Martin Yan (; born 22 December 1948) is a

Chinese-American Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...

chef A chef is a professional Cook (profession), cook and tradesperson who is proficient in all aspects of outline of food preparation, food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term (), the di ...

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 Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

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 (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...

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

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, where he attended the Munsang College in

Kowloon City Kowloon City is an area in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of Kowloon City District. Compared with the council area of Kowloon City District, the Kowloon City area is History As early as in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), Kowloon ...

. 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 Food science (or bromatology) 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 ...

from

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, in 1975. He is not related to Chinese-

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

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 Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, fair, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year a ...

, the Klondike Days in Edmonton and houseware demonstrations at

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

stores.

Career

Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for a college extension program. While in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

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 San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1982 becoming ''Yan Can Cook''. He has hosted over 3,500 episodes of the

PBS 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 educat ...

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 Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for 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, Asia, Africa, O ...

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

. He has written over two dozen cookbooks. The

American Culinary Federation The American Culinary Federation (ACF) is a professional chef's organization established in 1929 in New York City. It was formed as a merge of three chefs' associations in New York City, the Société Culinaire Philanthropique, the Vatel Club and ...

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

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

/ Hong Kong film '' Rice Rhapsody'' ( 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, wh ...

'' and appeared on the cartoon talk show ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American live-action/ adult animated hybrid television series created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and first broadcast in 1994. It takes the form of a surreal parody of talk shows, hosted by a reimagi ...

''. 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 in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

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

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

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

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

series '' Wok with Yan'', though Martin was an employee and had worked for Stephen Yan in the 1980s as demonstrator for Stephen's products. In 2023, Yan said that he planned on reopening his M.Y. China restaurant 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).

Television appearances

* ''Yan Can'' (1978—1982) — Host * '' Yan Can Cook'' (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 Vendor, vendors and provides a common area for self-serve di ...

'' (2011) Hong Kong Cable TV – Tutor / Host * '' Iron Chef Vietnam'' (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 that strive to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered. The series has been a worldwide success, with editions in numerous languages. ...

'' * ''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, United States. Founded as a business school in 1914 by Gertrude I. Johnson and Mary T. Wales, JWU enrolled 7,357 students across its cam ...

* 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 (NA ...

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 awar ...

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

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 Hong Kong descent American television chefs American writers of Chinese descent Businesspeople from Guangzhou Cantonese people Chefs from San Francisco Hong Kong chefs 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