Joyce Chen (chef) facts for kids
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| Born | September 14, 1917 Peking (Beijing), China |
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| Died | August 23, 1994 (aged 76) Lexington, Massachusetts, US |
| Cooking style | Northern-style Chinese cuisine |
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Previous restaurant(s)
Joyce Chen Restaurant
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Television show(s)
Joyce Chen Cooks
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Joyce Chen (born Liao Chia-ai, September 14, 1917 – August 23, 1994) was a famous Chinese-American chef, restaurateur (restaurant owner), author, and television personality. She helped make northern-style Chinese food popular in the United States.
Joyce Chen is known for creating the name "Peking Raviolis" for potstickers. She also invented and patented a special flat-bottom wok with a handle, which is now called a stir-fry pan. She was also the first to sell bottled Chinese stir-fry sauces in the US.
Starting in 1958, she opened several very popular Chinese restaurants in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Joyce Chen passed away in 1994. Her amazing work and influence on American cooking were honored by the US Postal Service and the city of Cambridge.
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Joyce Chen's Early Life
Joyce Chen was born in Peking (now Beijing), China. She was the youngest of nine children. Her father was a high-ranking official and railroad manager. Because her family was wealthy, they had a cook at home.
Joyce learned to cook by watching her mother and governess. She said she learned many family recipes from them. In 1949, Joyce, her husband Thomas, and their two children, Henry and Helen, left Shanghai. They were on one of the last boats to leave China before the Communists took over.
The family settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Joyce, who had been an insurance broker in China, became a housewife. In 1952, she had another son, Stephen.
In 1957, Joyce realized her cooking was special. She made pumpkin cookies and Chinese egg rolls for a school bake sale. She was surprised when her Chinese snacks sold out very quickly! This encouraged her to think about cooking professionally. She was already good at finding or changing ingredients to fit American tastes.
Her Famous Restaurants
In 1958, Joyce Chen opened her first restaurant, Joyce Chen Restaurant, in Cambridge. She was a pioneer in many ways. She started the all-you-can-eat Chinese dinner buffet to attract more customers. This buffet also let people try new Chinese dishes at their own pace.
Joyce cared about healthy cooking. She refused to use artificial food coloring in her restaurants. To make ordering easier, she started numbering menu items. This helped both Chinese and English-speaking staff and customers.
She introduced many northern Chinese dishes to Boston. These included Peking duck, moo shu pork, hot and sour soup, and potstickers. She famously called potstickers "Peking Ravioli." Her first restaurant was open for 13 years.
After her divorce in 1966, Joyce opened a second restaurant in 1967. It was called The Joyce Chen Small Eating Place. This smaller restaurant was very popular, especially with students from Harvard University and MIT. Here, she introduced northern-style dim sum and "soup dumplings" (shao long bao).
Joyce opened a much larger restaurant in 1969, seating 500 people. This restaurant was also popular due to its location near MIT and Harvard. She later opened another elegant restaurant in 1973.
Joyce Chen was a very welcoming hostess. She often met and chatted with her guests. Many famous people visited her restaurants, including Julia Child, James Beard, and Henry Kissinger.
A Star on TV and in Cookbooks
After opening her first restaurant, Joyce Chen began teaching Chinese cooking classes in 1960. Her classes were so popular that people had to wait a long time to join. She taught many Americans how to cook Chinese food at home.
In 1962, Joyce published her important cookbook, Joyce Chen Cook Book. She wanted color pictures of the food, which was unusual then. So, she paid to publish the book herself. She sold thousands of copies even before it was printed! Later, a publisher became interested and sold many more copies.
In 1967, Joyce Chen got her own cooking show called Joyce Chen Cooks. It aired on National Educational Television (NET), which is now PBS. The show was filmed in the same studios as The French Chef, which starred Julia Child. Julia Child was already a fan of Joyce's cooking.
Joyce's cooking show was shown across the US, and even in the UK and Australia. She taught viewers how to make Chinese food beyond common Americanized dishes like chop suey. She also showed new kitchen tools, like the wok and the Chinese chef's knife. Even though she worked hard on her English, the show only ran for one season. However, it was re-run for many years. She was one of the first non-white cooking show hosts on national TV in America.
Inventing Kitchen Tools
In 1971, Joyce Chen started Joyce Chen Products. This company sold high-quality Chinese cooking tools. She helped make Chinese cookware popular in America. She even held a design patent for her special flat-bottom wok with a handle, which she called a "Peking Wok."
She also introduced polyethylene cutting boards to the US market. Later, in 1982, she formed Joyce Chen Specialty Foods. This company sold bottled sauces and other flavorings.
Her Last Years and Lasting Impact
In 1972, Joyce, her son Stephen, and daughter Helen traveled to China. Stephen filmed their trip, and it became a documentary called Joyce Chen's China. It was shown on PBS in 1973.
In 1976, Joyce hurt her right hand badly. She had surgery, but she never fully recovered the use of her hand. Later, she started forgetting things, like phone numbers for her food suppliers.
In 1985, Joyce Chen was diagnosed with dementia. She retired from her businesses. Her son Stephen cared for her at home. Joyce Chen passed away on August 23, 1994, at the age of 76. She was buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.
Even after her death, Joyce Chen's impact continued. In 2012, Cambridge held its first "Festival of Dumplings" to honor her. In 2014, the US Postal Service released a "Celebrity Chefs Forever" stamp series. Joyce Chen was one of the five chefs featured on these stamps. The Postal Service said she was "one of America's most well-known promoters of Chinese food."
Famous chef Ming Tsai said that Joyce Chen was "the Chinese Julia Child." He added that she helped people understand what good Chinese food truly tasted like. In 2017, a children's book about her life, Dumpling Dreams: How Joyce Chen Brought the Dumpling from Beijing to Cambridge, was published.
Her Family's Legacy
After Joyce Chen retired, her daughter Helen Chen, who is also a chef and cookbook author, took over as CEO of Joyce Chen Inc. Her youngest son, Stephen, managed the restaurants. Helen focused on the food products and cookware businesses.
After Joyce's death, Stephen continued to run the restaurant business. However, the last Joyce Chen Restaurant closed in 1998, ending the chain's 40-year run.
Helen continued to run Joyce Chen Products for a while. She later sold the business to another company. Helen has written her own cookbooks and created her own line of cookware called "Helen's Asian Kitchen."
Today, Stephen Chen is the president of Joyce Chen Foods, Inc. This company sells food products inspired by his mother's recipes. These include Asian sauces, oils, and spices. They have even added gluten-free and lower-sodium options. In 2006, they started selling frozen potstickers due to many requests from former restaurant customers.
Several chefs who worked for Joyce Chen went on to open their own successful Chinese restaurants in the Boston area. This shows how much she inspired others.
Images for kids
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Joyce Chen, a famous Chinese-American chef.
