Actress Ming-Na Wen Explores Asian American Identity in 70 Recipes

For Ming-Na Wen, feeding people has always been one of the clearest ways to show affection—a tradition she inherited from her mother.

“Whenever anyone comes to the house, it’s always, ‘Have you eaten yet?’” Wen told The Associated Press. That familiar question inspired the title of her first cookbook, which she chose as a warm, welcoming greeting for her fans.

Known for her breakthrough role in the 1993 movie adaptation of Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club” and for voicing the title character in “Mulan,” Wen is now entering the cookbook world. “Have You Eaten Yet? Family Recipes From a Restaurant Daughter,” released Tuesday, blends Chinese and Western recipes with personal stories from her life.

Together, the recipes trace Wen’s journey—from an immigrant child working in her family’s restaurant to a successful actor preparing meals for her own children.

For many Asian Americans, Wen became a defining figure through her portrayal of June in “The Joy Luck Club.” The landmark studio film, one of the first major Hollywood productions led by an all-Asian cast, earned praise for presenting Chinese families, culture and food with dignity rather than caricature.

Although Chinese food has become more visible and widely embraced, it is still sometimes reduced to stereotypes or treated as lesser than other cuisines. Wen’s own experience—growing up with both Chinese and American food traditions—gives her a distinctive perspective on the Asian American relationship with food.

“I didn’t want it to just be about Chinese food,” said Wen, 62. “I wanted it to be about the Asian American experience.”

The cookbook serves as a tribute to the family who shaped her

The project grew out of cooking videos Wen began sharing on Instagram from her Los Angeles kitchen. Fans repeatedly encouraged the “The Mandalorian” star to create a cookbook, but she hesitated because she did not consider herself an expert—especially after learning that some celebrities had published cookbooks despite not cooking themselves.

It took several years before her literary agent suggested framing the book around Wen’s personal history with food. “It took a couple of years before my literary agent came up with this wonderful idea that we write the cookbook as my journey through food,” Wen said.

Wen ultimately narrowed approximately 100 recipes to 70 selections. The final collection includes Popo’s Wontons—“Popo” is Cantonese for grandmother—as well as Chestnut Chicken, two dishes connected to her childhood in Hong Kong.

She also pays tribute to her stepfather, whom she calls “Chef Baba,” using the Cantonese word for father. He taught her Western cooking techniques learned during his army service and could move effortlessly from clam chowder to winter melon soup.

Wen was 7 when her stepfather sponsored her, her mother and her brother to travel to the United States. After three years in New York City, the family relocated to Pittsburgh, where her parents opened the Chinatown Inn. As a dependable “restaurant daughter,” Wen set tables, washed dishes and handled whatever other work was needed.

“Being a restaurant kid was something that I sort of was either embarrassed about or rejected or didn’t like because it took time away from hanging out with my friends,” Wen said. With time, however, she came to understand how deeply the restaurant supported her family and helped shape her identity.

Cooking on her own brought those childhood lessons back

Wen did not fully discover her confidence in the kitchen until she moved to New York after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University to pursue acting. Living on a tight budget forced her to cook, bringing back the preparation skills she had absorbed while growing up in the restaurant.

YOU MAY ALSO READ: City in America is offering many empty houses for sale for only $1 – NewsFinale

“It’s interesting how all those things that I observed growing up became second nature when I did start cooking, like really feverishly,” Wen said.

Her early meals were simple combinations such as ramen and eggs. Before long, she was preparing more ambitious dishes, including Cornish game hens served with Chinese plum sauce.

Cooking remained part of Wen’s life after she landed a role on “As the World Turns” in 1988, making history as the first Asian American actor to hold a contract on a soap opera.

Creating the cookbook prompted Wen to revisit meals from that period, along with recipes served at Chinatown Inn, which is now run by her brother and sister-in-law. Reconstructing the dishes could feel like working as a “mad chemist,” she said, because her family traditionally cooks by instinct rather than relying on written measurements.

“The egg rolls — my brother was just like, ‘OK, these are the ingredients.’ I’m like, ‘Well, how much to how much? He’s like, ‘I don’t know,’” Wen said. “I had to measure and measure and remeasure and taste-test and taste-test until I got it right.”

By all means, get a wok

Nowadays, cookbooks on Asian cuisine make up a crowded field, including niche volumes, such as vegan or noodle dishes, or ones influenced by a region of the U.S.

“In a weird way, my cookbook is going back to the basics, and yet expanding on it through other foods that people are familiar with,” Wen said.

She is eager for readers to try more challenging recipes like wontons and “lion’s head,” meatballs with napa cabbage. Wen also cannot recommend a wok enough.

“If there was ever an apocalyptic situation in L.A. and I have to leave with some essentials, I would grab my wok and my spatula, because you can cook anything in a wok,” she said.

Eddie Lin, a Los Angeles-based food writer and past “MasterChef” TV judge, was also a production assistant on “The Joy Luck Club.” Chinese food was “all over the place” in many big scenes, he recalls. So, he sees it as a nice full-circle moment that Wen is again bringing attention to the Asian American experience.

Her cookbook will stick out, he thinks, because she is willing to be so personal.

“I feel that Ming-Na’s book is probably her story on a plate or in a bowl,” Lin said.

Despite the popularity of Asian foods, there are still instances of ugly stereotypes on social media that have resulted in real harm to a restaurant’s reputation.

“It does irk me quite a bit,” Wen said. “I know how difficult it is to keep a restaurant afloat, especially these days. All we can do is just ignore the negative, ignore the toxic and just try to find joy and harmony. Food is the universal love language. So, I will go with that thought instead.”