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Michael Chiarello (who, as it turns out, is some sort of gastronomic genius, because he is plowing through Top Chef Masters with relative ease) made a funny at this weekend's SFChefsFoodWine event. Eater overheard this bit of whimsy coming from the mouth of the Napa wonderboy.
"Was he using his normal voice or his fake Martin Yan voice?"—Michael Chiarello, upon learning that Martin Yan (Yan Can Cook) was spotted earlier.
Wait, is Martin Yan's Mickey-Rooney-in-Breakfast-at-Tiffany's voice fake? How very offensive. Yet kinda funny.
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had a friend that worked at Good Guys at the Serramonte Center years ago. Yan's son and Martin were buying some stereo gear. My buddy told me Martin speaks English really well. That tv voice is quite condescending and feeding the stereotypes.....
It's true. He plays up his accent. My mom, who cannot understand anyone with a thick accent, is friends with Martin and his wife Susan. When Martin is on TV my mom has no idea what he's saying. When Martin is on the phone she understands him perfectly.
I am a big Yan Fan and was fortunate enough to meet him at a talk and book signing at the Asia Society in New York a few months ago. Someone during the Q&A asked him about his allegedly fake TV voice and he basically said its a question that follows him around but like most people who learn a new language as an adult he has an accent. I spoke to him while he signed a copy of Chinatown for me and can confirm he speaks impeccable English, with a mild Chinese accent. I asked if he would also sign a book for my mom and he even laughed a little when I told him her name knowing, that he would have to repeat it back to me as he inscribed the book. Known by "Mom" to me, most people know her as Leslie.
Jessica Schupak
www.whatssheeatingnow.com
Silly Yan... Accents are for chix!
you raff you ruse
Maybe Michael C has better execution when cooking for more intimate crowds, but a couple years ago, at the V Foundation Wine event in Napa, I was a bit underwhelmed. More than a bit. Of course, cooking for 500+ people is a rare skill, but probably one that you should have before you volunteer to do such a thing.
From what I've heard, Yan speaks with a very slight accent when in normal conversation and with a more pronounced accent when in front of a crowd. I wouldn't be surprised if some of this is due to hamming it up, but also wouldn't be surprised if some of it is due to one's accent changing, naturally, when the volume is turned up.
Regardless, he is, by all accounts, a super-nice guy and a kick-ass entertaining performer.
Kickin' it up a notch, indeed. "Now put aww da gawrlic in dere. Can you smell dat? Ohhh it smell so GOOD. Now just ret it fry in dere for just a few secons. JUST A FEW SECONS and you'll know you are makin goo chinee food!"
Oh come the fuck on already! When I spend more than 2 weeks back in Boston, you would swear I never left the east coast. After 3-4 weeks back in SF, my accent goes away and gets back to no more "aaaahhhz" or "eeeeeaaaahhhz".
Yan spent the first 20 years of his life speaking Chinese. As any native speaker of a foreign language, he gets an automatic pass.
"Ba-da-bing!" Chiarello is a douche for turning this into any sort of issue. It's a non-issue.
And while we're on the topic of fake accents, I dare anyone to head down south for more than a week and not come back including "y'all" in your daily vocabulary, without thinking about it.