We've been a fan of Chef Ming Tsai for a number of years from attending a decadent editor's event where he paired savory dishes with a premium alcohol brand, watching him on his shows sharing his love for East meets West cooking, to seeing him on a number of shows judging - we love seeing his passion when he is creating his dishes. As someone who is known for his restaurants, TV shows, cookbooks, cooking line and more, we wanted to see how he has been navigating the past few months, find out how he came to the food industry and to find out more about one of his newest projects, MingsBings!
CHEF MT: Apparently my first word was Nui Nai, which means milk. As soon as I could walk without falling over, which was maybe around 2 years old, I was always hanging out in the kitchen. I would watch my parents or grandparents in the kitchen cooking admiring the wok over the fire, their knives with the cutting board, but most importantly I learned early on that by hanging out in the kitchen, you’ll be fed faster there. I kept coming back for more, I knew there was something about being in the kitchen that made me happy, and I was, still am and always will be hungry.
ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into your culinary career, you were a professional squash player and played at Yale – what is it that you love about the game and do you still play it?
AM: When did your interest in food turn into wanting to work in the industry?
CHEF MING TSAI: I am one of the most competitive people I know and squash to me is one of the most intense sports because you are enclosed in a small room with one other person and there is nowhere to hide. If you are on a team sport like football or basketball you could in theory get lost in the shuffle. On a squash court, it’s two people and you’re responsible for your own actions and you control your own fate. The one curious rule is if you hit the other person with the ball you actually win the point. To someone outside the sport, you could in theory keep hitting the other person, but the other person could also keep hitting you back and they might hit you harder. Squash is a game of true sportsmanship, it’s a pre-requisite. I continue to play today mostly because I’m coaching my son David who proudly is following in my footsteps at Yale. As a side note, as a Chef, I love playing to burn a ton of calories, but it’s also a great way to get rid of stress (it’s very therapeutic), particularly right now during COVID which has hit the restaurant industry really hard. AM: What was the moment when you fell in love with food?
CHEF MT: I became interested in the food industry early on because my parents used to do private catering events and festivals. As early as age 10, I was frying egg rolls for thousands of people next to my grandfather. My first epiphany with food was also at age 10. My parents had friends over, unannounced because the couple happened to be driving through Dayton which is where we lived at the time. In the Chinese culture, you don’t ask “How Are You?” when greeting someone at the door, you actually ask, “Have You Eaten?,” so I took it upon myself to make them my first fried rice. It by no means was my best, but in an instant when I watched all four of them, my parents and their friends, enjoying the meal, I realized I could make people happy through food. It was a true epiphany that to this day, is why I love being a chef. AM: How would you define your cooking style? CHEF MT: East-West, blending of techniques and ingredients that produces food that is bold in flavor and contrasting temperatures and textures that at the end of the day is inherently healthy. I’m more plant-based now more than ever. AM: What was your culinary journey that you led to opening Blue Ginger?
