Ming Tsai is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fusion cuisineFusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not fitting specifically into any. The term generally refers to the innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s. -Categories and types:...
chefA chef is a person who cooks professionally. In a professional kitchen setting, the term is used only for the one person in charge of everyone else in the kitchen; the executive chef.-Various chef titles:...
and restaurateur who currently hosts two
cooking showA TV cooking show is a television program that presents the preparation of food, in a kitchen on the studio set. The host of the show, usually a celebrity chef, prepares one or more dishes over the course of the show, taking the viewing audience through the food's preparation showing all...
s –
Ming's Quest on the
Fine LivingFine Living is an American specialty television network owned by Scripps Networks Interactive. Founded in 2002 in Los Angeles, California, it was announced in October 2005 that its headquarters would move to Knoxville, Tennessee to be with sister network HGTV...
television channelA television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and 59.75 MHz...
and
Simply MingSimply Ming is a television cooking show hosted by chef Ming Tsai, and is produced by WGBH, Boston and Ming East-West, LLC. Simply Ming is presented by American Public Television...
on
American Public TelevisionAmerican Public Television is the largest of the television syndication distributors of programming for public television stations in the United States...
– and formerly hosted
East Meets WestEast Meets West is a popular cooking show on the Food Network hosted by the renowned Chinese American chef Ming Tsai. During the half-hour show, Tsai cooked Asian-European fusion cuisine. East Meets West aired from 1998 to 2003. In 1999, Tsai won the Daytime Emmy award in the category Outstanding...
on the
Food NetworkFood Network is a television specialty channel that airs specials and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns roughly two thirds of the network, and Tribune Company owns the rest....
, for which he won an
Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
. He has also appeared as a challenger chef on the Food Network's
Iron Chef AmericaIron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the...
beating
Iron Chefis a Japanese television cooking show produced by FujiTV. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cooking competition featuring accomplished guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient....
Bobby FlayRobert William "Bobby" Flay is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, Iron Chef, and television personality. He is the owner and executive chef of nine restaurants: Mesa Grill in New York City; Bar Americain in New York City; Mesa Grill in Las Vegas; Mesa Grill in The Bahamas ; Bobby Flay Steak...
in "Battle Duck" and was a judge for
Cooking Under Fire on the
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...
network.
Tsai was born in
Newport Beach, CaliforniaNewport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, United States south of downtown Santa Ana. As of January 1, 2009, the population was 86,252. The current OMB metropolitan designation for Newport Beach lies within the Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine area...
, but raised in
Dayton, OhioDayton is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 166,179 at the 2000 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 848,153 in the 2000 census. Dayton is the fourth largest...
, where he attended
The Miami Valley SchoolThe Miami Valley School is Dayton, Ohio's only independent college-preparatory school for grades Pre-K through 12. A 9:1 student to teacher ratio and an experiential learning curriculum have created a unique learning environment. Approximately 190 students comprise grades 9 through 12...
.
Ming Tsai is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fusion cuisineFusion cuisine combines elements of various culinary traditions while not fitting specifically into any. The term generally refers to the innovations in many contemporary restaurant cuisines since the 1970s. -Categories and types:...
chefA chef is a person who cooks professionally. In a professional kitchen setting, the term is used only for the one person in charge of everyone else in the kitchen; the executive chef.-Various chef titles:...
and restaurateur who currently hosts two
cooking showA TV cooking show is a television program that presents the preparation of food, in a kitchen on the studio set. The host of the show, usually a celebrity chef, prepares one or more dishes over the course of the show, taking the viewing audience through the food's preparation showing all...
s –
Ming's Quest on the
Fine LivingFine Living is an American specialty television network owned by Scripps Networks Interactive. Founded in 2002 in Los Angeles, California, it was announced in October 2005 that its headquarters would move to Knoxville, Tennessee to be with sister network HGTV...
television channelA television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and 59.75 MHz...
and
Simply MingSimply Ming is a television cooking show hosted by chef Ming Tsai, and is produced by WGBH, Boston and Ming East-West, LLC. Simply Ming is presented by American Public Television...
on
American Public TelevisionAmerican Public Television is the largest of the television syndication distributors of programming for public television stations in the United States...
– and formerly hosted
East Meets WestEast Meets West is a popular cooking show on the Food Network hosted by the renowned Chinese American chef Ming Tsai. During the half-hour show, Tsai cooked Asian-European fusion cuisine. East Meets West aired from 1998 to 2003. In 1999, Tsai won the Daytime Emmy award in the category Outstanding...
on the
Food NetworkFood Network is a television specialty channel that airs specials and recurring programs about food and cooking. Scripps Networks Interactive owns roughly two thirds of the network, and Tribune Company owns the rest....
, for which he won an
Emmy AwardThe Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards , Grammy Awards and Tony Awards .They are presented in various...
. He has also appeared as a challenger chef on the Food Network's
Iron Chef AmericaIron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the...
beating
Iron Chefis a Japanese television cooking show produced by FujiTV. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cooking competition featuring accomplished guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient....
Bobby FlayRobert William "Bobby" Flay is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, Iron Chef, and television personality. He is the owner and executive chef of nine restaurants: Mesa Grill in New York City; Bar Americain in New York City; Mesa Grill in Las Vegas; Mesa Grill in The Bahamas ; Bobby Flay Steak...
in "Battle Duck" and was a judge for
Cooking Under Fire on the
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. However, its operations are largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...
network.
Early life
Tsai was born in
Newport Beach, CaliforniaNewport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, United States south of downtown Santa Ana. As of January 1, 2009, the population was 86,252. The current OMB metropolitan designation for Newport Beach lies within the Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine area...
