Chef of Chinese food in US glad to serve as cultural ambassador

"You build a friendship, you build a bridge, because I'm the bridge between the American and Chinese culture ... people can cross that bridge and enjoy and understand Chinese culture through food and cooking," he added.
For the longest time, people always thought that Chinese food is fast food: cheap, inexpensive. "That is not true," Yan said.

He mentioned the Man Han Quan Xi (combining Manchurian and Han Chinese delicacies) -- the Imperial Banquet, saying some of the Chinese food are refined, elegant and great -- from the serving ware, from the surface and the selection of ingredients.

"Chinese food, just like any fine cuisine in the world, the French cuisine, the Italian cuisine, or any other cuisine, is the finest cuisine to its best in terms of execution, choice of ingredient, freshness, and how food is prepared," he said proudly.

Besides being the host of a popular cooking show, Yan has travelled and taught cooking classes in the United States and all over the world in the last 30 years.

"I travel to China practically eight times a year" in search of the best Chinese food. "So I can learn and I can introduce all the things I have tasted to people from around the world," he said.

The American Culinary Federation has designated him a Master Chef, and he was also elected an outstanding Chinese figure in 2013 at an official cultural event in China.

Initiated in 2008, the ongoing 2016 NCLC in Chicago is the ninth session. Under the theme of "Ambassadorship in Action," more than 1,300 officials, university presidents and school principals, experts and teachers from the United Stats, Canada and China attended this year's session to share and exchange their Chinese language teaching and learning experiences in four plenary meetings and over 90 workshops.