San José was in for a treat as a world-renowned chef hosted a cooking demonstration at the City Hall Rotunda on Saturday afternoon.
Chef Martin Yan, who is known for his cooking show “Yan Can Cook,” led the demonstration based on recipes from his newest cookbooks “Best of Yan Can Cook” (2023) and “My Asian Kitchen” (2024).
His TV show first premiered in Canada back in 1979 before coming to the United States in 1982 and filming over 3,500 episodes, according to a Feb. 14 2018 KQED article.
“For me, it is an honor and a privilege and I hope to come back again sometime,” Yan said.
The Signature Author Event was put on by the San José Public Library as a way to raise money to invest in the library, according to the San José Public Library Foundation website.
City librarian Jill Bourne said she was satisfied with the outcome of the event and the amount of people that came.
“We were really excited to have such a large crowd,” Bourne said. “It’s clear that Chef Martin Yan was really popular and attracted community members from all over.”
Bourne said the demonstration event showed the diversity in the kind of reading material the library has to offer.
“We’re looking at celebrating different types of authors who have materials in the library,” Bourne said. “It’s a different way to raise awareness and raise interest and remind people of all of the different types of books you can find in the library.”
The event opened up with a lion dance in honor of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, which is celebrated when the moon is at its brightest and fullest according to a Smithsonian webpage.
This is a holiday for families to come together and celebrate the harvest of that time of the year underneath the moonlight, according to the same webpage.
This was followed by a dragon dance from Chef Yan with a smaller dragon than usual.
“I never get a chance to practice really well,” Yan said. “Hopefully one day, I’ll do a better job.”
According to Yan, the lion dance is used in Chinese culture as a way to scare away evil spirits and bring good luck and fortune for the rest of the year.
Yan welcomed the audience as he went down the line, having people touch the dragon's head while giving away chopsticks and other cooking supplies such as knives and sharpening sticks.
“As a television show host, you know that you are reaching millions of people,” Yan said. “Some of these people want to say hello, make friends and reconnect.”
Yan showed the audience how to make a simple stir fry with chicken and vegetables including bell peppers, onions and celery.
Yan also taught cooking tips such as how to sharpen, hold and properly use a kitchen knife. These tips included keeping your fingertips tucked when cutting and always using a sharp knife.
Jose Castaneda, a local San José resident, helped Yan with his demonstration by sautéing ingredients in the stir fry and doing a pan flip for the crowd.
“It was surreal and unbelievable being with someone that is so experienced and so knowledgeable and versed in that field,” Castaneda said.
Castaneda said he was happy with the turnout of the event and voiced the importance of having events like these in the community.
“The library is the cornerstone of a community,” Castaneda said. “They create these events to get people to come together and a lot of times we are so busy with our own personal lives that we forget the little things.”
Yan shared the same sentiment when it comes to the value of putting on these kinds of events.
“A lot of people are overworked and a lot of people are depressed and having an event like this brings the community together,” Yan said. “People can get reconnected and learn to appreciate each other.”
