「有律師唔做，你走去做廚？！」Helen的父親嘩然。

華人流散異地，往往以食謀生，只求下一代出人頭地，飛出廚房。英國長大的Helen已是執業律師，偏偏逆其道而行，毅然放下高薪厚職，拿起鑊鏟，鑽研祖傳珍味，原來餸菜背後不只百味紛陳，還有家族蜿蜒曲折的流徙歷程，令Helen重新品味自己既中且英的雙重身世，並且寫下回憶錄《Sweet Mandarin》。

原著作者Helen Tse於2014年獲頒大英勳章，表揚她對英國飲食界的貢獻，同年出版的食譜《Dim Sum》榮登《時代雜誌》暢銷榜。2006年，她把親身經歷與家族歷史寫入《Sweet Mandarin》，風行三十多個國家。《流徙之女》於2015年首演，並曾於2018年獲邀到上海1862時尚藝術中心「香港演出月」演出。

「流徙」（Diaspora）意指脫離母體，流落他方，一方面承傳祖輩血脈，另一方面周旋於異地文化。香港無論歷史或地理位置均十分特殊，促成華洋雜處、中西交融的特性早烙印我們身心，可是香港人此獨特身份到底如何演化？

“You want to be a chef, instead of a lawyer?!”

Helen’s father is stunned. Catering is probably the most common business in the overseas Chinese community. The older Chinese generation labors day and night in order to free their younger generation of the chore of the kitchen. Helen, a British born Chinese, against all expectation leaves her lawyer job to set up her own restaurant. She discovers that her family cuisines are not only tasty but also full of dramatic stories, spanning almost a hundred years and crossing from Guangzhou via Hong Kong to England.

Helen Tse was awarded MBE for her contribution to the food and catering industry in UK in 2014. Her latest cookbook Dim Sum became a Times bestseller. In 2006, she put the remarkable journey of her family and her own into Sweet Mandarin, which was published in 33 countries to great acclaim. Pants Theatre Production’s Sweet Mandarin premiered in 2015, and was featured in Hong Kong Theatre Month in Shanghai 1862 Theatre.

Diaspora is derived from Greek, which means “I scatter”, a state of being torn between one’s roots and feeling alienated in a foreign culture. Hong Kong is unique in its geographical and historical background, being the point of contact between east and west for 150 years. Hong Kongers’ identity was shaped during the colonial period and continues to change in the post-colonial era. Where is our root? Where do we belong?