Angela Hui
Angela Hui is a Welsh journalist and author. Her memoir Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter was shortlisted for the 2023 Jhalak Prize.
Early life
Hui was born 1991 in Beddau, a Welsh former mining village next to Pontypridd, to a father from Sai Kung and a mother from Shenzhen. Her parents had left Hong Kong for Britain in 1985, working at Chinese takeaways in Bournemouth, Reading, and London before settling in Beddau, where they opened their own takeaway called Lucky Star in 1988. It operated out of a converted terrace house on Commercial Street, and Hui lived above the shop with her two older brothers and helped out from the age of 8. Their relatives also opened takeaways in Pontlottyn, Bargoed and Blackwood.Hui graduated from the University of Glamorgan in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. She won a scholarship to pursue a Master of Arts in Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University. During her time at Cardiff, she was part of the magazine Feast.
Career
In 2020, Hui joined HuffPost UK as a lifestyle reporter, writing about food, travel, and other topics. In 2021, Hui became a food and drink editor at Time Out London. She also contributed to the likes of Eater London, Vice, The Independent, and gal-dem.In 2022, Trapeze acquired the rights to publish Hui's debut book and memoir Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter, delving into Hui's experiences, positive, negative and bittersweet, growing up in a Chinese takeaway in rural Wales, which her parents sold in 2018. Hui had written the memoir during the COVID-19 lockdown, and said the rise in anti-East Asian racism at the time was a motivating factor. Georgina Leung provided the illustrations. The book also incorporates Cantonese recipes. Takeaway was shortlisted for the 2023 Jhalak Prize and a Fortnum & Mason Award in the Debut Food Book category.