Ming Tsai

Tsai was born to Iris (née Lee), who owned a Chinese restaurant, and {{ill|Stephen W. Tsai|lt=Stephen Tsai|de}}, an engineer who co-developed the Tsai-Wu failure criterion,{{cite journal | author = Sadeghi, Yassmin | date = January 31, 2005 | title =Tsai '89 [sic.] Whips Up Success in Career as Chef | journal = Yale Daily News | url = http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2005/01/31/tsai-89-whips-up-success-in-career-as-chef/ | access-date = January 14, 2017}} and was raised in Dayton, Ohio,{{cite journal | author = People Staff | date = May 8, 2000 | title = Ming Tsai: Chef | journal = People Magazine | volume = 53 | issue = 18 | format = print and online | url = http://people.com/archive/ming-tsai-chef-vol-53-no-18/ | access-date = January 14, 2017}} where he attended The Miami Valley School.{{cite web|title=Awards & Honors: Distinguished Alumni Award (2006)|url=https://www.mvschool.com/alumni/awards-honors|publisher=The Miami Valley Joint Vocational School|access-date=April 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180831141628/https://www.mvschool.com/alumni/awards-honors|archive-date=August 31, 2018|url-status=dead}} He assisted with the cooking as he was growing up in the restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen. Tsai's maternal grandparents emigrated to Dayton from Taiwan after escaping China during the Cultural Revolution.{{Cite web |last=Rekdal |first=Cynthia |date=September 8, 2017 |title=Chef Ming Tsai: Cooking outside the wok |url=https://iexaminer.org/chef-ming-tsai-cooking-outside-the-wok/ |website=International Examiner}}

Tsai later attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and then proceeded to study engineering and play varsity squash at Yale University. There, he was a member of the Phi chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity,{{cite web|url=http://dekerush.net/ |title=Did you know: Famous chef, Ming Tsai, is a Deke |website=Delta Phi Chapter, University of Alberta |access-date=April 28, 2017|quote=Famous chef, Ming Tsai, is a Deke. Brother Ming Tsai is a Yale Deke who has earned an Emmy award for this culinary influence on television. Ming's TV series, 'Simply Ming', is known for his fusion of eastern and western flavours...}} and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1986. He received a master's degree in hotel administration and hospitality marketing from Cornell University in 1989.{{cite web|url=http://alumni.cornell.edu/article/big-red-footprints-boston |title=Big Red Footprints: Boston—The East-West empire and the cranberry kingdom |date=January 8, 2015 |website=Alumni, Parents & Friends, Cornell University |access-date=April 28, 2017}} Either the summer after his sophomore or junior year at Yale, he attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Tsai speaks four languages: English, Mandarin Chinese, French, and Spanish.{{cite web|url=https://macaulay.cuny.edu/seminars/drabik09/articles/t/h/e/The_Cultural_Contributions_of_Chinese_Immigrants_7866.html |title=The Cultural Contributions of Chinese Immmigrants: Culinary |website= CUNY|access-date=April 28, 2017}}

Tsai is a grandson of Chinese composer {{Interlanguage link|Lee Pao-Chen|zh|李抱忱}}.{{cite web |title=【手稿】 李抱忱 女兒樸虹全家的聖誕信 |url=https://tmi.openmuseum.tw/muse/digi_object/b1fd590b2f834d86d00dfc288d430000 |access-date=2021-02-05 |publisher=Taiwan Music Institute |language=zh}} He is a 116th great grandson of Huang Di.

