DAVIS, Calif. — Chef Martin Yan, along with his wife, gifted nearly 3,000 cookbooks, his first wok, thousands of photographs and other items and funds to create the Chef Martin Yan Legacy Archive in the UC Davis Library Archives and Special Collections.
"For the last 30, 40 years, I have collected thousands of books, and I actually have a collection of about 4,500 books all over," Yan said. "And in fact, about five years ago, I donated about 500 cook books toward the UC Davis library already. But during that time, we were toying an idea how I can put together all of these wonderful collection because these books (have cuisine) from around the world, not just Asian cuisine but mainly a lot of Asian cuisine."
Yan said many of the books are not only in English, but some are even bilingual and in Chinese.
According to the university, the Yan's are making the following donation:
- Among the cookbooks, 30 that Yan authored
- Photographs, videos, media clips and slides taken as Yan traveled the world for his food and travel shows, including Yan Can Cook
- Awards Yan received over the years
- $20,000 to preserve and digitize the archive
Chef Martin Yan graduated from UC Davis in the 1970's. His wife also graduated from the school that same decade.
"We spent a lot of wonderful, happy years in Davis," Yan said. "Riding bicycles and getting to know everybody. You know, when you ride a bicycle, you can bump into a lot of people, and that is a wonderful campus."
The archive is expected to be unveiled later this year and according Yan, it's purpose is not just to dazzle people but to be used as a teaching tool.
"Well, I think the the collection represents a number of areas," he said. "One is about travel, about food culture, about history, about heritage of each of the places that I traveled."
The UC Davis Library is planning a May public event to celebrate the collection.
"So I think it's time for me to give it back to the community and give back to my beloved university, UC Davis, and also share my passion and my love with people around the world," Yan said.
