about me
Eileen Wen Mooney has long been passionate about sampling food throughout Asia, from street stalls to small family-run eateries to posh contemporary restaurants. Having lived in Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, she has learned about a wide variety of Asian cuisines.
A freelance food writer, Eileen contributed articles about food to Fodor's Beijing, Fodor's China, Time Out Beijing, Beijing Walks, Beijing & Shanghai: China's Hottest Cities, Zagat Beijing, That’s Beijing, Time Out Beijing, Silk Road, City Weekend and the Guardian. She also appeared in Rhodes Across China, a six-part TV special on Chinese food starring British celebrity chef Gary Rhodes. She is also the author of two books, Beijing Eats: A Food-Lover’s Companion to China’s Culinary Capital and Not Just a Good Food Guide: Beijing.
Eileen first became interested in food as a teenager, when she began to learn how to cook Chinese and Indonesian dishes in her mother’s kitchen in Bali, Indonesia. As a young student in in the late 1970s, she received her first formal cooking lessons at Fu Pei-mei’s Cooking school in Taipei, Taiwan.
Eileen moved to California in 2021 after spending an inspiring 30 months in Vietnam, which included a six-month backpacking trip traveling the length and width of the country. This gave her an excellent opportunity to explore the country’s regional cuisines.
An ethnic Chinese from Bali, Indonesia, Eileen is a graduate of St. John's University in New York.