Tsai began his television career on chef Sara Moulton's cooking show Cooking Live while she had him fill in for one week for her in 1997.{{cite web|url=https://saramoulton.com/show/saras-weeknight-meals-season-2/episode-216-one-pot-asian-meals-with-ming-tsai/|title=Sara's Weeknight Meals: Season 2—Episode 216: One Pot Asian Meals with Ming Tsai|website=Sara Moulton Enterprises, Inc.| date=7 March 2016 |access-date=April 28, 2017|quote=Sara Moulton: 'I like to say that he was discovered on my Food Network show, Cooking Live, because he filled in for me for 1 week in 1997 when I was on vacation and then promptly got his own show, "East Meets West."'}} He hosted East Meets West on the Food Network from 1998 to 2003.{{cite web|url=http://www.eater.com/2017/4/18/15343108/ming-tsai-closing-blue-ginger-opening-chowstirs |title=After Nearly 20 Years, Ming Tsai Will Close Blue Ginger | author=Monica Burton|date= April 18, 2017|website=Eater |publisher=Vox Media|location=Boston |access-date=April 28, 2017}} He hosts Simply Ming, a food show on PBS.

In 2005, he was a judge on the PBS show Cooking Under Fire.{{cite web | author = PBS Staff & Tsai, Ming | date = January 14, 2017 | title=About the Series: Ming Tsai | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cookingunderfire/about/judges.html | work = PBS.org | access-date=January 14, 2017}} Ming Tsai challenged Iron Chef Bobby Flay in the sixth episode of season one of Iron Chef America in 2005; Tsai defeated Flay. Tsai was a contestant in The Next Iron Chef in 2010, where he was eliminated in the seventh week.{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-238526577.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118072333/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-238526577.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |title=Ming Tsai: Ready to mix his two favorite things, 'competition and food' | first=Bill|last= Burke |date= October 3, 2010|newspaper=The Boston Herald |access-date=April 28, 2017 |url-access= }} Tsai appeared on an episode of Top Chef in 2014.{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-37089405.html |title='Top Chef' Boston Season Revealed | first=Judith|last=Goldstein |date=August 20, 2014 |newspaper= The Boston Globe|access-date=April 28, 2017 |url-access=}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

His other television appearances include participation in a Zoom Out on Zoom, a show distributed by PBS, in 2005{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-13883141.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119091439/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-13883141.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 19, 2018 |title=TV NOTES: Things to watch for on the tube | first=Frazier|last=Moore |date=April 21, 2005 |newspaper=The Charleston Gazette|location=Charleston, West Virginia |access-date=April 28, 2017|url-access= }} and on the PBS children's television show Arthur episode in 2006.

In 1998, Tsai and Polly Talbott opened his first restaurant, Blue Ginger, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Blue Ginger, an Asian Fusion restaurant, has become a Zagat{{cite web|url=https://www.zagat.com/r/blue-ginger-wellesley |title=Blue Ginger, Wellesley, Massachusetts|website=Zagat |access-date=April 28, 2017}} and James Beard-recognized establishment, winning many other regional awards as well. The year that the restaurant opened, Tsai was named "Chef of the Year" by Esquire Magazine.{{cite magazine|url=http://people.com/archive/ming-tsai-chef-vol-53-no-18/ |title=Ming Tsai, Chef | author=People Staff |date=May 8, 2000 |website=People |access-date=April 28, 2017}} On March 30, 2010 Tsai opened Blue Ginger Noodle Bar, a mini-restaurant, inside Blue Ginger.{{cite journal | author = Cohan-Miccio, Leila | date = March 16, 2010 | title = What to Eat at Blue Ginger Noodle Bar, Opening March 30 | website = GrubStreet.com | url = http://www.grubstreet.com/2010/03/what_to_eat_at_blue_ginger_noo.html | access-date = January 14, 2017}} In June 2017, Tsai closed Blue Ginger after 19 years of business. The reason was due to the end of a lease and Tsai's focus on a new fast-casual stir-fry concept restaurant, ChowStirs, scheduled to open in Boston during the early part of 2018.{{cite news |last=First |first=Devra |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2017/04/17/ming-tsai-restaurant-blue-ginger-close/BXk3Xu7dcClEVvEVWAQZRK/story.html |title=Ming Tsai restaurant Blue Ginger to close |work=The Boston Globe |date=2017-04-18 |access-date=2017-04-18 }}

