"I wanted to introduce the real Chinese food to America."
October 29, 2020 2:50 PM Subscribe
Cecilia Chiang, Who Revolutionized American Chinese Food, Dies At 100
More about Cecilia Chiang:
"The Kitchen Wisdom of Cecilia Chiang" is a six-part cooking mini-series
The chef and restaurant owner who helped change the way Americans think about Chinese food has died. Cecilia Chiang was twice a refugee before she opened the influential San Francisco restaurant The Mandarin and taught Chinese cooking to Julia Child and James Beard. Chiang died Wednesday in San Francisco. She was 100 years old.
More about Cecilia Chiang:
CNN Travel: Cecilia Chiang, the trailblazing chef who brought real Chinese food to the USA, dies at 100Wayne Wang's 2014 film Soul of a Banquet
SF Chronicle: 8 Chinese foods Cecilia Chiang helped popularize — and where to eat them now
Vice: Six Lessons on Becoming a Cooking Legend from Cecilia Chiang (written by her granddaughter Siena Chiang)
Food & Wine: The Unstoppable 100-Year-Old Restaurateur
PBS: Q&A with Cecilia Chiang of The Mandarin Restaurant
"The Kitchen Wisdom of Cecilia Chiang" is a six-part cooking mini-series
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She was also featured in a recent episode of Hulu's Taste the Nation.
posted by Frayed Knot at 3:35 PM on October 29, 2020 [7 favorites]
She was also featured in a recent episode of Hulu's Taste the Nation.
posted by Frayed Knot at 3:35 PM on October 29, 2020 [7 favorites]
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She was fantastic in Taste the Nation, that episode was one of my favorites of the whole show.
posted by Carillon at 3:47 PM on October 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
She was fantastic in Taste the Nation, that episode was one of my favorites of the whole show.
posted by Carillon at 3:47 PM on October 29, 2020 [1 favorite]
🥢
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:50 PM on October 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:50 PM on October 29, 2020 [2 favorites]
She was also in Jennifer 8 Lee’s The Search for General Tso.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:52 PM on October 29, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:52 PM on October 29, 2020 [3 favorites]
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posted by Keith Talent at 5:52 PM on October 29, 2020
posted by Keith Talent at 5:52 PM on October 29, 2020
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posted by one teak forest at 9:06 PM on October 29, 2020
posted by one teak forest at 9:06 PM on October 29, 2020
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posted by wicked_sassy at 8:00 AM on October 30, 2020
posted by wicked_sassy at 8:00 AM on October 30, 2020
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posted by oceanjesse at 8:34 AM on October 30, 2020
posted by oceanjesse at 8:34 AM on October 30, 2020
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posted by badmoonrising at 1:16 PM on October 30, 2020
posted by badmoonrising at 1:16 PM on October 30, 2020
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I thank Cecilia Chiang for her amazing cooking and efforts in changing the way we (I?) view Chinese food. Virtually every Sunday night for decades my family and I have ordered Chinese food for dinner. I am old enough to remember chicken chow mein and the stuff that came in a can. Between the bagels on Sunday morning and the greasy often unidentifiable Chinese food at night, Sundays were the biggest detriment to my health. Now, I cannot afford (in a health sense) to eat a NY bagel, but I still have my Kung Pao Chicken and a bowl of Hot and Sour soup most Sunday nights.
Until one of the articles above, I did not know that her son opened PF Changs. Changs and Pei Wei are my family's go to, on the go restaurant when we are traveling in the US. Consistently good food.
Now if someone could explain to me the transition from Cecilia's cooking to why Wo Hops tastes so great at 2:00am, I would be forever grateful. Could it be the beer and vape?
She seemed like a special lady. May her memory be a blessing.
posted by AugustWest at 1:17 AM on October 31, 2020
I thank Cecilia Chiang for her amazing cooking and efforts in changing the way we (I?) view Chinese food. Virtually every Sunday night for decades my family and I have ordered Chinese food for dinner. I am old enough to remember chicken chow mein and the stuff that came in a can. Between the bagels on Sunday morning and the greasy often unidentifiable Chinese food at night, Sundays were the biggest detriment to my health. Now, I cannot afford (in a health sense) to eat a NY bagel, but I still have my Kung Pao Chicken and a bowl of Hot and Sour soup most Sunday nights.
Until one of the articles above, I did not know that her son opened PF Changs. Changs and Pei Wei are my family's go to, on the go restaurant when we are traveling in the US. Consistently good food.
Now if someone could explain to me the transition from Cecilia's cooking to why Wo Hops tastes so great at 2:00am, I would be forever grateful. Could it be the beer and vape?
She seemed like a special lady. May her memory be a blessing.
posted by AugustWest at 1:17 AM on October 31, 2020
Found Madame Chiang's 1974 recipe booklet, online from the Smithsonian.
posted by polymodus at 2:24 PM on October 31, 2020
posted by polymodus at 2:24 PM on October 31, 2020
Eater SF has posted a collection of memories about Cecelia Chiang: Bay Area Luminaries Share Memories of Cecilia Chiang, the Life of the Party
posted by Lexica at 11:10 AM on November 2, 2020
posted by Lexica at 11:10 AM on November 2, 2020
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She was not even a chef—she had literally never cooked before she decided to open a restaurant by herself.
And not many years later she was teaching chefs.
posted by clew at 3:05 PM on October 29, 2020 [1 favorite]