Joyce Chen (chef)
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Joyce Chen (née Liao Chia-ai , September 14, 1917 – August 23, 1994) was a
Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...
chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...
,
restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...
,
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
,
television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
, and
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
. Joyce Chen was credited with popularizing northern-style Chinese cuisine in the United States, coining the name "Peking Raviolis" for potstickers, inventing and holding a design patent for a flat bottom wok with handle (also known as a stir fry pan), and developing the first line of bottled Chinese stir fry sauces for the US market. Starting in 1958, she operated several popular Chinese restaurants in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. Chen was diagnosed with
dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
in 1985, and died in 1994. Her accomplishments and influence on American cuisine were honored by the
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and by the city of Cambridge.


Early life

Joyce Chen was born in Peking (now spelled
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in English), the youngest of nine children of a high-ranking
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
official, during the
Republican era Republican Era can refer to: * Minguo calendar, the official era of the Republic of China It may also refer to any era in a country's history when it was governed as a republic or by a Republican Party. In particular, it may refer to: * Roman Rep ...
under
Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-sen (; also known by several other names; 12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)Singtao daily. Saturday edition. 23 October 2010. section A18. Sun Yat-sen Xinhai revolution 100th anniversary edition . was a Chinese politician who serve ...
. Her wealthy father, a railroad administrator and city executive, could afford to hire a family cook. In her book, ''Joyce Chen Cook Book'', she later said that she grew up with a family chef who left to cook for her father's friend, "Uncle Li", who became the Chinese ambassador to Russia. At that point, her mother and her governess cooked the family meals, and Joyce watched and learned from them. Chen and husband Thomas (m. 1943; div. 1966) with their children Henry (b. 1944; d. 2007) and Helen (b. 1948) left
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
(and China for the last time) on April 6, 1949, as the
Communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
were taking over the country. The family was on the second-to-last boat to leave Shanghai before the port closed. On April 21, Chen and her family settled in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. Thomas Chen worked as an importer of fine art, while Joyce was a housewife raising two children, a dramatic change from her job in China as an
insurance broker An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negoti ...
(an uncommon vocation for women in China at that time). She gave birth to another son, Stephen, in 1952. In 1957, she first thought that her cooking might be popular when she made pumpkin cookies and Chinese
egg roll Egg rolls are a variety of deep-fried appetizers served in American Chinese restaurants. An egg roll is a cylindrical, savory roll with shredded cabbage, chopped meat, or other fillings inside a thickly-wrapped wheat flour skin, which is fri ...
s for a bake sale fundraiser at the
Buckingham School The Buckingham School is a co-educational secondary school in Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. It is a community school, which takes children from the age of 11 through to the age of 18. The school is expanding and currently has ...
in Cambridge. She was surprised to hear that her then-unfamiliar Chinese snacks had sold out within an hour, and she was encouraged to make more. Chen had already become adept at finding or substituting hard-to-get ingredients, and adapting her recipes to American tastes.


