"Simply Ming" (2003) TV series 2003-

Writer:

Ming Tsai (writer)

Seasons:

2 | 9 | 10 | unknown

Release Date:

1 August 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Ming Tsai, former host of the Food Network's East Meets West, hosts a PBS cooking show.

Plot Keywords:

Cooking | Recipe | Chef

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Ming Tsai

...

Himself - Host (113 episodes, 2004-2013)

Series Writing credits
Ming Tsai		(unknown episodes)

Series Produced by
Annie Digregorio	....	producer (63 episodes, 2007-2010)
Anne Adams	....	senior program producer (45 episodes, 2011-2013)
Laurie Donnelly	....	executive producer (45 episodes, 2011-2013)
John Parry	....	supervising producer (28 episodes, 2008-2012)
Denise Drower Swidey	....	culinary producer (20 episodes, 2008-2012)
Lisa Falso	....	associate culinary producer (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Melissa Martin	....	coordinating producer (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Ming Tsai	....	executive producer (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Deborah J. Hurley	....	coordinating producer (unknown episodes, 2003-2008)

Series Original Music by
Dan Kuramoto		(unknown episodes, 2003)

Series Cinematography by
Ken Willinger		(2 episodes, 2013)

Series Art Direction by
Aaron Caramanis		(5 episodes, 2007)

Series Set Decoration by
Amelia Battaglio		(20 episodes, 2011-2012)

Series Makeup Department
Kim Do	....	makeup artist (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Kris Ravetto	....	makeup artist: San Francisco (unknown episodes, 2007)

Series Art Department
Abby Jenkins	....	property master (unknown episodes, 2003)

Series Sound Department
John Hatcher	....	sound mixer (unknown episodes, 2009)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
Scott Wolfeil	....	lighting designer (82 episodes, 2003-2012)
Michael E. Steinberg	....	lighting director (42 episodes, 2008-2011)
Ken Willinger	....	camera operator (24 episodes, 2012-2013)
Nick Cocuzzo	....	grip (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Rich Freedman	....	jib operator (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Nina Gallant	....	still photographer (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
John Harrison	....	camera operator (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Stephen Hussar	....	camera operator (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Robert Tomkins	....	gaffer (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Michael Mulvey	....	jib operator (18 episodes, 2007-2008)

Series Editorial Department
Lauren McGuiness	....	assistant editor (26 episodes, 2012-2013)

Series Other crew
Joe Headrick	....	production assistant (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Joanne O'Connell	....	senior culinary producer (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Todd Seyfarth	....	sous chef (20 episodes, 2011-2012)
Elizabeth Tyson	....	production assistant (unknown episodes, 2004)
Michael Muraszko	....	production assistant (unknown episodes, 2007)

Production Companies

• WGBH

Distributors

• PBS International (2010) (Non-USA) (all media)
• WGBH (2003) (USA) (all media)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Milford, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

WGBH

What bearing does this have on real life?

I love Chinese food. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY and have eaten the best Chinese food in the world. I have great respect for the good people who fed me all that delicious stuff. I wish I could still get cuisine that good today. And then, along comes Ming Tsai. This is an intelligent, talented, well-educated chef, who presents dishes which have little to do with real Chinese cooking most of the time. He began the series by presenting lazy haute cuisine recipes, most of which were impossible to reproduce in the home. He's evolved to an even lazier program now, which offers only a "master sauce", also impossible to reproduce, served over many impossible to obtain ingredients. Don't get me wrong, in theory, it all seems swell, but in watching the show, you've got to notice even Ming can't get his dishes made. He works sloppily and presents a finished dish obviously put together by some unnamed off-screen sous chef, somewhere. Halfway through, he brings out some quasi-super-chef or another, and they glad-hand and support each others' theories of fusion cooking, which, frankly, for me, the jury is still out on. The best shows are the ones with his likable parents, themselves past restaurant owners. They mug for the camera, embarrass their son and pull the most delicious-looking traditional Chinese fare seemingly out of thin air. The rest of the series is well-produced, but not all that interesting. If I ever get back to Boston, I'll give Ming's Blue Ginger restaurant a try. Until then though, this show just isn't convincing me, and it's a static view of mythic cooking.