Martin Yan
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Family name hatnote Template:Infobox chef
Martin Yan (Template:Zh; born 22 December 1948) is a Hong Kong-American chef and food writer. He has hosted his award-winning PBS-TV cooking show Yan Can Cook since 1982.
Early years and education
With ancestral roots in Hoiping, Yan was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China to a restaurateur father and a grocer mother. Yan began to cook at the age of 12. When he was 13, he moved to Hong Kong, where he attended the Munsang College in Kowloon City. During this time in Munsang College, he worked at his uncle's Chinese restaurant and learned the traditional method of Chinese barbecue. He received a diploma from the Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong and later left for Canada for continued study. Ten years after his arrival in North America, Yan received a Master of Science degree in food science from University of California, Davis, in 1975.
He is not related to Chinese-Canadian chef Stephen Yan of Wok With Yan, though for a year in the 1970s, Martin Yan worked for Stephen Yan who trained him as one of Stephen Yan's 'Flying Squad' of six chefs who flew across Canada to do demonstrations in Chinese cooking for events like the Calgary Stampede, the Klondike Days in Edmonton and houseware demonstrations at Hudson's Bay Company stores.<ref name="OJ">Template:Cite news</ref>
Career
Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for a college extension program. While in Calgary helping a friend open a restaurant he appeared on a talk show on CFAC-TV (now CICT-DT) to do a cooking segment resulting in his being asked back repeatedly. This led to 250 daily editions of his original series Yan Can being produced and syndicated from CFAC for four years until moving to KQED in San Francisco in 1982 becoming Yan Can Cook.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
He has hosted over 3,500 episodes of the PBS cooking show Yan Can Cook since 1982. His shows have been broadcast in over 50 countries.<ref name="TV Shows">Template:Cite web</ref> He currently hosts Martin Yan – Quick & Easy. He also hosts Martin Yan's Chinatowns, where he tours Chinatowns around the globe, as well as Martin Yan's Hidden China.
Yan has opened a chain of Yan Can Restaurants and founded the Yan Can International Cooking School in San Francisco.<ref name="YCR">Template:Cite web</ref> He has written over two dozen cookbooks.<ref name="TV Shows"/> The American Culinary Federation has designated him a Master Chef.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Yan is one of the lead actors of the Singapore/Hong Kong film Rice Rhapsody (海南雞飯, 2005).
In 2007, he supported and endorsed the establishment of the World Association of Master Chefs.
He has appeared as a guest judge on several episodes of Iron Chef America and appeared on the cartoon talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast. He also appeared as a guest judge on the Season 10 finale of Top Chef as well as a Season 11 episode of Hell's Kitchen.
In 2023, Yan said that he planned on reopening his M.Y. China restaurant<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in San Francisco. He said that he considered reopening the restaurant in the former home of Cathay House restaurant (which was closed in 2018).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Television appearances
- Yan Can (1978—1982) — Host
- Yan Can Cook (1982— ) – Host<ref name="BTMBeijing">Template:Cite web</ref>
- Christine Cushing Live – Guest<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Space Ghost Coast to Coast (1996) – Guest
- Martin Yan's Hong Kong (2005–2007) – Host
- Martin Yan – Quick & Easy – Host
- Martin Yan's Chinatowns – Host
- Yan Can Cook: Spice Kingdom- Host
- Martin Yan's China (2008) – host
- Iron Chef America (2011) – Judge
- Food Court (2011) Hong Kong Cable TV – Tutor / Host
- Iron Chef Vietnam (2012) – Guest Judge
- Top Chef (2013) – Guest Judge
- Hell's Kitchen (2013) – Guest Judge
- Martin Yan: Taste of Vietnam (2013) – Host<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Back to Basics (2013) – Host
- Martin Yan: Taste of Malaysia (2015) – Host
- Rick Stein's Road to Mexico - Episode 1 (2017) - Guest
- Martin Yan's Asian Favorites (2018— ) - Host
Cookbooks
- Chinese Recipes (1978)
- The Joy of Wokking (1978)
- The Yan Can Cook Book (1981, reprinted 1983)
- Everybody's Wokking
- The Well-Seasoned Wok
- Martin Yan's Feast: The Best of Yan Can Cook
- Chinese Cooking for Dummies
- Martin Yan's Asian Favorites
- Martin Yan's Quick and Easy
- Martin Yan's Chinatowns
- Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking: 200 Traditional Recipes From 11 Chinatowns Around the World<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Martin Yan's Culinary Journey Through China
- Martin Yan's Asia
- Martin Yan’s China
- Martin Yan's Entertainment At-Home
- Martin Yan the Chinese Chef
- Martin Yan's Invitation to Chinese Cooking
- Martin Yan's Feast
- A Wok for All Seasons, 1988
Restaurants
| Restaurant | Location | Active Dates | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SensAsian | Irvine, California | March 2003– Unknown | ||
| M.Y. Asia | Horseshoe Las Vegas | March 2023–August 2023 | <ref name="Eater Las Vegas M.Y. Asia Horseshoe">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| M.Y. China | Westfield San Francisco Centre mall | 2012–2020 |
|
<ref name="SF Gate M.Y. China SF">Template:Cite news</ref> |
| M.Y. China | Graton Resort and Casino Rohnert Park, California |
2013–2015 | <ref name="Eater SF M.Y. China Graton">Template:Cite web</ref> | |
| Yan Can | Santa Clara, California |
Awards
- An honorary Doctorate of Culinary Arts by Johnson & Wales University
- A Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for best cooking show
- A 1996 James Beard Award for Best TV Food Journalism
- A 1994 James Beard Award for Best TV Cooking Show
- The Antonin Careme Award by the Chef's Association of the Pacific Coast
- The Courvoisier Leadership Award by Courvoisier
- 2008 Picnic Day (UC Davis) parade marshal
- 2022 James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
See also
References
External links
- 1948 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century Chinese male writers
- 21st-century American male writers
- 21st-century Chinese male writers
- American food writers
- American people of Hong Kong descent
- American television chefs
- American writers of Chinese descent
- Businesspeople from Guangzhou
- Cantonese people
- Chefs from San Francisco
- Hong Kong chefs
- Hong Kong emigrants to the United States
- Hong Kong expatriates in the United States
- Hong Kong food writers
- Hong Kong television personalities
- Hong Kong television presenters
- People from Taishan, Guangdong
- People from the San Francisco Bay Area
- University of California, Davis alumni
- Writers from Guangzhou