Tsai opened Blue Dragon in 2013 in the Fort Point Channel area of Boston, an east–west tapas-style gastropub that has become a Zagat's recognized restaurant,{{cite web|url=https://www.zagat.com/r/blue-dragon-boston |title=Blue Dragon, Boston|website=Zagat |access-date=April 28, 2017}} which was named an Esquire Magazine "Best New Restaurant" in its opening year.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2013/10/08/del-campo-lands-on-esquires-best-new-restaurants-list/ |title=Del Campo Lands on "Esquire's" Best New Restaurants List | first=Anna|last=Spiegel |date=October 8, 2013 |website=Washingtonian |access-date=April 28, 2017}} Blue Dragon closed in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic.{{cite web | url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/06/30/lifestyle/ming-tsai-has-his-eye-india-mcdonalds-making-it-home-plate/#:~:text=Tsai%20closed%20Blue%20Dragon%2C%20his,the%20space%20as%20MingsBings%20headquarters | title=Ming Tsai has his eye on India, McDonald's, and making it to home plate - the Boston Globe | website=The Boston Globe }}

In 2020, Tsai opened BāBā at the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana as chef and partner.{{Cite web |title=THE ULTIMATE BITE WITH MING TSAI |url=http://www.athleisuremag.com/the-latest/2021/2/15/the-ultimate-bite-with-ming-tsai |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=Athleisure Mag™ {{!}} Athleisure Culture |date=15 February 2021 |language=en-US}}

Tsai is the author of five cookbooks: Blue Ginger, Simply Ming, Ming's Master Recipes, Simply Ming: One-Pot Meals,{{cite journal|author=Forbes Staff|date=January 14, 2017|title=Ming Tsai, Tastemaker, Chef & TV Personality, Boston|url=http://www.forbestravelguide.com/tastemaker/ming-tsai|journal=Forbes Travel Guide|access-date=January 14, 2017}} and Simply Ming in Your Kitchen.{{cite news|url=http://www.houstonpress.com/restaurants/holiday-entertaining-with-the-macys-culinary-councils-chef-ming-tsai-9003952 |title=Holiday Entertaining With the Macy's Culinary Council's Chef Ming Tsai | author=Cuc Lam |date= December 7, 2016|website=Houston Press |access-date=April 28, 2017}}

Tsai won the Daytime Emmy award in 1999, in the category Outstanding Service Show Host.{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-89645840.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120001721/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-89645840.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 20, 2018 |title=Food Safety Education Month guide online |date= July 1, 2002|newspaper=Foodservice Equipment & Supplies. Reed Business Information, Inc. |access-date=April 28, 2017 |url-access= }} Tsai's Blue Ginger Restaurant was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame in 2012.{{cite web | url = http://www.culinaryhalloffame.com/inductees/blue_ginger_restaurant.htm | title= Blue Ginger Restaurant (Ming Tsai)| publisher = The Culinary Hall of Fame | access-date=April 28, 2017}} In 2000, Ming was on the 50 Most Beautiful People list published by People magazine.{{cite web|url=http://people.com/celebrity/peoples-most-beautiful/ |title=PEOPLE's 'Most Beautiful' | first=Stephen H. |last=Silverman |year=2000 |website=People |access-date=April 28, 2017}}

Tsai and Polly Talbott have been married since April 1996. They have two sons, David and Henry.{{cite news|last=Tsai|first=Ming|date=January 28, 2012|title=Squash, a Growing Sport, and Nutritious, Too|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/sports/chef-ming-tsai-devoted-player-and-cooker-of-squash.html|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 16, 2013}} David Talbott, Tsai's squash coach at Yale, and Mark Talbott, a former World No. 1 hardball squash player, are Tsai's brothers-in-law. Lauren Tsai, the American actress, is his niece.{{Cite web|last=Tsai|first=Ming|date=March 18, 2018|title="Ming Tsai on Twitter: "So proud of my niece @LaLaChuu @nikejapan..."|url=https://twitter.com/mingtsai/status/971733624767709184|access-date=2021-04-14|website=Twitter|language=en}} According to Henry Louis Gates's PBS program Finding Your Roots, Tsai is a 116th-generation descendant of Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC),{{cite web| author = FYR Staff | date = October 21, 2014 | title=The Melting Pot | work = Finding Your Roots (FYR) | via = PBS.org | url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/melting-pot-full-episode/12093 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025073243/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/melting-pot-full-episode/12093/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=October 25, 2014 | access-date=January 14, 2017 }} founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China.

