Chins blend culture, family with cooking

By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor

The story of the Tony Chin family of Minneapolis is the classic assimilation tale: first-generation parents eager to take advantage of the opportunities in the new country while maintaining a strong cultural connection with the homeland, and children who think of themselves as Americans and are impatient with traditional ways.

For Leeann and Katie Chin, food is a way of telling their immigration story.

The Chins immigrated in 1956 to Minneapolis, where the late Tony Chin was a professor at the University of Minnesota. "My father expected and demanded the kinds of foods he was used to, but my mother could barely find ginger in the grocery store, or fresh garlic," Katie Chin said. "Still, she learned to make do. She had always loved to cook and I think that she found some joy and peace through preparing meals — it was something she knew how to do even though they were in this strange place and it was freezing. I think it was a way of expressing herself."

Meanwhile, the Chin children "were craving pizza and Hamburger Helper," Chin said. Mom would relent when Dad was out on Friday nights, playing cards. The rest of the week, they had to "sik fan" (eat dinner) in Chinese style, she relates in the introduction to the book the mother and daughter wrote together, "Everyday Chinese Cooking" (Clarkson Potter, 2000).

About the time Wai Hing Chin adopted the American name Leeann (because she liked the sound of it), she began taking in sewing. A luncheon for her sewing customers led to pleas for catering services. By the time Katie was 8, she was helping her mom cater a party for Robert Redford ("my knees were knocking") and by the time she was in high school, the first Leeann Chin restaurant had opened. There are now 50 eateries in the chain.

Years later, Katie Chin had launched a busy career as a marketing executive in the film industry in Los Angeles when her mom came out for a visit. Opening the refrigerator, Leeann Chin found an empty wasteland and let out a typical outraged-mom sound. Soon the two were holding interactive cooking classes with Katie's friends, teaching them how to plan ahead to make quick, healthful Chinese-style meals.

Predictably, this being L.A., somebody said, "You should do a book." So they did.

Now they have made a TV series, "Double Happiness," that centers around family celebrations: making noodles together as an all-ages activity, hosting a wedding tea ceremony, making snacks for a mah jong night and organizing a gathering for that all-important Chinese New Year holiday. Woven through are stories of the family's life.

Said Katie Chin: "'Double Happiness' — which can mean preparing a dish two different ways, or using two different ingredients — is an important symbol in Chinese culture, used in a lot of weddings and banquets and celebrations. It symbolizes unity and coming together and I thought that would be a great name for a mother-daughter show because we're a team."