‘MasterChef’ champ pursuing master’s

Christine Ha was recently honored at the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce of Houston Women of Prestige Gala. She is pictured with her husband, John Suh.

Earlier this year, Christine Ha made history as the first legally blind contestant on the Fox competitive cooking reality show “MasterChef.” Following the announcement of her “MasterChef: Season 3” win in September, Ha’s life has been a whirlwind of publicity, but she remains dedicated to friends, family and maintaining as much normalcy as possible.

“I try to keep in touch with my close friends and try to keep my life as normal as possible and keep the routines of how my life was before ‘MasterChef,’” she said. “I think that’s what’s helped me to keep my life as normal as possible.”

As a master’s of fine arts candidate in the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program, for Ha, “normalcy” means writing, which is something she’s doing quite a bit these days. In addition to writing a “MasterChef” cookbook, Ha is working on her thesis, a memoir chronicling the diagnosis of her autoimmune condition and subsequent vision loss, and paralleling that experience with her mother being diagnosed with cancer. Ha is also working on a novel.

Although she was portrayed in an almost angelic light on “MasterChef,” Ha is quick to point out that that is only a part of who she is.
“I think on the show that I’m portrayed as this very angelic, good person, and while that is, I think, part of my personality, I do believe that there are other dimensions to my personality that weren’t shown,” she said. “I would say that I’m probably wittier than they made me seem. I’m funnier, and I’m much goofier, I think.”

When she’s not cooking, promoting her upcoming “MasterChef” cookbook or working on her creative writing thesis, Ha enjoys reading and, of course, trying new foods.

“I love going out to eat … and getting inspiration for my own kitchen by eating out and trying new restaurants, new food and new dishes,” she said.
Ha also enjoys traveling and recently returned from a trip to Japan and Korea to visit family. She also recently traveled to New York City for an appearance on ABC’s “The View.” 

For more information on Ha’s culinary adventures, visit her blog at www.theblindcook.com. To learn more about her writing, visit www.christineha.com.

ABOUT CHRISTINE HA
AGE: 33
OCCUPATION: Author and celebrity chef
COMMUNITY CONNECTION: Heights resident
FAST FACT: Fiction editor for “Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature and Fine Art”