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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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Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:53:30 PM)
When I first saw Ming Tsai on television I was blown away by his confidence, intelligence, and his obvious passion for food. And to top it off he was Asian Americain. Then I would learn about his Andover education and his ivy league credientials, and his white wife. I then preceive him to be an Asian WASP. And so I went through this process of examining my feelings and realized in the end I'm a big fan of Ming. I realized I had placed limitations on my images of AA life. I rationalized: Okay, so what, if Ming's wife is White. So he's not a proper AA role model/posterchild but he's still a great chef. And in that context, I adore him.
Academic burn-out and future Great Chef
Monday, February 18, 2002 at 10:54:34 (PST)
I was refered to this page via Yahoo. Looking up James Iha, a Japanese American guitarist (Smashing Pumpkins, solo.)
I will say that this is rather interesting. Some parents, even white, want their kids to be what they want them to be. This really sucks. I mean, some of my friends even tell me that I should crank out kids even! No way will I become a breeder!
I say stand your ground and be what you want to be.
Jack J.
thugary@uswest.net
Sunday, February 17, 2002 at 00:53:35 (PST)
Aw, leave him alone, people. He's a nice-looking, well-built, Americanized, successful, well-bred and married, and best of all affable and nice AM who is getting positive, high exposure. I have to wonder if a WM of similar size and build and personality would be considered anything other than what I described Ming above. I think people are so used to slender Asians that any well-built, stocky AM is said to be chubby. With all the chunky, beer-bellied young WMs out there, it would not be an issue. Ming was a top squash player at Yale, so he is obviously not some slug. He met Polly through her brothers, who were top squash players/coaches at Yale. He frankly reminds me of a typical playful and friendly host or hostess of a travel show or tv magazine, willing to try things and be silly at times. He seems like good people, so be proud and leave him alone.
Keith
Thursday, January 03, 2002 at 18:53:58 (PST)
Well, Bill Gates is a geek, but he's the richest man in the world. He "threw away" a Harvard degree and followed his dreams. Why shouldn't Ming do the same just because he's Asian American?
am
Thursday, January 03, 2002 at 12:06:24 (PST)
Ming Tsai's culinary expertise and pioneering spirit overshadow the boundaries of communal conformity, and form the definition of his character based on his talent alone. He finds praise from millions of viewers for not what he is, but what he gives to the world, and validates the assertion that to venture outside the status quo is not tantamount to a denial of cultural heritage. To those who discount his charisma as "selling out", his success teaches us once more that limiting oneself to ethnic circles bereft of any regular external interaction will only hamper those from the prospect of personal growth. Who Ming Tsai is is an achievement, and should be celebrated favorably.
Ellery
Sunday, December 30, 2001 at 12:25:46 (PST)
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