Background and career
Martin Yan Man-daat (Chinese: 甄文達; Cantonese Yale: Yan1 Man4 Daat6; born 22 December 1948) is a Hong Kong-American chef and food writer. He has hosted his award-winning PBS-TV cooking show Yan Can Cook since 1982.
With ancestral roots in Hoiping, Yan was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China to a restaurateur father and a grocer mother. Yan began to cook at the age of 12. When he was 13, he moved to Hong Kong, where he attended the Munsang College in Kowloon City. During this time in Munsang College, he worked at his uncle's Chinese restaurant and learned the traditional method of Cantonese 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 from University of California, Davis, in 1975. He is not related to Chinese-Canadian 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 Klondike Days in Edmonton and houseware demonstrations at Hudson's Bay Company stores.
Yan began teaching Chinese cooking for a college extension program. While in Calgary 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 in 1982 becoming Yan Can Cook. He has hosted over 3,500 episodes of the PBS 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 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 San Francisco. 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 Singapore/Hong Kong film Rice Rhapsody (海南雞飯, 2005). In 2007, he supported and endorsed the establishment of the World Association of Master Chefs. 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. In 2023, Yan said that he planned on reopening his M.Y. China restaurant in San Francisco. He said that he considered reopening the restaurant in the former home of Cathay House restaurant (which was closed in 2018).
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
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 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
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 2022 James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award
