Vegan noodles, dumplings and Malaysian dishes: fans of YouTuber WoonHeng Chia have the food blogger’s daughter to thank for her plant-based recipes
- Malaysian-born WoonHeng Chia’s relatable vegan Asian recipes have made her one of the plant-based cooking world’s most followed food bloggers
- When she stopped posting videos, fans were concerned. They needn’t have worried – she was adjusting to a move to China, she posted. Up next, her first cookbook
For years, Malaysian food blogger WoonHeng Chia has been feeding the internet her special brand of no-fuss, vibrant, plant-based Asian cookery – the originally Texas-based vlogger’s recipes would regularly receive hundreds of thousands of views, her platforms inundated with comments and eager follow-up questions.
Then, on June 12, 2022, after sharing an ode to soybeans on her Instagram account – urging followers to check out a new series of soy-based recipes she had just filmed for her blog, WoonHeng, such as pandan soy milk and tofu skin – she simply stopped posting.
Concerned fans dropped messages, checking in. “Miss you and your fun videos! They always bring a huge smile to my face, hope you are going well,” read one. “[Is] everything all right?” inquired another.
It was not until six months later that Chia re-emerged in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, posting a series of images of herself and her new surroundings.