0:00 - Introduction, first childhood memory of food was in Taipei, family history, vivid memories of markets and chaos, discusses his parents’ cooking, split between American and Chinese cuisine, dinner once a week with grandparents who made homecooked Chinese food, importance of family and food for him, his friends enjoyed his family cooking, he tried to help as a little kid to get scraps of cooking, love of eating motivates him to cook, spices are essential to cooking and making things flavorful
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8:46 - Went to school to be an engineer, thankful for being able to travel and eat different cuisine, food was a priority for him as a kid, he wants to make people happy through food, studied mechanical engineering at Yale but would go to Paris in the summer to cook, studied at Cordon Bleu and wanted to blend Chinese and French food, his parents supported him when he told them he wanted to cook, passion is essential for success
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17:34 - He was formally trained in France, never received formal training in Chinese food but absorbed it through experience, Chinese fine dining doesn’t exist in the US due to lack of cultural understanding and the tradition of American Chinese food being inexpensive and delicious
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21:11 - Anecdote about most memorable meal in Reims France with wife and hero in 1990, anecdote about the best a five-hour 37 course meal he had in El Rosa Spain
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27:06 - Went to Cornell for his MA since education was central in his family, studied hospitality, started his career by opening hotels and restaurants so he could get his rookie mistakes out of the way, he left hotels because he wanted to cook and met his mentor, he gives his philosophy of blending cuisines and fusion food, realized executive chef wasn’t right for him and became a chef-owner, running his own place he learned from past mistakes and succeeded, opened a second restaurant later
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35:06 - He catered to milder New England tastes early on before trying out more creative things, having a TV show helped him get more first time customers, social media has changed the nature of restaurants, two dishes that epitomize his cuisine, takes ideas from all cultures like Japan, his comfort food he makes in a pressure cooker, loves oxtail soup
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43:13 - He believes Chinese food has now been divided up by province, he sees more American chefs using Asian products and techniques, Chinese food is possibly the most diverse, importance of MSG in Chinese cuisine back in China where they don’t have access to highest quality ingredients, thoughts on how to fight obesity
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48:19 - He is very involved in charity and desires to give back, he works with Family Reach which assists people who are being bankrupted by children with cancer, shares a touching anecdote about his charity, he loves being able to help people through food, Ming.com, so proud to be Chinese and get to know his grandparents, glue of the family happens at the dining room table, cooked for Xi Jinping and Hilary Clinton, helped start the ChefCorps program to use cooking for diplomacy
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