The Creative Kitchen | Meet Our Friends: Min Liao

Min Liao

The Director of the Culinary Center at Whole Foods Bowery

As the Director of the Culinary Center at Whole Foods Bowery, our friend Min Liao knows how to mix it up in the kitchen! Born in Taiwan and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Min has eaten all kinds of food. From Chocolate Milk to her father’s “Chinese-Style” Thanksgiving stuffing Min has tried it all! Today she shares the joy of cooking (and eating!) when she teaches kids’ cooking classes. Get to know Min better through her ‘Meet Our Friends’ blog post for when she and Cricket teach their Kids Cook NYC Camps at Whole Foods Bowery this Summer.

What was your favorite food to eat as a child?

My favorite foods as a kid were all over the map. I was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and raised by Chinese immigrant parents in the San Francisco Bay Area; but spent lots of time at friends’ houses eating all kinds of 1980’s American junk food. I loved spoonfuls of Cool Whip in Nestle Quick chocolate milk, and could eat my weight in pizza and Kentucky Fried Chicken. I had Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms on constant breakfast rotation. I chewed Big League shredded pink bubblegum like it was my job. But I was also constantly eating Chinese favorites with my parents like congee with salty pickled vegetables, chicken’s feet, steamed pork buns, and spicy noodle soups with beef tongue and tendons.

Do you have children? If so, what do you like to make for them or with them?

No, but I have a lot of children in my life! Plus, I love teaching kids’ classes. I’m always up for anything when it comes to cooking with kids — tacos, fruit cobblers, interesting salads with homemade dressings, Vietnamese summer rolls, you name it — anything that involves lots of color and texture.

What is your favorite childhood memory in the kitchen?

My mom wasn’t crazy about cooking, but my dad really enjoyed trying new ingredients. My favorite food memory is the 2 of us trying artichokes for the first time, and feeling so American about it — he had seen customers do it at the restaurant he was working in at the time. We steamed them up, and dipped the leaves in melted butter and mayo. Then my dad cut up the heart with a paring knife and we split it. That was the first of many artichokes we shared over the years.

What was your favorite recipe to help make when you were a kid?

Every year, my father made a “Chinese-style” Thanksgiving stuffing. So bizarre, but delicious. He stuffed the turkey with a mixture of savory sticky rice, shiitake mushrooms, and dried shrimp (basically a similar mixture you’d find wrapped in lotus leaves from a Chinese street vendor), and proceeded to serve that hybrid Chinese-American bird with traditional sides like string beans and mashed potatoes. I loved helping him with the stuffing, and watching him roast the turkey. Of course, he would baste it with a mixture of soy sauce and butter. It was both fun and funny, and even then, as a little kid, I was aware of how special it was — mixing both cultures into one meal.