Podcast about Stephen Yan by HIST*3240 student, Andrew Coelho

Transcript of the Podcast:

Voice: Andrew Coelho (Host)

Time Stamp: 0:06.

Hello everyone and welcome to the Culinary Virtuoso Podcast, the podcast where we delve into the historical roots of everyone’s source of life and dopamine’s favorite trigger - FOOD! Here at the Culinary Virtuoso Podcast, we believe that we should do our due diligence and learn about the history of food to truly appreciate its historical roots.

My name is Andrew Coelho, and I am your host and the proprietor of the Culinary Virtuoso Podcast. In today’s episode, we will be taking a deep dive into the history of Chinese cooking in North America, and we will have special references to one of, if not the most, influential chefs to introduce Chinese cooking to North America - Stephen Yan - to help us. Today’s episode will follow a historical background on the introduction of Chinese cooking in North America and how the culinary works of Stephen Yan will assist us in explaining the history of Chinese cuisine in North America in further detail.

Time Stamp: 0:46.

Traditional Chinese food globally stands as one of the most complex, impressive, and loved cuisines. Chinese cuisine is one of the oldest cuisines to ever grace this planet and has stood the test of time to evolve and develop into what it has become today. Additionally, the history of Chinese cuisine in North America stands to date as one of the most inspiring stories of adaptation, hardship, and entrepreneurship in the history of civilization.

At the beginning of Chinese immigration into North America around the mid-19^th century, many Chinese immigrants were stationed to work on the railroads. As years went by, anti-immigrant sentiments had grown to unprecedented levels, especially towards the Chinese. These anti-immigrant sentiments led to the creation of anti-immigration legislation in Canada. The Canadian government enacted the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 which imposed a $50 head tax on all Chinese persons seeking entry into Canada. This infamous piece of federal legislation became the first piece of legislation to exclude immigrants based on ethnic background.

The Chinese immigrants living in Canada did not have many opportunities to obtain a stable income. Certain laws were preventing Chinese immigrants from purchasing land and owning certain properties. Therefore, Chinese immigrants sought to open business ventures that they could independently own and make a decent living. Restaurants served as one of the viable business opportunities that Chinese immigrants were legally allowed to own. Despite the many hardships that Chinese immigrants faced when coming to North America, they contributed to North American culinary identity in revolutionary ways as Chinese food became the most consumed ethnic food in North America by the early to mid-20th century.

Time Stamp: 2:07.

Many of the most famous Chinese dishes around the world currently emerged from these Chinese restaurant owners attempting to cater to their clientele’s palates. These dishes include the famous and still popular General Tso’s Chicken, Ginger Beef, and Egg Rolls. These dishes are uniquely Chinese-American and Chinese-Canadian and originated in North America from Chinese immigrant workers who opened up these restaurants. Although these dishes may bring up concerns about Chinese food becoming Americanized, the fact that more people are diversifying their palette and are eager to learn how to cook Chinese food is a sign that Chinese food is evolving.

During the late 19^th to early 20^th century, cookbooks in North America were able to effect social change and foster like-minded communities because they reflected existing social trends and conditions. A key chapter in the history of Chinese food in North America was owed to the growth of Chinese food cookbook writing. Chinese cookbooks served to promote Chinese cuisine in the late 19^th to early 20^th century. The innovation of Chinese cookbooks sparked the Chinese food restaurant market and business in North America during the mid-20^th century and it had become the most popular ethnic cuisine in North American restaurant markets by the late 20^th century.

Time Stamp: 3:16.

To gain a deeper understanding of the history of Chinese cooking in North America, we will reference the culinary works of Stephen Yan who is one of, if not the most, influential chefs to introduce Chinese cooking to North America. Stephen Yan is famously known as an ambassador of Chinese cooking and was the first Chinese-Canadian chef to host a very popular cooking show broadcasted on CBC from 1978 - 1995 called “Wok With Yan”. In addition to being the influential chef to introduce Chinese cooking to North America, Yan is the author of five “best seller” Chinese cookbooks and owns his restaurant in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, titled “Yan’s Gourmet Chinese Restaurant”. His cooking style represents the popular Chinese cooking style of the 20th century and Yan hoped to create very easy but detailed Chinese recipes for people living in North America to recreate authentic Chinese cooking.

Stephen Yan was born and raised in Hong Kong and received practice and training in authentic Chinese cooking since the age of 10. He came to North America, specifically Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada, in 1967 at the age of 19, and since then has taught classes to students, had public demonstrations, appeared on the radio, and had one of the most popular cooking shows in North American history “Wok With Yan”. Stephen Yan became popular quickly because he emphasized the importance of eating good food in our daily lives and how this directly affected one’s physical and spiritual well-being. Yan notes that cooking should be fun, healthy, and enjoyable. In all of Yan’s works, TV shows, cookbooks, and public demonstrations, he highlighted that cooking is vital to human social life because it brings family together and promotes better health for our body and mind. Yan uses this philosophy in writing his recipes for his cookbooks. Yan hopes to write for people who have the desire and courage to learn cooking no matter their level of experience.

