Martin Yan facts for kids
Yan in December 2004
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| Born | 22 December 1948 Guangzhou, China |
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| Cooking style | Cantonese |
| Education | Munsang College Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong University of California, Davis |
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Current restaurant(s)
(closed: M.Y. Asia (Las Vegas))
(closed: M.Y. China (San Francisco)) (closed: Yan Can (Santa Clara)) (closed: M.Y. China (Rohnert Park)) |
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Television show(s)
Yan Can Cook
Martin Yan – Quick & Easy Martin Yan's Chinatowns Martin Yan's Hong Kong "Martin Yan's Asian Favourites |
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| Martin Yan | |||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 甄文達 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 甄文达 | ||||||||||||||||
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Martin Yan (born December 22, 1948) is a famous Chinese-American chef and food writer. He is best known for his cooking show, Yan Can Cook. This show has won awards and has been on PBS-TV since 1982.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Martin Yan was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. His family came from Hoiping. His dad owned a restaurant, and his mom ran a grocery store.
He started cooking when he was just 12 years old. At 13, he moved to Hong Kong. There, he went to Munsang College in Kowloon City. While studying, he also worked at his uncle's Chinese restaurant. This is where he learned how to make traditional Chinese barbecue.
After college, he got a diploma from the Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong. Later, he moved to Canada to continue his studies. In 1975, he earned a special degree in food science from the University of California, Davis.
It's interesting to know that Martin Yan is not related to another chef named Stephen Yan. Stephen Yan is a Chinese-Canadian chef known for Wok With Yan. However, Martin Yan did work for Stephen Yan for about a year in the 1970s. Martin was part of Stephen's "Flying Squad" of chefs. These chefs traveled across Canada to give cooking demonstrations at big events.
His Career in Cooking
Martin Yan started his career by teaching Chinese cooking at a college. While helping a friend open a restaurant in Calgary, he appeared on a local TV talk show. He did a cooking segment, and people loved it! They kept asking him to come back.
This led to his first TV show, Yan Can, which aired daily for four years. In 1982, the show moved to San Francisco and became Yan Can Cook.
Since 1982, he has hosted over 3,500 episodes of Yan Can Cook on PBS. His shows have been seen in more than 50 countries around the world. He also hosts other shows like Martin Yan – Quick & Easy and Martin Yan's Chinatowns. In Martin Yan's Chinatowns, he visits different Chinatowns globally.
Besides TV, Martin Yan has opened his own restaurants called Yan Can Restaurants. He also started the Yan Can International Cooking School in San Francisco. He has written more than 20 cookbooks, sharing his recipes with many people. The American Culinary Federation has even called him a Master Chef.
Martin Yan also acted in a movie from Singapore and Hong Kong called Rice Rhapsody in 2005. He has been a guest judge on popular cooking shows like Iron Chef America, Top Chef, and Hell's Kitchen. In 2023, he shared that he plans to reopen his M.Y. China restaurant in San Francisco.
TV Shows He Hosted or Appeared On
- Yan Can (1978—1982) — Host
- Yan Can Cook (1982— ) – Host
- Christine Cushing Live – Guest
- Space Ghost Coast to Coast (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
- Iron Chef America (2011) – Judge
- Food Court (2011) Hong Kong Cable TV – Tutor / Host
- Iron Chef Vietnam (2012) – Guest Judge
- Top Chef (2013) – Guest Judge
- Hell's Kitchen (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 by Martin Yan
- Chinese Recipes (1978)
- The Joy of Wokking (1978)
- The Yan Can Cook Book (1981)
- Everybody's Wokking
- The Well-Seasoned Wok
- Martin Yan's Feast: The Best of Yan Can Cook
- Chinese Cooking for Dummies
- 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 He Owned
| name | location | years open | notes |
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| M.Y. Asia | Horseshoe Las Vegas | March 2023–August 2023 | |
| M.Y. China | Westfield San Francisco Centre mall | 2012–2020 |
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| M.Y. China | Graton Resort and Casino Rohnert Park, California |
2013–2015 | |
| Yan Can | Santa Clara, California |
Awards and Honors
- An honorary Doctorate of Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University
- A Daytime Emmy Award in 1998 for best cooking show
- A 1996 James Beard Award for Best TV Food Journalism
- A 1994 James Beard Award for Best TV Cooking Show
- The Antonin Careme Award from the Chef's Association of the Pacific Coast
- The Courvoisier Leadership Award by Courvoisier
- Chosen as the parade marshal for Picnic Day (UC Davis) in 2008
- Received the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022
See also
- Chinese American cuisine
- Cantonese cuisine
- Food science
