Our Story

Mama Chee is committed to supporting mothers with homemade chicken soup. Our soup is prepared daily and made from scratch using only whole and mostly organic ingredients inspired by my Chinese heritage.

My name is Michelle Hoy. I am an Australian-born Chinese who immigrated to America. After giving birth to my daughter, I experienced the incredible healing powers of traditional Chinese postpartum meals.  

Inspired by this experience, I started learning how to make chicken soup using traditional Chinese ingredients from my childhood such as goji berries, Chinese red dates (jujubes) and ginger. These ingredients bring me home to my parents who always had “tong” (the Chinese word for soup) simmering away in the kitchen to keep us strong and vital. Like my parents, I now also have “tong” constantly simmering away in my kitchen in the form of my chicken soup.

In the beginning, I would share my soup with my wise and fearless doula, our loving and kind au pair from Brazil and my playful and energetic daughter who all would devour it. I would then offer to make large batches of chicken soup for new mothers, the elderly or people who were sick and they would constantly be asking for more. I had stumbled on to my calling and Mama Chee was born.

Why the name, Mama Chee? First and foremost, I wanted a name to honor and support our mothers. “Chee” (or “Qi”) is Chinese for the life force in all living things. Traditional Chinese medicine aims to always balance our “Chee”. On a personal level, my father immigrated from China to Australia and his Auntie gave him his last name “Chee Hoy” to help him assimilate better into the Australian culture. In using “Chee”, I hope to honor our family history and our immigrant experiences.

There is nothing I love more than to take my time preparing the freshest ingredients and cooking them together in such a way to bring you this delicious, golden elixir that feels so warm and inviting.

Thank you for your support and sharing this journey with us, we hope you enjoy our soup!