Chef Martin Yan and Wife Donate Archive to UC Davis
by Sarah Colwell January 24, 2022
World-renowned celebrity chef of more than 40 years, host of the public television show “Yan Can Cook” and UC Davis alumnus, Martin Yan ’73, M.S. ’77, and his wife, Susan ’75, recently made a gift to the UC Davis Library Archives and Special Collections to create the Chef Martin Yan Legacy Archive.
The gift encompasses Chef Yan’s collection of cookbooks (close to 3,000), including 30 cookbooks authored by Yan, thousands of photographs, and videos, media clips and slides taken as Yan traveled the world to film his food and travel show, “Yan Can Cook.” Artifacts in the collection will include a number of awards Yan received over the years and his first wok. The Yans also gave $20,000 to support the library’s work to preserve and digitize the archive.
“The Martin Yan archive provides valuable insight into an important era of Asian cultural and culinary history, and one of UC Davis’ most celebrated alumni,” said University Librarian and Vice Provost of Digital Scholarship MacKenzie Smith. “Once this collection is digitized, it will allow scholars around the world to learn more about Asian food and Martin’s amazing career.”
“His story is an important part of the history of the Northern California food movement and cultural diversity in America, which the UC Davis Library is committed to preserving and sharing with the world,” Smith added.
Martin and Susan selected the UC Davis Library as the home for their archive because of the university’s prestige in food and wine science, including the library’s reputation as the world’s preeminent wine library and its growing collections about food. Martin hopes his collection of cookbooks and food and travel photographs will be useful for scholars and students alike to understand more about Asian culture through food.
“It’s truly an honor and a privilege for me to be working with the library at my beloved alma mater to build this Chinese and Asian culinary archive,” he said. “I hope this will become a center for people to learn about Asian food and culture in a fun way.”
The couple also saw the gift as a way to deepen their connection with UC Davis, where his career began. The Yans will return to UC Davis for an event celebrating the collection in May 2022, which will feature a conversation with Martin, cooking demonstration and book signing. Sign up to be notified when event registration opens.
- More (good read) -
https://caes.ucdavis.edu/news/chef-martin-yan-and-wife-donate-archive-uc-davis
= new reply since forum marked as read
