This unique School of Wok event, hosted by Verna Gao is perfect for people living in London who are looking to meet like minded people who share a passion for food and cooking.
Verna, aka vernahungrybanana, is a home cook, content creator and influencer to 900k+ followers across TikTok and Instagram. Verna was born in Shanghai in the 1990s and moved to London in 2003 to live with her dad and stepmom after her parents’ divorce. Emotionally vulnerable and speaking very little English, Verna used cooking as a means of staying connected to her Chinese heritage. After leading an impromptu crash course in university to teach friends how to cook “real Chinese food” and a stint travelling all over East Asia collecting recipes and expanding her foodie horizons, lockdown gave Verna the opportunity to share her cooking with the world.
‘Have you eaten?’ (The title of Verna's cookbook) is a question commonly asked in Asian culture when you first greet someone; the answer will not only let you know if your friends or loved ones are hungry, but also how they are feeling. These three words also epitomise what cooking means to Verna; they are an expression of love, a way of working out if a bowl of something comforting can help improve a mood or circumstance. In Verna’s words, ‘to me and many others, food always makes life better.’