take advantage of Festyle’s platform and turn their works into microbusinesses. Just so more housewives can free up their time for training, she is also looking to collaborate with child caregivers in the community.

The young entrepreneur likes to call housewives ‘CEOs’ as opposed to ‘si naai’, the somewhat demeaning term for housewives in Cantonese, but she did not really think of herself as the CEO of her venture. At what was still a tiny start-up, the title did not carry much meaning. Five years on, the business has gotten on track, having had its fair share of twists and turns, and Ding Ding has made a solid CEO out of herself, shouldering greater responsibilities. Being an entrepreneur has its risks, but for as long as this is what she loves and believes in, there is no reason for her not to go on.

‘At times as dark as these, social enterprises can make a difference. That’s why we’ll keep doing our best, reaching out to more housewives and keeping people going with quality food,’ she said. ‘Business plays a key role in society. With a commercial sector working towards the greater good, I trust that the wider community will, too, find the right direction.’

丁丁正打算擴充團隊，並推出婦女「微創業」計劃，務求為主婦提供平台，將她們最拿手的家務化為商機。她亦期望與社區托兒機構合作，讓婦女無憂無慮地接受培訓。

廣東話中，家庭主婦有「師奶」這個略帶輕蔑的稱謂。丁丁素來不喜歡這個稱呼，堅持為她們正名為「CEO」。另一邊廂，這個年輕創業家過往一直對自己身為一間企業CEO的身分不太自在。公司成立之初，人丁單薄，這個銜頭無甚意義。五年過去，品牌歷盡波折後始見起色，丁丁的責任亦與日俱增，「CEO」這個名號，她當之無愧。創業之路固然布滿荊棘，但只要她的熱誠和信念還在，她也會繼續前行。

「在這般黯淡無光的歲月，社企其實可以發揮不少作用。因此我們會繼續做好，連結更多婦女，以美食鼓舞大眾。」她說。「商業在社會的角色很重要。當商界能以至善為目標，我相信整個社會也不會離正道太遠。」

By jasonyuen@cuhkcontents
Photos by Eric Sin

#妳想煮意FeStyle
https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/english/features/yip-hiu-wai.html