“If this doesn’t impress you, I quit!” says chef Martin Yan, the host of long-running PBS cooking show “Yan Can Cook,” at a folding table in UC Davis’ Segundo Dining Commons. With a wave of a cleaver, Yan transforms a bell pepper into a pile of tinsel-thin strands of scarlet.

In the next moment, he garnishes a plate with equally gossamer slices of tomato. Pepper: deseeded. Garlic: minced. Plate: garnished. And all with time for a musical interlude of a cleaver banging on the table top (a carry over from his time as Grand Marshal during the 2008 Davis Picnic Day, he says). With a career spanning over four decades, it’s safe to say he continues to impress.

Yan returned to UC Davis’ Segundo Dining Commons Feb. 25 to lead a dumpling-making demonstration and friendly competition among students. Chef Yan’s no stranger to campus — as distinguished UC Davis alumnus and honorary board member of the Mondavi Center, he also delivered two commencement speeches at the university. In 2022, he and his wife, Susan, donated nearly 3,000 cookbooks to the collection to the university archives.

“When I first came here to study food science, Davis was a sleepy town. The dining scene was very simple. There was only one Chinese restaurant in the area,” he reminisces. “Now, there is a lot of variety and you can see that the trend is more healthy — more salads and fresh ingredients and more grilled options. It is like a big food court that is very diverse.”

As for what “healthy eating” means to him, he says it is a matter of supply and demand. He remembers when people were not into seasoning, thinking it was unhealthy. “Now,” he says, pointing to the rack of sriracha, Cholula-brand hot sauce, malt vinegar and soy sauce in the dining hall, “There’s a lot more variety for people from all over the world. People are traveling more and want more. People are demanding quality — flavor meets fresh ingredients. That’s why there’s the obsession with ‘farm to table.’”

Watch and fold

Over the years, Yan noticed a rise in enthusiasm regarding his cooking demos. When he first started doing cooking demos at universities or other dining halls, it took a while for students to warm up. This is less of an issue for a seasoned television host known for his warmth and charisma, who has a knack for knowing his audience.

“Which oil has the highest smoke point?” he asks.

“Avocado oil!” a student in the crowd responds.

“Wrong. It’s motor oil. I never specified cooking oil. In that case, you are right.”

At the demo, nearly everyone present volunteered to try their hand at making dumplings using three different types of wrappers — potstickers, shumai and wontons — and either minced ginger pork or tofu filling.

The challenge: watch and fold. If you blink, it’s easy to miss the trick and need to replay the demo in slow motion (not to worry, since he has an active online presence — notably with the comedian and YouTube producer Uncle Roger — you can replay them at your own convenience.)

Students had five minutes to produce the most dumplings, leading to a range of results, from “most creative” to “this one is for someone on a diet — there’s no filling!” Other categories included “most uniform” and “restaurant quality.”

“I wanted to include a competition component not only to make it fun but also to show students how difficult it is to cook aesthetically pleasing and delicious food for a crowd in a short time. As a chef, you have to be fast. You can’t just fold one dumpling every five minutes,” Yan explains.

Another attendee, a first year international student studying pre-landscape architecture, had the rice cooker he brought with him from Hong Kong signed by Yan.

“Last time Yan was here, students were FaceTiming family members who grew up watching him,” says Kraig Brady, executive director of dining services, who has worked with Yan before.

A vision for UC Davis dining

Yan’s demonstration is part of an ongoing initiative at UC Davis’ dining to celebrate the culinary cultures of the student body, especially as he will provide his recipes for adaptation and use in dining facilities, according to the press release.

Brady envisions a dining program focused on fresh, local foods, expanded dining hall hours for greater flexibility, and improved accommodations for dietary needs. This includes an allergen-free station and diverse international meal options to better serve the student community. “It’s a way for people to feel like they can have something that reminds them of home, or, if they are completely new to the food, it’s a great way for them to learn about it.

“Students have enough to worry about — food shouldn’t be one of them,” he emphasizes.

The hard task of managing the logistical and business challenges behind serving roughly 30,000 meals a day falls on the dining team. It’s slightly easier in Northern California, he says, “where ‘Aggie grown’ or local actually means something. For example, we make the tomato sauces used in salsas, marinaras and soups.”

Executive Chef Kue Her, who oversees all dining units, also observed an improvement in access to better food quality. One of the changes he’s noticed was more customizable meals, like the build-your-own-bowl model that allows students to pick what goes on their plate.

Brady says, “The biggest compliment I get is when I see empty plates. I think that if you make quality food, food waste also goes down because you consume what you like.”

Food continues to center stage in Davis and the broader Capital Region, with celebrity chefs like Martin Yan using it to educate and bring people together. Yan’s joy of cooking has taken him out of the kitchen to travel the world’s Chinatowns. Returning to UC Davis, where his journey began, was a homecoming.

“Good food takes time to prepare, and it’s important to know that. I’m so glad to see that under the leadership of the dining team, Davis is becoming something special,” Yan says. “It’s a beautiful facility, and it makes me want to go to school again.”

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