Hey, it's Francis Lamb, and you're listening to our culinary masters collection,

conversations with some of the food world's most iconic chefs.

This week, the man that brought Chinese cuisine into the homes of millions of Americans,

the one and only, Martin Yan.

Have a listen.

So I don't remember what age I was exactly, but I remember this birthday party I had when I was, you know, five or six or so.

You know, when I was a kid, we didn't really have play dates or invite friends from my school over to our house very much.

So it was a big deal for me to do that. And I remember

going outside to the yard to play with them and my parents setting up a table on the deck for a

proper meal. They had never heard of just ordering a pizza and calling it a day. And like how much

fun it was. And I also remember how nervous I got when it was time to bring the food out. Like

were all these kids going to be weirded out by Chinese food? And actually now that I'm thinking

about it, it's sort of funny because I say I remember playing and have a good time, but really

what I remember was the feeling that I was having a good time and that I didn't want

that feeling to turn weird when the food came out. That's the thing I really remember,

that nervousness about our food and how my friends who weren't Chinese would react to it.

Well, it turns out they liked it. My grandmother mercifully decided not to steam the whole fish,

you know, with the eyeballs on the head and everything,

and instead just made a massive pan of fried rice,

and it turns out everyone likes fried rice, so disaster averted.

But right around that time, in 1982,

there was a new TV show called Yan Ken Cook

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