Tsai was a squash player at Yale, playing number two for the team, and he was named as an All-Ivy League player in 1986.{{cite news | author = Zug, James | date = 2011 | title = Ming Sings: An Interview with Celebrity Chef Ming Tsai | journal =Squash Magazine | issue = December | url = http://www.squashmagazine.com/vcm/squashmagazine/features/introducing/archive/ming_tsai.html | access-date=January 14, 2017 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120218024037/http://www.squashmagazine.com/vcm/squashmagazine/FEATURES/Introducing/Archive/Ming_Tsai.html | archive-date = February 18, 2012 }} While attending culinary school in France, Tsai played professionally on the European circuit.{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7843751.html |title=Ming Tsai, He Cooks Up A Mean Hoisin-Marinated Chicken With Napa Slaw | first=John|last=Power |date=May 9, 2004 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=April 28, 2017 |url-access= }}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In 2004, Tsai played a celebrity squash match against professional golfer Brad Faxon at a Boston squash club.{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-7728881.html |title=Court Date for Venture Capitalist; Royal Treatment for Worcester Heroes | author1=Beggy, Carol |author2=Stephanie Stoughton |date=August 29, 2002 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |access-date=April 28, 2017 |url-access=}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} In 2005, he played against Mark Talbott in a charity match at a squash club in San Francisco.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}}

One of Tsai's sons has food allergies, and Tsai has become a food allergy advocate who promotes awareness of food allergens. Since 2005,{{cite news|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-133467405.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116053333/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-133467405.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 16, 2018 |title=Expert: Kids Eat With Their Instincts | author=Samantha Critchell, Associated Press |date=June 21, 2005 |newspaper=The Capital Times |access-date=April 28, 2017|url-access= }} he has been a national spokesman for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) and in December 2012 was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his advocacy work from the organization, including his work on the state of Massachusetts food safety bill.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/food-allergy-awareness-chef-ming-tsai-inspired-son/story?id=17879455 |title=Chef Ming Tsai Recalls Son's Struggle with Food Allergies | author=Sydney Lupkin |date=December 5, 2012 |website=ABC News |access-date=April 28, 2017}} Tsai was heavily featured on Season 1, Episode 5 of Netflix's "Rotten" discussing his thoughts and observations on the restaurant industry; specifically about food-allergic individuals being able to dine out safely. Tsai is currently the President of the National Advisory Board for Family Reach, an organization that provides a financial lifeline to families fighting cancer.

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{{reflist}}

• {{cite journal | author = Weir, William | date = November 19, 2015 | title = Turkey Tips From an Alumnus Engineer: Q&A with Ming Tsai '86 | journal = Yale News | url = http://news.yale.edu/2015/11/19/turkey-tips-alumnus-engineer-qa-ming-tsai-86 | access-date = January 14, 2017}}

{{Portal|Food|Biography}}

• [http://www.ming.com/ Official website]
• [http://www.ming.com/simplyming Simply Ming website]
• {{IMDb name|874632}}

{{Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Show Host}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsai, Ming}}

Category:1964 births

Category:Living people

Category:American people of Chinese descent

Category:American restaurateurs

Category:American male squash players

Category:Yale Bulldogs men's squash players

Category:American television chefs

Category:American male chefs

Category:Cornell University School of Hotel Administration alumni

Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners

Category:Food Network chefs

Category:PBS people

Category:Businesspeople from Dayton, Ohio

Category:People from Newport Beach, California

Category:Phillips Academy alumni

Category:Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni

Category:Alumni of Le Cordon Bleu

Category:Members of the Committee of 100

Category:James Beard Foundation Award winners

Category:American chefs

Category:20th-century American sportsmen