Ming Tsai

Ming Tsai (Chinese: 蔡明昊; pinyin: Cài Mínghào; born March 29, 1964) is an American restaurateur, television personality, and celebrity chef of fusion cuisine.

Tsai currently hosts Ming's Quest, a cooking show featured on the Fine Living Network, and Simply Ming on American Public Television. He was eliminated in week 7 of the third season of the Food Network's cooking competition The Next Iron Chef.^[1]

Biography

Early years

Tsai was born in Newport Beach, California, but was raised in Dayton, Ohio, where he attended The Miami Valley School.^[2] He often helped his parents Stephen and Iris with their family restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen.^[3][4]

Tsai transferred to Phillips Academy and later attended Yale University, where he was a member of the Phi chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. He received a master's degree in hotel administration and hospitality marketing from Cornell University. He then attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.^[3][4]

Ming Tsai speaks four languages: English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese.

Tsai is married and has two sons, David and Henry, who are named after Chinese-American playwright David Henry Hwang. According to an investigation by the PBS program Finding Your Roots, he is a 116th-generation descendent of Huang Di.^[5]

Career

Tsai began his television career on chef Sara Moulton's cooking show while she had him fill in for one week for her. He then started his own show, East Meets West. In 1998, Tsai, along with his wife Polly Talbott, opened his first restaurant, Blue Ginger, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Ming also hosted a half-hour cooking show on the Food Network called "East Meets West" from 1998 to 2003. On the show, he presented a blend of Asian-European fusion cuisine. Ming is the author of five cookbooks: Blue Ginger, Simply Ming, Ming's Master Recipes, Simply Ming in Your Kitchen, and Simply Ming: One-Pot Meals.

During the summer of 2004, Ming Tsai participated in a Zoom Out on ZOOM, a show distributed by PBS. In addition, he has been a guest star on the PBS children's television show Arthur in the episode "What's Cooking?" Tsai also guest starred on an episode of Top Chef. In 2000, Ming was #16 on the Most Beautiful People list published by People magazine.^[6] In 2005 he was a judge on the PBS show Cooking Under Fire.^[7]

Tsai battled Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America, Season 1, and won.^[8] In March 2010 Tsai opened Blue Ginger Noodle Bar, a mini-restaurant, inside Blue Ginger.^[9]

Tsai is a national spokesman for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN); one of his sons has food allergies. He was the first chef in the United States to create a reference book that lists each allergen for every menu item. In 2010, Massachusetts became the first state to mandate that restaurants advise diners about food allergies and advise diners to notify servers of allergies, train staff on food allergies, and that managers have awareness training.^[10]

Sports

Tsai was a squash player at Yale, playing number two for the team, and he was named as an All-Ivy League player in 1986.^[11] While attending culinary school in France, Tsai played professionally on the European circuit.

Personal life

Tsai's squash coach at Yale, David Talbott, is now his brother-in-law, as is Mark Talbott, a former World No. 1 hardball squash player.^[12] In 2004, Tsai played a celebrity squash match against professional golfer Brad Faxon at a Boston squash club. In 2005 he played against Mark Talbott in a charity match at a squash club in San Francisco.

Awards

• Culinary Hall of Fame Induction^[13]

References

External links

• Official website
• Simply Ming website
• Ming Tsai at the Internet Movie Database