Restaurants

Chen opened her first restaurant, Joyce Chen Restaurant, at 617 Concord Avenue in Cambridge in 1958. According to her son Stephen, here she pioneered the all-you-can-eat Chinese dinner
buffet A buffet can be either a sideboard (a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve ...
to boost sales on otherwise-slow Tuesday and Wednesday nights. She also used the buffet format to allow customers to sample unfamiliar authentic dishes at their own pace. She promoted healthy Chinese cooking and refused to use Red Dye No. 2 and other food coloring at her restaurants. For Chinese-speaking and English-speaking staff and customers to communicate more easily, Chen introduced the practice of numbering menu items. Chen introduced northern Chinese (Mandarin) and Shanghainese dishes to Boston, including
Peking duck Peking duck is a dish from Beijing (Peking) that has been prepared since the Imperial era. The meat is characterized by its thin, crispy skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and little meat, sliced in front of the d ...
,
moo shu pork Moo shu pork (木须肉, also spelled mù xū ròu, moo shi pork, mu shu or mu xu pork) is a dish of northern Chinese origin, originating from Shandong. It invariably contains egg, whose yellow color is reminiscent of blossoms of the osmanthus ...
,
hot and sour soup Hot and sour soup is a popular example of Sichuan cuisine. Similar versions are found in Henan province, near Beijing, and in Henan cuisine itself, where it may also be known as ''hulatang'' or "pepper hot soup" (胡辣汤). North America Un ...
, and
potstickers ''Jiaozi'' (; ; pinyin: jiǎozi) are Chinese dumplings commonly eaten in China and other parts of East Asia. ''Jiaozi'' are folded to resemble Chinese sycee and have great cultural significance attached to them within China. ''Jiaozi'' a ...
, which she called "Peking Ravioli", sometimes shortened to "Ravs". The first restaurant operated for thirteen years, closing in 1971. Members of Bolt, Beranek and Newman's
IMP IMP or imp may refer to: * Imp, a fantasy creature Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Imp (She-Ra), a character in ''She-Ra: Princess of Power'' * Imp a character in '' Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony'' * Imp, a character in the '' Cl ...
team, when they were working on the first IMPs to create the
ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
in 1969, would eat Chen's food at her restaurant, which was located next door to BBN. After her divorce in 1966, Chen sold the original restaurant to her ex-husband, who converted it in 1972 to a Japanese eatery called Osaka. With her divorce from Thomas Chen, she legally reverted to using her maiden name, Joyce Liao, but continued use the Joyce Chen moniker for her business. As a single mother both encumbered and assisted by her three children, she managed to open a second restaurant in 1967, called The Joyce Chen Small Eating Place. It was located between
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
in Central Square, Cambridge, at 302
Massachusetts Avenue Massachusetts Avenue may refer to: * Massachusetts Avenue (metropolitan Boston), Massachusetts ** Massachusetts Avenue (MBTA Orange Line station), a subway station on the MBTA Orange Line ** Massachusetts Avenue (MBTA Silver Line station), a stati ...
. Chen's son, Stephen, later noted that the opening of this restaurant changed the landscape of the Central Square area in Cambridge. Originally, it was a retail and industrial area, dominated by a NECCO (
New England Confectionery Company Necco (or NECCO ) was an American manufacturer of candy created in 1901 as the New England Confectionery Company through the merger of several small confectionery companies located in the Greater Boston area, with ancestral companies dating b ...
) factory. People lined up to get Chen's Chinese food at this small restaurant, which seated 60 people. According to Stephen Chen, it was at this restaurant that his mother introduced the Northern style of dim sum, and the now popular "soup dumplings" ''( shao long bao)''. The restaurant was very popular with computer
hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...
s. It operated for 21 years and closed in 1988. In 1969, Chen opened her third restaurant, a much larger space seating 500 people, in an existing building located at 500 Memorial Drive in Cambridge. This restaurant, also called Joyce Chen Restaurant, benefited from its proximity to MIT and Harvard. However, the restaurant closed in 1974 when the building was demolished so that the MIT dorms New House, and later, Next House, could be built on the site. New House was jokingly known by MIT students as the "Joyce Chen Small Living Place" for a time. In 1973, Chen opened her fourth restaurant in an elegant
Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
custom-designed building at 390 Rindge Avenue, near Fresh Pond. The building, designed by Alan Ahakian, was described as "marvelously secluded behind a baffled garden wall that focuses around a single tree". The restaurant, also called Joyce Chen Restaurant, seated 263. It operated for 25 years and closed in 1998. In 1975, Chen's eldest son Henry opened a fifth Joyce Chen Restaurant on
Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
, but it closed after a year and a half. Her other son Stephen managed a downtown branch of Joyce Chen Restaurant, which operated from 1988 until 1994. Chen was a warm hostess who formed relationships with many guests, including
John Kenneth Galbraith John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...
,
James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...
,
Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...
,
Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
,
Beverly Sills Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verdi, she was especially renowned for ...
, and
Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and ...
.
Nathan Pusey Nathan Marsh Pusey (; April 4, 1907 – November 14, 2001) was an American academic. Originally from Council Bluffs, Iowa, Pusey won a scholarship to Harvard University out of high school and went on to earn bachelor's, master's, and doctora ...
, a former Harvard president, called her eating establishment "not merely a restaurant, but a cultural exchange center". She would often mingle with guests, including those with no celebrity.


