Martin Yan

Martin Yan

December 2004
Born	22 December 1948 (1948-12-22) (age 62) Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Cooking style	Chinese, mainly Cantonese
Education	Munsang College, Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong, University of California, Davis
Current restaurant(s) Yan Can (Santa Clara, Pleasant Hill)
Television show(s) Yan Can Cook Martin Yan's Quick and Easy Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking Martin Yan's Hong Kong
Official website
http://yancancook.com/

Martin Yan
Traditional Chinese	甄文達
Simplified Chinese	甄文达
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Zhēn Wéndá Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Jan1 Man1 Daat6

Martin Yan (Chinese: 甄文達; born 22 December 1948) is a Chinese-born American chef and the host of the award-winning cooking show Yan Can Cook.

Early years and education

With ancestral roots in Kaiping, Guangdong, China, Yan was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, to a restaurateur father and a grocer mother, Yan began to cook at 12. He moved to Hong Kong when he was 13, and attended the Munsang College in Kowloon City. During this time in Munsang College, he worked at his uncle's Chinese restaurant and learned about the traditional method of Chinese barbecue there. 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.

Career

Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for a college extension program and appearing on a Canadian, Calgary talk show in 1978 (on CFAC-TV, now CICT-TV). He has hosted over 1,500 episodes of the PBS cooking shows Yan Can Cook since 1982. His shows have been broadcast in over 50 countries.^[1] He currently hosts Martin Yan - Quick & Easy. He also hosts Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking 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 the San Francisco Bay Area. He has written over two dozen cookbooks.^[1] The American Culinary Federation has designated him a Master Chef.

Yan is one of the lead actors of the Hong Kong film Rice Rhapsody (海南雞飯, 2005).

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.

Television appearances

• Yan Can Cook (1978— ) - Host^[2]
• Christine Cushing Live - Guest^[3][4]
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast - Guest
• Martin Yan's Hong Kong (2005–2007) - Host
• Martin Yan's Quick and Easy - Host
• Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking - Host
• Martin Yan's China (2008) - host
• Iron Chef America (2011) - Judge

Cookbooks

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Chinese Recipes (1978)
• The Joy of Wokking (1978)
• 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 Culinary Journey Through China
• Martin Yan's Asia
• Martin Yan's Entertainment At-Home
• Martin Yan the Chinese Chef
• Martin Yan's Invitation to Chinese Cooking
• Martin Yan's Feast

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 Marshall

See also

• Chinese American cuisine
• Cantonese cuisine
• Food science

References

1. ^ ^{a b} TV Shows at his official website
2. ^ http://www.btmbeijing.com/contents/en/btm/2006-01/profile/cookinbeijing
3. ^ http://www.foodtv.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=72039
4. ^ http://www.foodtv.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=82718

External links

• Official website
• 1st Person - Martin Yan
• Rice Rhapsody
• Articles by Martin Yan on Chefs
• Video of Martin Yan in discussion with Jennifer 8 Lee at the Asia Society, March 26, 2009

Persondata
Name	Yan, Martin
Alternative names
Short description	Chinese-born American chef and the host of the US cooking show Yan Can Cook.
Date of birth	22 December 1948
Place of birth	Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Date of death
Place of death