By
Phyllis Louise Harris
April
2013
The
International Association of Culinary Professionals presented Florence Lin with
its 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award April 9, at its annual conference in San
Francisco. Since 1990 the organization
has recognized individuals with this annual award in honor of their lifetime
careers in the culinary arts world.
Selected by the IACP board of directors, the 22 recipients have made
noteworthy and lasting contributions to the culinary world including Julia
Child, Jacques Pepin, Martin Yan, and now Florence Lin.
Since
1974 Florence has been my teacher, mentor and friend sending my life on a path
I never imagined. I met her at the China
Institute in America in New York City when I enrolled in one of her legendary
cooking classes. She opened the class
with the statement “when you finish my classes you will be able to cook Chinese
dishes with anything you have in your refrigerator.” I thought of the leftovers in my refrigerator
and somehow doubted this bold promise.
Now nearly 40 years later, I know she was right.
Born in 1923, Han Ju Shen (later
taking Florence as her American name) was the third daughter of eight children
of a silk merchant and his wife living in Hankou near Shanghai, China. She was clearly her father’s favorite and he
considered her a good luck charm for his business success. At age 10 she often accompanied her father on
his trips throughout China where she ate in top restaurants along the way. At home, she often spent time in the kitchen
with the family’s chef learning the art of Chinese cooking. A year in the country living with her aunt
furthered her cooking lessons where she learned the best way to make delicious
food was to practice – advise she would later pass on to her students when she
directed them to “Practice! Practice! Practice!”
In
1949, Florence moved to New York City to marry her fiancé K. Y. Lin who was
working in finance. They eventually had
two children and Florence began her journey to become part of her new
country. She started by learning English
and giving dinner parties at home for her husband’s clients who found her food
extraordinary. Soon she was cooking
special dishes for her church’s women’s group bringing her to the attention of
officials at the China Institute. They
invited her to teach a cooking class at the Institute and soon she was teaching
several. Her classes became so popular
they were often sold out and in a few years she was named director of the Institute’s
Chinese cooking program. Her students
included many of the cooking stars of the time such as Julia Child who said she
came to Florence’s class “to learn Chinese cooking from the best.”
She
first came to national attention in 1963 through articles written by Craig
Clairbourne, food editor of the New York
Times. In 1965 she determined it was
time to publish a cookbook and called it East
and West Chinese Cooking. Eighteen
publishers turned it down.
In 1968 Time Life Books approached
her to be their principal food consultant for their Foods of the World: Cooking of China. This led to contracts with major food and
equipment producers who sent her around the country demonstrating and talking
about Chinese cooking. She began writing
cooking articles for national magazines as well as the New York Times and in 1975 Hawthorne Publishing issued her first
cookbook, Florence Lin’s Regional Cooking
of China. It was a nationwide
success, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and named Best Cookbook of 1975.
She
followed with four more cookbooks: Florence
Lin’s Chinese Vegetarian Cookbook in 1976, Florence Lin’s Chinese One-Dish Meals in 1978, Florence Lin’s Cooking with Fire Pots in 1979, and Florence Lin’s Complete Book of Chinese
Noodles, Dumplings and Breads in 1984.
At
the invitation of Asian Culinary Arts Institutes Florence came to the Twin
Cities in 1995 to participate in ACAI’s unique chef’s exchange with China held
at the Hennepin Technical College in Eden Prairie. She appeared on public radio, at various ACAI
events, gave cooking classes, interpreted for the Chinese chefs, and was a
unique source of Chinese cooking information for the culinary students.
Florence
has always been an advocate of eco-friendly cooking pointing to the Chinese
tradition of using all parts of any animal, fish, vegetable, fruit or
ingredient instructing students not to waste anything. “I encouraged them to use the wok to save on
fuel,” she once said, “and to turn leftovers into tasty, satisfying meals,
rather than throwing anything away.”
Some of her favorite dishes use the freshest ingredients cooked in the
simplest way to bring out their full flavors.
Today,
Florence has retired from professional cooking, but continues to cook Chinese
food for others. She volunteers in the
kitchen of a Buddhist temple to help prepare vegetarian meals for the monks
using ingredients grown in the temple gardens.
And, when former students visit, they are treated to yet another cooking
lesson in her kitchen.
Read
more about Florence Lin and some of the recipes she inspired in Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of
Minnesota since 1875, now in bookstores and on amazon.com.
Buy online:
Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875
