Food, especially China's cuisine industry, has become an integral component of cultural exchanges, which are being increasingly used to break barriers caused by different languages and cultural backgrounds. In recent years, an increasing number of Chinese women chefs, especially young chefs, have stood out on the world stage. They have shown the world their excellent cooking skills, and their innovative ideas for cuisine development. More importantly, they have presented Chinese women's wisdom and strength as they have promoted Chinese cuisine and culture in the new era.
Women of China highlights several stories involving Chinese women who have smartly combined the concepts and techniques of Chinese cuisine with food that is popular worldwide. In this article, we invite Ma Hua, President of the Committee on Ethnic Catering and Tourism of China Cuisine Association (CCA), to share the association's efforts to promote Chinese cuisine globally through cultural communications and to support the cultivation and development of Chinese women chefs.
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| Ma Hua, Chairwoman of Western Mahua Group and President of CCA's Committee on Ethnic Catering and Tourism |
June 10, 2025, marked the first International Day for Dialogue Among Civilizations of the United Nations. To celebrate the day, China Cuisine Association (CCA), in collaboration with the municipal people's government of Quanzhou, a city in southeast China's Fujian Province, held an event, on June 5, at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in France. During the event, Ma Hua, Chairwoman of Western Mahua Group, and also President of CCA's Committee on Ethnic Catering and Tourism, demonstrated how to cook hand-stretched noodles.
Ma, who was born into a culinary family in northwest China's Gansu Province, founded Western Mahua Group, in Beijing, in 1988. When she recently recalled her experience at UNESCO's headquarters, the renowned chef and entrepreneur said she cherished the opportunity to help share traditional Chinese food overseas. She was able to tell a vivid story about Chinese culinary culture on the world stage.
"It was a great honor for me to participate in the cultural communication last June. We brought the time-honored, imperial-styled Peking duck to the event. I also showed participants how to make traditional Lanzhou beef noodles," Ma said, during a recent interview with Women of China.
The technique used to make Lanzhou beef noodles originated in Lanzhou, a city in Gansu Province. The technique has more than 100 years of history. In 2021, it was added to the list of China's national intangible cultural heritage. The process used to cook Lanzhou beef noodles features a chef's artistic taste, Ma says.
"Each step, including making the dough and stretching it into noodles, requires a chef's handy skills. In France, I saw so many international friends, who were amazed by our culinary technique for making Lanzhou beef noodles. The process of cooking a bowl of noodles offered a way for people across the world to witness, directly, the cultural connotation expressed by Chinese food and Chinese culinary techniques," Ma explains.
Food can be "a cultural envoy, which breaks the barrier of different languages to promote efficient sharing and communications among civilizations," Ma says. She plans to participate in similar events throughout this year. She hopes she can help Chinese cuisine go global.
Ma says she has been happy to see an increasing number of Chinese women chefs earning solid reputations through their exquisite and innovative culinary skills. They have integrated women's sensitivity, patience and their understanding of life and art into the creation of various dishes. "The Chinese culinary aesthetics is being presented by women chefs' meticulous tastes for ingredients, and by their smart ideas for forming healthy and nutritious combination of food," Ma says.
The CCA attaches great importance to the cultivation and development of Chinese women chefs. By organizing professional training sessions, culinary competitions and communications, the association has been doing its part to help chefs, especially young chefs, demonstrate their skills and learn from each other.
Says Ma: "CCA has held a series of training classes to improve women chefs' culinary skills. We encourage them to attend competitions, at home or abroad, so they have the opportunities to practice and demonstrate their techniques. Now, we are glad to see an increasing number of young women chefs are standing out during competitions. They excel in the exploration of innovative dishes, the management of restaurants and, more importantly, in representing Chinese chefs on the culinary stage of the world. CCA will continue providing support for women chefs, so they can become a vigorous and significant force in the Chinese catering industry."
Cuisine provides a way for people from various countries to enhance friendship and mutual understanding — despite the differences in languages and civilizations, Ma says. Chinese women chefs are playing their roles in building a community with a shared future for humanity, by promoting Chinese culinary culture, life philosophy and women's strength to the world, all through cultural exchanges, she adds.
Photos from China Cuisine Association
(Women of China English Monthly February 2026)
Editor: Wang Shasha