Time Stamp: 4:50.

To have a cooking show span generations amongst TV watchers is truly an incredible feat for any chef. This accomplishment becomes even more remarkable when considering “Wok With Yan” a Chinese cooking show that became successful enough to span 20 years during a competitive era of television. Stephen Yan was able to gravitate towards his audience and this was a key part in the show’s succession. During his show, Yan was energetic, charismatic, and funny, all the while demonstrating to the television world that his recipes followed his authentically traditional Chinese roots. Yan makes his recipes straightforward, practical, and flexible to suit everyone’s needs. Understanding this dynamic and integrating it into his style of cooking and teaching methods is a massive key to Yan’s success.

Many Canadians were introduced to the intricacies of Chinese cooking through Stephen Yan's popular television programs. In addition to his popular television programs, Stephen Yan’s cookbooks demonstrate the vast intricacies and detailed information that is associated with traditionally authentic Chinese cooking. His most famous cookbook “Wok With Yan” is named after the popular television show of the same name. “Wok With Yan" is a Television Cookbook that demonstrates the recipes on the popular television show. Yan has many other notable cookbooks that demonstrate delicious and simple recipes, tips, and hints to successfully cook Chinese food. To cater to his North American audience, he writes his cookbooks with substitution ingredients in case those specific ingredients are not available. Yan tries his best to ensure that anyone beginning their journey into Chinese cooking has all the tools needed to fall in love with Chinese cooking. 

Time Stamp: 6:14.

Yan’s most popular cookbook, “Wok With Yan”, has 160 recipes the some of the most popular food choices in Chinese cooking, such as seafood, vegetables, soups, pork, beef, chicken, rice, and noodles. In all of his cookbooks, his recipes are very detailed with ingredients, methods, how-to-steps, and pictures. He lists the basic needs for authentic Chinese cooking such as utensils, ingredients, tips, and cooking methods. Yan stays true to his heritage by using traditional Chinese cooking methods such as oils and marinades, but Yan ensures his cookbooks are for everyone by writing substitution ingredients in his recipes just in case those specific ingredients are not available. Stephen Yan demonstrates an even higher level of skill in his cookbook “Creative Carving” in which he uses his excellent carving ability to make any food look like a piece of art. In this cookbook, Yan makes apples look like birds, cucumbers look like seafood, and many other selections of food look like various 3-D objects. This ability to hone a technical skill such as carving fruit into animals shows Stephen Yan’s genuine love and passion for his work and creations. Yan’s various platforms encouraged many Canadian home cooks to explore the possibility of experimenting with Asian food. Yan is particularly known to be specialized in his skillset with the wok and the cleaver, which are two essential pieces of equipment in Asian cooking that require precise technique to be used correctly. In his cookbook “Vegetables: The Cooking Way”, Yan explains in multiple ways how vegetables are a great ingredient in cooking because of their great variety, positive impact on the economy and environment, and offer incredible nutritional value.

Stephen Yan is still gaining recognition currently as he was recognized for his cooking brilliance by being the second inductee into the 2020 Taste Canada Awards Ceremony “Hall of Fame”. The Taste Canada Awards Hall of Fame is sponsored by the Culinary Historians of Canada. For more than 25 years, the Taste Canada Awards have brought Canadians together through their love of food and culinary writing. Taste Canada encourages Canadians to be inspired by great culinary icons and use that inspiration to make their own unique recipes. The Taste Canada Awards Hall of Fame ensures that well-deserving Canadian food personalities who have contributed significantly to Canadian culinary culture are recognized and enshrined forever in thanks for their contributions. Stephen Yan represents everything a great chef should aspire to be. Through his culinary works, Yan demonstrates his passion, charisma, and technical skill for the art of Chinese cooking, and he is admired in the culinary field for these reasons.       

Time Stamp 8:37.

Chinese cooking has become a staple in North American cooking and has become one of the most popular cuisines in the world. Many chefs like Stephen Yan have inspired many courageous chefs to cook Chinese food with confidence and expand their palette by supplying them with all the details necessary to make traditionally authentic Chinese cuisine. The innovation of cookbooks allowed chefs to reach out to their consumers with easy-to-read manuals to teach them their recipes. It is due to chefs like Stephen Yan that we see such popularity and variation amongst all types of ethnic food all over North America, especially Chinese food.                                   

Well, everyone, that is it for today’s episode on the Culinary Virtuoso Podcast. Before we go, I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed to today’s podcast, ranging from the culinary works of Stephen Yan to the massive number of immigrants who started multiple variations of ethnic cuisines in North America. Your contributions to our cultural identity as a nation are immeasurable and I think I stand for everyone when I say thank you. It’s been a pleasure, everyone. I have been your host, Andrew Coelho, and this is the Culinary Virtuoso Podcast signing off. 

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