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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
MING TSAI: PROTOTYPE OF THE NEW AA MALE?
epending on your perspective, Ming Tsai is either a role model for a new generation of Asian American men or the nightmare of many Asian parents.
On the role model side, he's America's most famous Asian chef, with two popular Food Network series (East Meets West, Ming's Quest) and a recipe book under his belt (Blue Ginger). And at the age of 36, he and his wife have built up an acclaimed, highly profitable fusion restaurant (Blue Ginger) in the Boston suburb of Wellesley.
On the parental nightmare side, Tsai threw away a Yale mechanical engineering degree to work in a Paris restaurant just because he belatedly discovered that he'd rather cook than compute stresses. Adding insult to injury (some Asian parents might say), he married a white woman from Dayton Ohio.
The ages-old tension between following the road to traditional success and the yearning to hack one's own trail may have been sown in Tsai's childhood. Ming-Hao C Tsai was born March 29, 1964 in Newport Beach, California and grew up in Dayton, Ohio where his father was a high-level scientist at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. His mother ran the family's Mandarin Kitchen restaurant and taught cooking classes.
As a teen Ming helped out in the restaurant while aspiring to Yale and following in his father's footsteps. Not until well into his Yale career did Ming discover that his real passion was cooking. He toughed out the Yale B.A. but lost no time after graduation. He went to Paris to take a Cordon Bleu course, then spent two years working his way around that city's kitchens. Upon his return, he enrolled in Cornell for a masters in hotel management, then spent nine years apprenticing under top chefs.
During that period Tsai developed a unique style that fuses Asian and western flavors and ingredients with a rare mix of discipline and dash. He caught the eye of cooking show producers. Audiences liked his babyface and smooth-talking style. In 1998 the Food Network tapped him for the East Meets West series. Tsai and wife Polly lost no time opening the Blue Ginger that March to satisfy the appetites they expected to be whetted when the show premiered in September. Polly contributed the provocative name and served as the hostess while Ming built up a kitchen operation that would free him for filming shows and allowing two uninterrupted family days each week. One is Sunday when the Blue Ginger is always closed.
Ming Tsai is busier than ever now, what with a new son and jetting around the world filming outdoor culinary adventures for Ming's Quest, his second show. Glowing reviews and admiring profiles have made him a media darling. People magazine voted him one of the world's most beautiful people.
Ming Tsai isn't without detractors. Some AA complain that he's catering to stereotypical images of Asian males as smiling purveyors of exotic flavors. Others say he's corrupting venerable Asian cuisines into Asian-lite. Still others grouse that he's enjoying his own cooking so much that he's turning into a chubby Buddha.
So what's Ming Tsai's impact on the AA male image? On the career ambitions of young AA males?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:53:32 PM)
He definitely a cool dude for now. As long as he doesn't do the Connie Chung thing and say is doesn't identity with Asians, he's alright.
AC dropout
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 10:33:51 (PST)
I think that Ming is a respectable character. Think about it... He went against the grain and defied what was most logical/rational and acceptable for him at his time (being a good Asian son and attending college and getting a stable profession). Moreover, he broke the traditional, old-school way of mating Asians by marrying a caucasian woman. We definitely need more risk takers and dream pursuers in the Asian community. I commend Ming on taking a chance with his life. More props for my Asian brotha...
Nuff said
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 10:18:25 (PST)
Ming's OK but I think he owes part of his TV success to Martin Yan, who introduced Chinese cooking to U.S. television. Yan showed white people that Chinese cooking was easy and healthy. He also did it with basic cooking utensils, unlike Ming who uses the latest yuppy gadgets and equipment.
MuchuJowa
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 08:47:38 (PST)
Good for Ming! It's about freaking time some of us found our own ways instead of just doing as mommy and daddy say. i think that given time, more and more ams will be like dat nguyen, ming tsai and james iha and less being the engineer/doctor/lawyer that everyone expects. good for him in finding his true love without limiting himself to just asian women!!! It's about time AMs who act the same as any other guys are shown on TV!!!
Glenn Wang
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 07:39:20 (PST)
The most any of us can hope for is that we find work that we love and find fulfilling and we attain a respectable proficiency at it. Ming Tsai is doing what his heart wants to do for a living while rising to the top of his profession. His success allows him more say in the production content of his shows and we need more AA with control over the image that is put forth. I have seen a few programs of his and I saw that his guests treat him with respect, which is a vast improvement over how AM's are usually teated on TV. How can he be regarded as anything but a positive role model. His detractors would never be satisfied with anything an AM is able to accomplish under current media constraints, but we have to start somewhere.
Naki
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 06:51:29 (PST)
yeah, he;s a bit geeky. But at least he's rich and famous and he has a wife. Can't complain when you've got those things.
he's aight
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 03:03:06 (PST)
Geek? How can you say he's a geek when he dropped the engineering path and pursued what he loves to do? I think as an Asian American, Ming Tsai is a leader in his independent thinking, his fusion style (after all, isn't America a fusion of many cultures?), and unconcerned about "catering to stereotypical images of Asian males as smiling purveyors of exotic flavors." He comes off as really knowing what he's doing, really loving what he's doing, and doing what he wants to do despite what anyone else dictates of him.
What if he didn't pursue cooking for fear of catering to these stereotypes? He would have compromised his dreams because of what dumbass people might think of him.
As for gaining weight, well, never trust a skinny chef.
Ming is right on.
Friday, December 21, 2001 at 00:34:52 (PST)
Geek never comes to mind when I think of this guy. I sure wouldn't turn him down if he came knocking on my door! anyone out there like him available? he cooks, he's cute, and though he is getting a little chubby, maybe that's just genetics and even if he didn't cook for a living he would have gained some extra pounds with age. I like him-very cute very sweet (but not too sweet)
aa girl
Thursday, December 20, 2001 at 23:19:09 (PST)
His B-Day is the day before mine, he loves to cook, & he's really cute. Yep. I'd say he's helping the AM image.
AsioPhile 81: Just My Opinion
Thursday, December 20, 2001 at 19:32:00 (PST)
no, doubt he's a Geek!
honest abe
Thursday, December 20, 2001 at 19:28:46 (PST)
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