Career highlights

Following the 1958 opening of her first restaurant, Chen began teaching Chinese cooking at the
Cambridge Center for Adult Education The Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE), a non-profit corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been teaching adult education courses at 42 Brattle Street since taking over the building from the Cambridge Social Union in 1938. The CC ...
and the
Boston Center for Adult Education Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...
in 1960. There were long waiting lists for her classes. At this time, she introduced many Americans to home style and gourmet
Chinese cooking techniques Chinese cooking techniques () are a set of methods and techniques traditionally used in Chinese cuisine. The cooking techniques can either be grouped into ones that use a single cooking method or a combination of wet and dry cooking methods. Sing ...
. In 1962, Chen published her influential
cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (appetizer, first cour ...
, the ''Joyce Chen Cook Book''. Publishers had balked at her insistence on color pictures of food, so she had the book published privately at her own expense. She pre-sold over 6,000 copies of her book at her restaurants before the book was printed. Eventually a publisher became interested, and sold an additional 70,000 copies, and still more in later reprintings over the years. Boston
cardiologist Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular hear ...
Paul Dudley White Paul Dudley White (June 6, 1886 – October 31, 1973), was an American physician and cardiologist. He was considered one of the leading cardiologists of his day, and a prominent advocate of preventive medicine. Early life and education White w ...
wrote the
foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...
to her book, and praised her use of healthier ingredients.
MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium Salt (chemistry), salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a fl ...
was popular at the time, and was included in most of the recipes. In 1967, Chen starred in her own cooking show called ''Joyce Chen Cooks'', on
National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American non-commercial educational, educational terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It o ...
(NET), now the
Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...
(PBS). Twenty-six episodes were filmed on the same set as ''
The French Chef ''The French Chef'' is an American television cooking show created and hosted by Julia Child, produced and broadcast by WGBH, the public television station in Boston, Massachusetts, from February 11, 1963 to January 14, 1973. It was one of ...
'' (featuring
Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...
) in the studios of WGBH in Boston. The two programs were both produced by Ruth Lockwood, and the basic studio kitchen setup was superficially redecorated in an "oriental" motif. Julia Child had already been a regular visitor at Chen's restaurant, and a fan of her cooking. Chen's cooking show aired widely across the US, and eventually in the United Kingdom and Australia; eleven of these original programs can still be seen on the WGBH website. Chen was not a rigid purist, sometimes discussing what kinds of readily-available American ingredients could be substituted for hard-to-find Chinese ingredients. She would later be criticized for adapting and simplifying recipes for American tastes, although she pioneered in an era when few viewers had access to authentic Chinese ingredients and flavors. Her recipes were many American viewers' first glimpse at the making of Chinese food, beyond such Americanized dishes as
chop suey Chop suey () is a dish in American Chinese cuisine and other forms of overseas Chinese cuisine, consisting of meat (usually chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or fish) and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery a ...
and
chow mein ''Chow mein'' ( and , ; Pinyin: ''chǎomiàn'') is a Chinese dish made from stir-fried noodles with vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu. Over the centuries, variations of ''chǎomiàn'' were developed in many regions of China; there are seve ...
. She also introduced some novel kitchen tools to American audiences, including the
wok A wok (; Pinyin: ; Cantonese ) is a deep round-bottomed cooking pan from China. It is believed to be derived from the South Asian karahi. It is common in China and similar pans are found in parts of East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as ...
and the
Chinese chef's knife A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives – notably a large chef's knife, a tough cleaver, a small paring knife and some sort o ...
, often misidentified as a "Chinese cleaver". Chen lacked the informal, casual English-language fluency of Julia Child, and spent hours with voice coaches carefully trying to improve her pronunciation. Her programs gained a modest following among viewers, and ''
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'' gave her an award for educational television. However, the pilot season failed to gain a funding sponsor, and was discontinued after its initial run of 26 episodes. Later critics pointed out that she was one of the few non-white television cooking show hosts to have any American national distribution before the 1980s. After the end of the season, the show was re-run intermittently until 1976. In 1971, Chen launched Joyce Chen Products, a line of higher quality Chinese cooking utensils. At that time she helped popularize Chinese cookware, and held the
design patent In the United States, a design patent is a form of legal protection granted to the ornamental design of an article of manufacture. Design patents are a type of industrial design right. Ornamental designs of jewelry, furniture, beverage containers ...
(USD221397S) to a flat bottom wok with a handle, also known as a stir fry pan, which she called a "Peking Wok". She also introduced
polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bo ...
cutting board A cutting board (or chopping board) is a durable board on which to place material for cutting. The kitchen cutting board is commonly used in preparing food; other types exist for cutting raw materials such as leather or plastic. Kitchen cutting b ...
s, made in Japan by Sumitomo Bakelite. In 1982, Joyce Chen Specialty Foods would be formed to sell bottled sauces and other flavorings.


