Martin Yan

{{short description|Chinese-American chef and food writer (born 1948)}}

{{Infobox chef

| image = MartinYan 2004.12.jpg

| caption = Yan in 2004

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1948|12|22}}

| birth_place = Guangzhou, China

| style = Cantonese

| education = Munsang College
Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong
University of California, Davis

| restaurants = (closed: M.Y. Asia (Las Vegas))
(closed: M.Y. China (San Francisco))
(closed: Yan Can (Santa Clara))

(closed: M.Y. China (Rohnert Park))

| television = Yan Can Cook
Martin Yan – Quick & Easy
Martin Yan's Chinatowns
Martin Yan's Hong Kong
"Martin Yan's Asian Favourites

| website = {{url|http://www.yancancook.com/}}

| module =

}}

{{infobox Chinese

|t= 甄文達

|s= 甄文达

|bpmf= ㄓㄣㄨㄣˊㄉㄚˊ

|j=Jan¹ Man⁴ Daat⁶

|ci={{IPAc-yue|j|an|1|-|m|an|4|-|d|aat|6}}

|p=Zhēn Wéndá

|gr=Jen Wendar

}}

Martin Yan ({{zh|t=甄文達}}; born 22 December 1948) is a Chinese-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.{{cite news |title=Chef Yan may serve up a hit |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/43391486/ |access-date=August 10, 2024 |work=Ottawa Journal |date=May 10, 1980}}

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.{{cite news |last1=Krishna |first1=Priya |title=Four Decades on, Martin Yan Faces a New Audience and a New World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/dining/martin-yan.html |access-date=August 10, 2024 |work=New York Times |date=June 15, 2021 |ref=Krishna}}{{cite web |last=Maiellano |first=Sarah |title=2022 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Martin Yan |url=https://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/2022-lifetime-achievement-award-winner-martin-yan |website=James Beard Foundation |access-date=August 10, 2024}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.yancancook.com/tvshows.htm |publisher=YanCanCook.com |title=TV Shows |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511234556/http://yancancook.com/tvshows.htm |archive-date=11 May 2008 }} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.yancanrestaurants.com |publisher=YanCanRestaurants.com |title= Yan Can restaurants}} He has written over two dozen cookbooks. The American Culinary Federation has designated him a Master Chef.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/food/chefs/martin-yan/|title=Martin Yan|website=PBS Food|publisher=Public Broadcasting Service|access-date=2016-03-15}}

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 [http://www.wamc1950.com 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.

He is not related to Chinese Canadian chef Stephen Yan of the CBC Television series Wok with Yan, though Martin was an employee and had worked for Stephen Yan in the 1980s as demonstrator for Stephen's products.{{cn|date=February 2024}}

In 2023, Yan said that he planned on reopening his M.Y. China restaurant{{Cite web |title=M.Y. China {{!}} Restaurants {{!}} Cass Calder Smith |url=https://www.casscaldersmith.com/restaurants/my-china |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=www.casscaldersmith.com}} in San Francisco. He said that he had considering reopening the restaurant in the former home of Cathay House restaurant (which was closed in 2018).{{Cite news |last=Guerrero |first=Susana |title=Celebrity chef Martin Yan plans to revive M.Y. China in SF |url=https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf-martin-yan-my-china-restaurant-chinatown-18301993.php |access-date=February 20, 2024 |work=SFGATE |language=en}}

Television appearances

File:Loz martin yan 1994.jpg

Yan Can (1978—1982) — Host
Yan Can Cook (1982— ) – Host{{cite web |url=http://www.btmbeijing.com/contents/en/btm/2006-01/profile/cookinbeijing |publisher=Beijing This Month |title=No Doubt about It Yan Can Cook in Beijing |first=Daragh |last=Moller |date=January 1, 2006 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205002357/http://www.btmbeijing.com/contents/en/btm/2006-01/profile/cookinbeijing |archive-date=December 5, 2008 |df=dmy-all }}
Christine Cushing Live – Guest{{cite web | url=http://www.foodtv.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=72039 | title=Food Network Canada | Best Easy Recipes & Cooking Tips }}{{cite web | url=http://www.foodtv.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=82718 | title=Food Network Canada | Best Easy Recipes & Cooking Tips }}
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{{Cite web|url=http://www.thanhnien.com.vn/pages/20120512/cung-martin-yan-kham-pha-viet-nam.aspx|title=Cùng Martin Yan khám phá Việt Nam|date=13 May 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://blogs.kqed.org/pressroom/martin-yan-taste-of-vietnam/ |title=Martin Yan Returns to Public Television with Taste of Vietnam, Premiering This Fall : KQED's Pressroom |website=blogs.kqed.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627170518/http://blogs.kqed.org/pressroom/martin-yan-taste-of-vietnam/ |archive-date=June 27, 2014}}
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{{Cite book|url=https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/item/show/1802324093|isbn=9780060084752|title=Martin Yan's Chinatown cooking: 200 traditional recipes from 11 chinatowns around the world|year=2002|publisher=William Morrow}}
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

name	location	years open	reference
class="wikitable" \|+ Restaurants owned by Martin Yan
M.Y. Asia	Horseshoe Las Vegas	March 2023–August 2023	{{cite web \|last=Stapleton \|first=Susan \|title=PBS Cooking Show Star Martin Yan Brings the Flavors of Asia to the Las Vegas Strip in 2022 \|url=https://vegas.eater.com/2022/2/14/22928978/martin-yan-myasia-opening-las-vegas-strip-in-2022-ballys-horseshoe \|website=Eater Las Vegas \|publisher=Vox Media LLC \|access-date=February 15, 2022 \|date=February 14, 2022 }}
M.Y. China	Westfield San Francisco Centre mall	2012–2020 \| closed due to COVID-19 pandemic co-owned by Koi Palace, Daly City owners \| {{cite news \|last=Guerrero \|first=Susana \|title=M.Y. China, co-owned by celebrity chef Martin Yan, permanently closes \|url=https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/M-Y-China-co-owned-by-celebrity-chef-Martin-15748822.php \|access-date=February 15, 2022 \|work=SFGATE \|publisher=Hearst Newspapers \|date=November 23, 2020}}
M.Y. China	Graton Resort and Casino Rohnert Park, California	2013–2015	{{cite web \|last=Pape \|first=Allie \|title=Graton Casino Opens, with Keane, Gemignani, Yan in Tow \|url=https://sf.eater.com/2013/11/6/6335185/graton-casino-opens-with-keane-gemignani-yan-in-tow \|website=Eater San Francisco \|publisher=Vox Media LLC \|access-date=February 15, 2022 \|date=November 6, 2013 }}
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{{cite news | last =Wells | first =Madeline | title =Famed Bay Area chef and TV personality Martin Yan wins 2022 James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award| newspaper =SFGATE.com | location = | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = March 16, 2022| url =https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Bay-Area-chef-wins-James-Beard-Award-17007077.php | accessdate =April 11, 2022 }}

References

External links

[http://www.yancancook.com/ Official Website]
[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0945808/ Martin Yan on IMDb]
[https://www.pbs.org/food/chefs/martin-yan Martin Yan's PBS home page]
[http://www.kenbiroli.com/HCR-HOME.html Rice Rhapsody] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070521005855/http://www.kenbiroli.com/HCR-HOME.html |date=21 May 2007 }}

Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century Chinese male writers

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century Chinese male writers

Category:American food writers

Category:American male chefs

Category:American people of Hong Kong descent

Category:American television chefs

Category:American writers of Chinese descent

Category:Businesspeople from Guangzhou