, but raised in
Dayton, OhioDayton is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 166,179 at the 2000 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 848,153 in the 2000 census. Dayton is the fourth largest...
, where he attended
The Miami Valley SchoolThe Miami Valley School is Dayton, Ohio's only independent college-preparatory school for grades Pre-K through 12. A 9:1 student to teacher ratio and an experiential learning curriculum have created a unique learning environment. Approximately 190 students comprise grades 9 through 12...
. He often helped his parents Steve and Iris with their family restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen.
Ming's maternal grandfather is the renowned Chinese conductor Dr. Baochen Li, his paternal grandfather graduated from the Department of Economics at
Beijing UniversityPeking University , colloquially known in Chinese as Beida , is a major research university located in Beijing, China. It is the first formally established modern research university in and the first national university of China. It was founded as Imperial Capital University in 1898 as a...
, and his uncle and brother are mechanical engineers.
Ming's father, Dr. Stephen W. Tsai, is a Professor Research Emeritus, Aeronautics and Astronautics, at
Stanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university located in Stanford, California, United States...
and is also a graduate of Yale University.
Tsai transferred to
Phillips AcademyPhillips Academy is a co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12...
and later
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
where he graduated with a degree in
mechanical engineeringMechanical Engineering is an engineering discipline that was developed from the application of principles from physics and materials science. Mechanical engineering involves the analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of various systems...
. Later, he received a
master's degreeA master's degree is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in
hotel administrationHotel administration has begun to become a popular major at universities in the United States.Colleges with hotel administration:* Cornell University* University of Nevada, Las Vegas...
and hospitality marketing from
Cornell UniversityCornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA, that is a member of the Ivy League.Cornell counts more than 255,000 living alumni, 28 Rhodes Scholars and 41 Nobel laureates affiliated with the university as faculty or students...
.
Ming Tsai speaks four languages:
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
,
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
,
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
, and Mandarin Chinese.
It's also noted that Ming Tsai (名菜 míng cài) also means "famous dish" in Chinese.
Career
In 1998, Tsai, along with his wife Polly (née Talbott), opened his first restaurant, Blue Ginger, in
Wellesley, MassachusettsWellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,613 at the 2000 census. It is best known as the home of Wellesley College and Babson College. The Hunnewell Arboretum abuts the Wellesley campus, and the Elm Bank Horticulture Center is also located in...
.
Ming is the author of three
cookbookA cookbook is a book that contains information on cooking. It typically contains a collection of recipes, and may also include information on ingredient origin, freshness, selection and quality.-History:...
s:
Blue Ginger,
Simply Ming, and
Ming's Master Recipes.
In his PBS show
Simply MingSimply Ming is a television cooking show hosted by chef Ming Tsai, and is produced by WGBH, Boston and Ming East-West, LLC. Simply Ming is presented by American Public Television...
, Tsai often uses
ceramicA ceramic is an inorganic, non-metallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...
cooking knives manufactured by
Kyocerais a multinational manufacturer based in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. The company has diversified its founding technology in ceramic materials through internal development as well as strategic mergers and acquisitions...
or Global Knives.
On occasion, usually when in the
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
area doing business in his restaurant Blue Ginger, Tsai can be heard on the radio station
WAAFWAAF is a Boston, Massachusetts, area commercial Album Oriented Rock/Active rock radio station that mixes music that is popular in the modern rock, heavy metal and classic rock genres....
107.3 as a call in and sometimes as an in-studio guest on "The Hillman Morning Show", in November, 2006, he was part of an "Egg Nog Challenge" against another well known Chef and Morning Show Regular Spaz.
During the summer of 2004, Ming Tsai participated in a "Zoom Out" on
ZOOMZOOM is an American educational television show, created almost entirely by children, which aired on PBS originally from January 3, 1972 to 1978 and again from 1999 to June 24, 2005...
, a show sponsored by PBS. In addition, he has been a guest star on the PBS children's television show
ArthurArthur is an American-Canadian educational television series for children, that airs on PBS in the United States; Radio-Canada, Knowledge and TVOKids in Canada; ABC2 in Australia and BBC One/ CBBC in the UK...
. Tsai recently guest starred on an episode of
Top ChefTop Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...
.
In 2000, Ming was #16 on People Magazines Most Beautiful People list.
Sports
Tsai was a formidable
squashSquash is a racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball.Squash is recognized by the IOC and remains in contention for incorporation in a future Olympic program....
player at Yale, playing No. 2 for the team, and named as an All-Ivy League player in 1986. While attending culinary school in France, Tsai played professionally on the European circuit. After returning to the U.S. Tsai was an elite player known for his speed, conditioning, and tenacity. His squash coach at Yale, David Talbott, is now his brother-in-law, as is the legendary
Mark TalbottMark Talbott is a squash coach and former professional squash player from the United States. He is widely considered to be one of the all-time great players of hardball squash .Talbott was ranked as the World No...
, a former World No. 1
hardball squashHardball squash is a format of the indoor racquet sport squash which was first developed in North America in the late-nineteenth century and early-twentieth century. It is sometimes referred to as being the "American version" of the sport...
player. In 2004, Tsai played a celebrity squash match against professional golfer
Brad FaxonBradford John Faxon, Jr. is an American golfer.Faxon was born in Oceanport, New Jersey. He attended Furman University and turned professional in 1983. He has won eight times on the PGA Tour and played on two Ryder Cup teams...
at a Boston squash club. In 2005, he played against Mark Talbott in a charity match at a squash club in San Francisco.
Ming Tsai is a
Boston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a professional basketball club based in Boston, Massachusetts, playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team is owned by Wycliffe Grousbeck and coached by Doc Rivers, with Danny Ainge as the President of...
fan.
External links