Final years and legacy

In 1968, Chen took her then-16-year-old son Stephen, and 20-year-old daughter Helen on a trip around the world on
Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
Flight 001. Joyce, Stephen, and Helen also traveled to China in 1972, the same year that
President Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
first visited China. By this time, Stephen was an undergraduate at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
, and took a one-day crash course in
cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...
at WGBH. He would return from the family trip with plenty of footage, which was used in the majority of a documentary, co-produced with Ruth Lockwood, which was aired nationally on PBS as ''Joyce Chen's China'' in May 1973. A few months later, the Chen family were the victims of a
home invasion A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary (or in some jurisdictions, a separately defined crime) in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching ...
by five intruders who had seen the film, according to her son Stephen. Chen suffered a serious injury to her right hand in 1976, when she dropped a large glass jar that contained her stir fry sauce. She underwent four to five hours of
microsurgery Microsurgery is a general term for surgery requiring an operating microscope. The most obvious developments have been procedures developed to allow anastomosis of successively smaller blood vessels and nerves (typically 1 mm in diameter) which ...
, but never fully recovered the use of her right hand. In the years following her hand injury, according to her son Stephen, Chen would forget certain phone numbers for food vendors she had been relying on to run her restaurants, and by 1983 she had stopped relying on food vendors entirely. She often blamed her hand injury for her forgetfulness. From that point on, Chen's memory gradually worsened until she was officially diagnosed in 1985 with multi-infarct dementia, although some accounts of her life state she had been diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
. However, at that time such a conclusion could only be confirmed by an autopsy after death. Stephen cared for Chen at home until 1992, when she was moved into the Fairlawn Nursing Home in
Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by Native Americans, and was firs ...
, where she died from
cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...
on August 23, 1994, aged 76. She was buried in
Mount Auburn Cemetery Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Posthumously in 1998, Chen's contributions to cuisine were described in ''Beard House, The Magazine of the James Beard Foundation''. In September 2012, the city of Cambridge held their first "Festival of Dumplings" in Central Square to honor what would have been Chen's 95th birthday. There have since been dumpling festivals in 2013 and 2014. The
New York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. ...
exhibit, ''Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion'' (September 26, 2014 - April 19, 2015) reviewed the history of the Chinese in America, featuring Chen's contributions.
Celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...
Ming Tsai Ming Hao Tsai (; born March 29, 1964) is an American restaurateur, television personality, and celebrity chef. Tsai's restaurants have focused on east–west fusion cuisine, and have included major stakes in Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Massachuse ...
later said of Chen, "She is the Chinese Julia Child ..Joyce Chen helped elevate what Chinese food was about. She didn't dumb it down. She opened people's eyes to what good Chinese could taste like." On September 26, 2014, the US Postal Service issued 20 million copies of the "Celebrity Chefs Forever" stamp series, which featured portraits by Jason Seiler of five American chefs: Chen,
Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...
,
James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...
,
Edna Lewis Edna Regina Lewis (April 13, 1916 – February 13, 2006) was a renowned American chef, teacher, and author who helped refine the American view of Southern cooking. She championed the use of fresh, in season ingredients and characterized Southern ...
, and
Felipe Rojas-Lombardi Felipe Rojas-Lombardi (died September 10, 1991) was a Peruvian-American chef whose Spanish and Caribbean influences have impacted America's haute cuisine. An assistant to James Beard's Greenwich Village cooking school, he was the founding chef of ...
. According to the Postal Service, "Joyce Chen is one of America's most well-known promoters of Chinese food. From her landmark restaurant in the Boston area to her cookbooks and trailblazing PBS television show, Chen invited newcomers to sample unfamiliar dishes in ways that firmly established Chinese cuisine in the United States." On September 5, 2017, nine days before what would have been Chen's 100th birthday, an illustrated children's book about her life, ''Dumpling Dreams: How Joyce Chen Brought the Dumpling from Beijing to Cambridge'', written by Carrie Clickard and illustrated by Katy Wu, was published.


