"Some people never contribute anything positive to society, they may even drain our resources, but most of us try to do something better, to give back." -- Martin Yan
Martin Yan (; born 22 December 1948) is a Chinese-born American chef and the host of the award-winning US national cooking show Yan Can Cook.
"A lot of people don't enjoy their job, they may even hate it, but I am lucky enough to be able to make a living through my passion.""Anyone that has come to America past the age of eighteen will be able to understand when I say that you can never shake your accent.""As long as the food is well prepared and not overdone, I think it tastes good. It doesn't matter if it's Chinese, Japanese, anything.""At thirteen, when I arrived in Hong Kong after leaving China, I made a living by working in a restaurant.""Because normally with Western cuisine, you'll serve vegetables separate from the meat, so kids will eat the meat and never touch the vegetables.""Chinese culture has a lot of virtues that are tremendously valuable to not only us as Asian-Americans, but also the world in general.""First of all, I can't really claim to be a great chef.""Happiness is within. It has nothing to do with how much applause you get or how many people praise you. Happiness comes when you believe that you have done something truly meaningful.""I also have a lot of preserved foods, things that will keep for a long time like dried fish, seaweed or lotus seed.""I am just a normal professional with a great job and a great life.""I can represent my culture while helping not only the Chinese-American community, but also the community at large.""I don't like to waste anything. Any food left over from the night before is always eaten the next day.""I enjoy the quiet life.""I have a lot of cooking tools. In fact I have a whole drawer full of knives. Cooking tools, especially cutlery, are my toys.""I live a very low-key life.""I normally don't eat junk food.""I remember when I was in college, I used to watch Julia Child's cooking show during dinner and joke with my roommates about becoming a TV chef.""I think a lot of times it's not money that's the primary motivation factor; it's the passion for your job and the professional and personal satisfaction that you get out of doing what you do that motivates you.""I think being famous is more of a hindrance, a constraint, than just letting yourself be free.""I've never considered myself a celebrity or even part of the entertainment business. I'm a cooking teacher.""If I could only have one type of food with me, I would bring soy sauce. The reason being that if I have soy sauce, I can flavor a lot of things.""In general I love to eat anything. I enjoy anything that is well prepared, a good spaghetti, lasagna, taco, steak, sushi, refried beans.""Just like if you were brought up on a farm, you would most likely carry on your father's business as a farmer; I was brought up in the kitchen and ended up becoming a chef.""People who don't travel cannot have a global view, all they see is what's in front of them. Those people cannot accept new things because all they know is where they live.""So when I do Chinese cooking, I mix everything together, then the kids have to eat their vegetables. They won't have the patience to pick them out.""Soy sauce is really a multi-purpose seasoning.""The hoopla, the applause, the praises have never excited me.""The only thing that counts is if you know how to prepare your ingredients. Even if with the best and freshest ingredients in the world, if your dish is tasteless or burnt, it's ruined.""The problem with a lot of Chinese is that they put up divisions between Taiwanese, Hong Kong natives, mainlanders. We are never united. I really hope that the Chinese can be more united.""Well, you know, if you get into the profession because you think you can make a lot of money, you can never become successful.""When I retire or pass away, I will be able to look back and say that this has been an exciting life. That's all that matters.""When you enjoy what you do, work becomes play.""When you have a good stock, you can make a good soup.""Why is America such a great country. It is because we stand united.""You can do almost anything with soup stock, it's like a strong foundation. When you have the right foundation, everything tastes good.""You don't have to show people how successful you are."
With ancestral roots in Kaiping, Guangdong, China, Yan was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, to a restaurateur father and a grocer mother, Yan began to cook at 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 continuous 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.
Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for the extension program and appearing on a local Calgary talk show in 1978 (on CFAC-TV, now CICT-TV). 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.
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 (????, 2005).
He has appeared as a guest judge on several episodes of Iron Chef America. He has also appeared on cartoon talk show Coast to Coast.
