Profile | ‘I was a difficult kid’: how a Hong Kong plant-based food movement leader overcame ADHD, dyslexia on his path to success
- Christian Mongendre, owner of Treehouse and partner in the Mana! restaurants, was born in Hong Kong and raised in France, where he struggled at school
- After seeing the benefits of going meatless and finding his calling as a chef, he became a driving force in Hong Kong’s plant-based restaurant revolution
I was born in Hong Kong in 1985 and we lived on The Peak. My dad was the head of a French bank – he had me when he was in his early 50s, it was his second marriage – and my mum looked after me and my older sister.
When I was three, after France nationalised its banks, my father returned to work at the bank’s headquarters in Paris. During the week, we lived in Paris and I went to school there, and at weekends we went to our house in the countryside, about 10 minutes from Versailles.
It’s a late 1800s farm that my parents renovated. My parents were hippies at heart and were concerned about the environment. We had a little farm and my dad grew cherry tomatoes and all sorts of fruit and we got eggs from our chickens. We had cats, geese, ducks, a dog, a rooster and Guinea pigs and hamsters – it was fun to grow up around the animals and it had a big impact on me.
Educating Christian
I went to quite a few schools because I was a difficult kid. I was diagnosed with dyslexia, ADHD and hyperactivity. I was creative but found it hard to sit down at a desk and listen to professors who were not interesting, so I became a bit of a rebel.