Business legacy

Chen was diagnosed with
dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...
in 1985, and immediately retired. She was succeeded by daughter Helen Chen, herself a chef and cookbook author, as chief executive officer of the company, Joyce Chen Inc. Youngest son Stephen became in charge in running the restaurant operations, while Helen concentrated on managing the specialty foods and cookware businesses. Following their mother's death in 1994, Stephen continued to run the restaurant business. However, in 1998 the restaurant at 390 Rindge Avenue closed, thus ending the 40-year run of the Joyce Chen Restaurant chain altogether. The building and site were purchased by Just-A-Start, and underwent a one-year renovation. In 1999, the former restaurant was re-opened, this time as a
childcare Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...
facility, while the remainder of the lot on Rindge Avenue was filled with residential housing. In 2005, the structure was demolished in order to make more room for additional residential units. After the restaurant business ceased operations, Helen continued to run Joyce Chen Products, but in January 2003 she sold the business to Columbian Home Products in order to provide the company with additional capital. Helen has since written and published three cookbooks of her own, and in 2007 she developed her own line of cookware for Harold Import Company (Lakewood, New Jersey), under a new banner "Helen's Asian Kitchen". Helen has also taught cooking at
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
. In January 2020, Columbian Home Products, the distributor of the "Joyce Chen", "Keilen" and "Origins" cookware brands since 2003, closed its plant in
Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...
and laid off its remaining 82 employees. Prior to the closure, Columbian had sold the three brands to Honey-Can-Do, and the "Granite-Ware" brand to . "Snow River Products", another former brand of Columbian Home Products, was spun off as a stand-alone company, and transitioned to a custom wood products business and away from selling to retailers. , Stephen is president of Joyce Chen Foods, Inc., which sells food products inspired by his mother's recipes, including Asian sauces, oils, condiments, and spices. Over time, the line has been expanded to include gluten-free, certified
kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
, and lower-sodium foods, none of which have added
MSG Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium Salt (chemistry), salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a fl ...
content. In 2006, after countless requests from former restaurant customers, the line was also expanded to include frozen potstickers. Eldest son Henry and his wife Barbara (née Castagnoli) owned and managed Joyce Chen Unlimited, a retail store in
Acton, Massachusetts Acton is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, approximately west-northwest of Boston along Massachusetts Route 2 west of Concord and about southwest of Lowell. The population was 24,021 in April 2020, according to the Unite ...
, which closed in March 2008, five months after his death. Several Chen disciples have gone on to establish restaurants of their own in the Boston area that serve Chinese cuisine. Among them is Pui Chan at "The Wok" in
Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a New England town, town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson Col ...
. Chan worked for Chen at the Rindge Avenue location starting in 1973 and, with her encouragement, opened his own restaurant in 1978.


References


External Resources


WGBH Online Exhibit where 11 episodes are available for viewing


Further reading

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Joyce American television chefs Chinese Civil War refugees Chinese emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Beijing Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts Cultural history of Boston 1917 births 1994 deaths American cookbook writers Chinese cookbook writers Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Women inventors Women cookbook writers 20th-century American women writers Businesspeople from Cambridge, Massachusetts 20th-century American non-fiction writers American women chefs American women non-fiction writers Chefs from Massachusetts American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs Asian American chefs Deaths from dementia in Massachusetts Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery