Writer and TV host Chua Lam is one of Hong Kong’s foremost authorities on food and travel, but is perhaps better-known as one of the “Three Musketeers of TV” for his ribald programs in the 80s and 90s. He talks to June Ng about promiscuous eating and promiscuous loving.

When I was young, I was always melancholy. I only learned to relax after working for several years. Life will be hard if you always feel sad.

But a happy life won’t come to you easily. Without hard work from Monday to Saturday, Sunday would not be as beautiful.

No one has the innate ability to distinguish good food from bad. It’s all about comparison and exposure. Eat more, then you’ll learn.

Expensive food doesn’t necessarily mean good food. The problem here is that people see something’s price but not its true value.

I used to work in the movie industry. From my experience, beauty can only last when it comes with brains and a good sense of humor.

There are two aspects of health—mental and physical—and they affect each other. If you’re too worried about what you eat, you’ll screw up your mental health and this will in turn affect your physical health.

I drink, I smoke, and I don’t do exercise. It’s a waste of time. Wandering around wet markets is enough exercise for me. Exercise makes young people glow but it makes old people ugly.

I was more romantic before I got married. After marriage, it’s more about taking care of your spouse. It’s much more practical.

Marriage is the tomb for love. It’s extremely monotonous and annoying for two people to stay together for decades.

Monogamy is a barbaric system. It was set up by people who have weaker genes to protect their own interests. People with good genes want to spread them out as much as possible.

I got married because I didn’t know what I was doing at the time. But a promise is a promise: I will hold it until the end. 

The core problem with love has been the same for every generation—you fall in love with more than one person at a time.

If you don’t want to get bored in your marriage, find a way to entertain yourself—on the premise that no one gets hurt.

No matter what time we’re living in, there will always be a group of censors holding society back.

I don’t think we have to filter out so-called “indecent” material for our kids.  Truthfully, if they understand what it is, then they’re adult enough to experience it.

Hong Kong’s economy is progressing but our culture is moving backwards.

Money is a slave, not your master. It’s all about how you use it. I would like to spend all my money before I die.

Death has never been a taboo for me. It’s inevitable. And I think we should learn how to prepare for our own death better.

I don’t have any religious beliefs. It’s hard for anyone who has any knowledge in anthropology and geography to accept that the world was made in seven days.

If I sensed that my time was about to end, I’d hold a big party and say goodbye to all my friends, then hide myself away. I have land in Chiang Mai.

I would like my ashes scattered in Victoria Harbour, though.