Martin Yan (; born 22 December 1948) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

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 ki ...

and

food writer Food writing is a genre of writing that focuses on food and includes works by food critics, food journalists, chefs and food historians. Definition Food writers regard food as a substance and a cultural phenomenon. John T. Edge, an American food ...

. He has hosted his award-winning PBS-TV cooking show ''

Yan Can Cook ''Yan Can Cook'' is a Chinese oriented cooking show starring Chef Martin Yan that featured recipes for stir fried foods and an assortment of various other traditional Chinese meals and cooking techniques. The series first aired in Calgary, Albert ...

'' since 1982.

Early years and education

With ancestral roots in Taishan, Yan was born in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

to a

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 aspe ...

father and a

grocer A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

mother. Yan began to cook at the age of 12. When he was 13, he moved to

, where he attended the

Munsang College Munsang College (MSC; zh, 民生書院) is an eminent EMI college situated in Hong Kong founded by Mr Au Chak Mun (also known as Au Tak),} and Dr Ts'o Seen Wan in 1926. It adopts the house system and each student is assigned to one of six ...

Kowloon Tsai Kowloon Tsai () is a place in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. It was formerly a village in a valley, which has now been developed into a low-density and upscale residential area in New Kowloon. History According to the ''Gazetteer of Xin'an county'' ...

. 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 A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

food science Food science is the basic science and applied science of food; its scope starts at overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and leads through the scientific aspects of food safety and food processing, informing the development ...

from

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

, in 1975.

Career

Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for a college extension program and appearing on a Canadian talk show from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

in 1978 (on CFAC-TV, now

CICT-DT CICT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. The station is owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, and has studios at the Calgary Television Centre on 23 ...

). 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. He currently hosts ''Martin Yan – Quick & Easy''. He also hosts ''Martin Yan's Chinatowns'', where he tours

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

s 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 San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. He has written over two dozen cookbooks. The

American Culinary Federation The American Culinary Federation (ACF) was established in 1929 in New York City and is the largest professional chefs' organization in North America. It was the progeny of the combined visions of three chefs' associations in New York City, the Soc ...

has designated him a Master Chef. Yan is one of the lead actors of the

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

Hong Kong film The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of pol ...

Rice Rhapsody ''Rice Rhapsody'' (alternative title ''Hainan Chicken Rice'') ( Chinese: 海南雞飯, literally meaning "Hainanese chicken rice") is a 2004 film directed by Kenneth Bi. The cast includes Sylvia Chang and Martin Yan. Jackie Chan was one of the ...

'' (海南雞飯, 2005). In 2007, he supported and endorsed the establishment of th
World Association of Master Chefs
He has appeared as a guest judge on several episodes of ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, w ...

'' and appeared on the cartoon talk show ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the original ...

''. He also appeared as a guest judge on the Season 10 finale of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional che ...

'' as well as a Season 11 episode of ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...

''. He is not related to Chinese Canadian chef Stephen Yan of the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

series ''

Wok with Yan ''Wok with Yan'' was a Chinese cuisine cooking show starring Stephen Yan. The show was first produced in Vancouver, British Columbia by CTV affiliate CHAN-DT in the late 1970s, before moving to CBC in 1980 (but shot at CJOH) and continuing th ...

'', though Martin was an employee and had worked for Stephen Yan in the 1980s as demonstrator for Stephen's products.

Television appearances

* ''

'' (1982— ) – Host * '' Christine Cushing Live'' – Guest * ''

'' (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 * ''

'' (2011) – Judge * ''

Food Court A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. ...

'' (2011) Hong Kong Cable TV – Tutor / Host * ''

Iron Chef Vietnam ''Iron Chef Vietnam'' ( Vietnamese: ''Siêu Đầu Bếp Việt Nam'') is a Vietnamese cooking show based on the Japanese show ''Iron Chef'', as well as its American adaptation ''Iron Chef America'' and ''The Next Iron Chef''. The program is a sor ...

'' (2012) – Guest Judge * ''

'' (2013) – Guest Judge * ''

'' (2013) – Guest Judge * ''Martin Yan: Taste of Vietnam'' (2013) – Host * ''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 ''For Dummies'' is an extensive series of instructional reference books which are intended to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered. The series has been a worldwide success with editions in numerous lang ...

'' * ''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'' * ''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

Awards

* An honorary Doctorate of Culinary Arts by

Johnson & Wales University Johnson & Wales University (JWU) is a private university with its main campus in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its campuses in the fa ...

* A

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

in 1998 for best cooking show * A 1996

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awa ...

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 Courvoisier () is a brand of cognac, with production based in the town of Jarnac in the Charente region of France. It is the youngest and smallest of the "big four" cognac houses (the others are Hennessy, Rémy Martin, and Martell). Courvo ...

* 2008

Picnic Day (UC Davis) Picnic Day is an annual Open house (common school event), open house event held in April at the University of California, Davis. Picnic Day was first held on May 22, 1909. It has grown to be what is believed to be the largest student-run even ...

parade marshal * 2022 James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award

References

External links

Official Website

Martin Yan on IMDb

Martin Yan's PBS home page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yan, Martin 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 male chefs American people of Chinese descent American people of Hong Kong descent American writers of Chinese descent American television chefs Asian American chefs Businesspeople from Guangzhou Chefs from San Francisco Chinese chefs Chinese emigrants to the United States 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