Martin Yan

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yan.

Martin Yan
File:MartinYan 2004.12.jpg December 2004
Born	(1948-12-22) 22 December 1948 Canton, China
Education	Munsang College Overseas Institute of Cookery of Hong Kong University of California, Davis
Website	http://www.yancancook.com
Culinary career
Cooking style	Cantonese
Current restaurant(s) M.Y. China (San Francisco) Yan Can (Santa Clara) M.Y. China (Rohnert Park)
Television show(s) Yan Can Cook Martin Yan's Quick and Easy Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking Martin Yan's Hong Kong

Martin Yan
Traditional Chinese	甄文達
Simplified Chinese	甄文达
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhēn Wéndá Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Jan1 Man1 Daat6

Martin Yan (Chinese: 甄 文 達; born 22 December 1948) is a Chinese-born Hong Kong-American chef 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 Taishan, Guangdong, China, Yan was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, to a restaurateur father and a grocer mother. Yan began to cook at the age of 12. He moved to Hong Kong when he was 13, and attended the Munsang College in Kowloon City. During this time in Munsang College, he worked at his uncle's Chinese restaurant and learned about the traditional method of Chinese barbecue there. 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 from University of California, Davis, in 1975.

Career

Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for a college extension program and appearing on a Canadian talk show from Calgary in 1978 (on CFAC-TV, now CICT-DT). He has hosted over 1,500 episodes of the PBS cooking shows 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 Chinatown Cooking where he tours Chinatowns 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 the San Francisco Bay Area. He has written over two dozen cookbooks. The American Culinary Federation has designated him a Master Chef.

Yan is one of the lead actors of the Hong Kong film Rice Rhapsody (海南雞飯, 2005).

He has appeared as a guest judge on several episodes of Iron Chef America and appeared on the cartoon talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast. He also appeared as a guest judge on the Season 10 finale of Top Chef as well as a Season 11 episode of Hell's Kitchen.

He is not related to Chinese Canadian chef Stephen Yan of the CBC Television series Wok with Yan, though Martin was an employee and had worked for Stephen Yan in the 1980s as demonstrator for Stephen's products.

Personal life

Yan currently lives in San Mateo, California, with his wife Susan and their sons, Colin and Devin.

Television appearances

• Yan Can Cook (1978— ) – Host
• Christine Cushing Live – Guest
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast – Guest
• Martin Yan's Hong Kong (2005–2007) – Host
• Martin Yan – Quick & Easy – Host
• Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking – 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

Cookbooks

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Chinese Recipes (1978)
• The Joy of Wokking (1978)
• The Yan Can Cook Book (1981, reprinted 1983)
• 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 Culinary Journey Through China
• Martin Yan's Asia
• 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

Awards

File:Loz martin yan 1994.jpg

Martin Yan in 1994

• An honorary Doctorate of Culinary Arts by 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 by the Chef's Association of the Pacific Coast
• The Courvoisier Leadership Award by Courvoisier
• 2008 Picnic Day (UC Davis) parade marshal

See also

• Chinese American cuisine
• Cantonese cuisine
• Food science

External links

• Official website
• Martin Yan's PBS home page
• 1st Person – Martin Yan
• Rice Rhapsody
• Articles by Martin Yan on Chefs
• Video of Martin Yan in discussion with Jennifer 8 Lee at the Asia Society, 26 March 2009