Consuming Passions

'I eat all kinds of food - Chinese, Italian, Japanese, just about everything. But I really love steamed seafood - fish, crab, and prawns. It's not for health reasons that I like it steamed, it's just that this way you get the true flavour, without too many ingredients that dilute the taste.

'I don't cook very often. If I eat at home my maid cooks, but we eat out several times a week. I don't have a favourite restaurant because it depends on what we want to eat. We like a variety of foods and we're lucky that in Hong Kong we have so much choice.

'I don't eat as healthily as I should, but I like foods that are not too fatty or oily and don't have a heavy taste. When I eat at home we always have soup, sometimes with meats or Chinese medicinal herbs. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables.

'My days are very hectic. I work about 15 hours a day, frequently with meetings over lunch and sometimes even over dinner, so food is one way of relaxing. I guess I'll have more time for food when I'm kicked off the Legislative Council in June.' Emily Lau Wai-hing is an independent member of the Legislative Council