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Celebrity chef Martin Yan, star of the PBS show “Yan Can Cook,” entertains during his Friday evening appearance titled “New Year, New Yan, New YOU!” at Kaunoa Senior Center in Spreckelsville. The free event was sponsored by AARP Hawaii and Kaunoa Senior Services. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

Growing up in China at a time when families were allotted only 2 pounds of meat and 4 ounces of oil each month, Martin Yan quickly learned the value of a simple, tasty meal.

“Even when we were little kids, we always learned how to use the minimum amount of ingredients and do a quick and healthy meal,” Yan said. “I’m used to the fastest way of doing things.”

Last week, the celebrity chef and TV host visited Maui, bringing his signature humor and emphasis on healthy living before a packed audience at the Kaunoa Senior Center in Spreckelsville on Friday. Cracking jokes and slicing vegetables razor thin, Yan showed the audience how to spruce up everyday dishes and cook a meal of papaya and shrimp salad, stir-fry mango chicken and pineapple fried rice.

“The whole idea is to get yourself up a little bit and do something and feel good about yourself, rather than just have packaged food or opened cans,” Yan said in an interview Thursday. “That is not very healthy, because it’s always better to eat something fresh and seasonal.”

With Chinese New Year’s around the corner, Yan was in Hawaii for a series of new year-related events put together by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and the AARP, for which Yan is an ambassador.

“Yan can, you can’t,” Chef Yan jokes with the audience Friday

Best known as the host of the TV show “Yan Can Cook,” the energetic chef from Guangzhou, China, has traveled the world highlighting Asian cuisine. He runs a popular restaurant in San Francisco, has won major awards from institutions like The James Beard Foundation and has written 30 cookbooks.

And at age 70, he has no intention of slowing down.

“People ask me, ‘Martin, when are you going to retire?’ “ Yan said. “Why should I retire? Julia Child never retired. When she was 90 years old, she wrote an introduction for one of my books, and I delivered the book to her in Santa Barbara. She was still very active. Still wanted to go out and do things even though she had a hip replacement.”

Yan is a big believer in the power of cooking, not only as a way to stay healthy but to keep retired people social, active and feeling purposeful about life. Even if people can’t do much for themselves, there are plenty of pre-cut vegetables and meats at the store to choose from, Yan said, and nowadays groceries can be delivered right to your front door.

“At least go out and shop once a week, to get some fresh ingredients, fresh produce,” Yan said. “Basically to encourage people to keep moving and keep an active lifestyle and cook for yourself and your family.”

Chef Yan shows off a pineapple crown at his Friday demonstration. “At least go out and shop once a week, to get some fresh ingredients, fresh produce,” Yan said.

Yan’s love of cooking blossomed in his family’s kitchen, where he would watch his mother make simple meals with inexpensive ingredients, often things that could be thrown into a clay pot and eaten all together.

Yan grew up in Guangzhou during “a very turbulent time of China.” Meat, oil and fabrics were rationed each month. Sugar and butter were precious and eaten much less.

“We only got two yards of fabric,” Yan said. “That’s why in the old days you see all the people walking around with patches in their clothing. Nowadays it’s fashionable to cut everything up into pieces. In the old days in China, everyone dressed like that.”

Yan’s parents ran a restaurant and grocery store, and Yan went on to become an apprentice in a popular restaurant in Hong Kong. He studied at the Overseas Institute of Cookery in Hong Kong and eventually came to the U.S., where he received a master’s in food science at the University of California, Davis and taught as a chef-instructor in the university’s extension program.

In 1978, he launched “Yan Can Cook” and encouraged everyday viewers with his signature line — “If Yan can cook, so can you!” The show was broadcast on public television for four decades, and Yan also filmed the series in locations throughout Asia.

But the globetrotting chef said that his favorite place to visit is Maui. He and wife Susan come every year, and Yan said many of his friends have moved to Maui.

“I will follow them,” Yan said, “in 10 years. When I make enough money.”

He loves the vibrant fruits, the fresh seafood and the melting pot of cultures; many of the early Chinese immigrants to Hawaii hailed from Southern China, like Yan. But he just doesn’t get Spam.

“People in Hawaii, I don’t understand why they love Spam so much,” Yan said. “I bought a can of Spam. It took me four days to finish. . . . It’s truly fascinating for me.”

Back home in San Mateo, Calif., Yan stays busy running his San Francisco restaurant, M.Y. China, which he said serves about 1,000 people every day. He also travels at least 250 days of the year, filming cooking shows in places like Malaysia, Vietnam and Korea. His 13-part series “Taste of Malaysia with Martin Yan” will air Saturdays at 5 p.m. on PBS Hawaii, starting Feb. 16.

All the nonstop activity suits the chef. Yan said he’s kept the same weight for nearly 30 years and has never dieted, only focused on not eating too much and consuming lots of vegetables. In the mornings, he spends time in the garden, looking for things that need to be pulled out or trimmed. At work, he tries to move around and not sit around for hours at a time. He said he still walks faster than most people and can debone a chicken in 18 seconds.

“When you love what you’re doing, you don’t really consider it working,” Yan said. “The luckiest person on the earth is, they love what they do every day. So I’m not working. I don’t have to work a day in my life. Whether I get paid or not, it doesn’t matter. Do something you love, make a decent living and you can share your fortune and goodwill with people.”

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.

RECIPE FROM CHEF MARTIN YAN

Stir-fried Mango Chicken

Ingredients:

3/4-pound boneless, skinless chicken, thinly sliced.

2 tablespoons cooking oil.

1 teaspoon minced ginger.

1/2-cup fresh mango chunks.

2 tablespoons roasted, unsalted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped.

• Marinade:

2 teaspoons cornstarch.

2 teaspoons soy sauce.

• Sauce:

2 tablespoons fresh mango juice.

3 tablespoons Thai chili sauce.

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch.

Directions:

Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add chicken and stir to coat. Let stand 10 minutes.

Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl; mix well. Set aside.

Place a stir-fry pan over high heat until hot. Add oil, swirling to coat sides. Add ginger; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 10 seconds. Add chicken; stir fry 3 minutes. (Vegetables such as bell pepper may also be added).

Add sauce; cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens slightly, about 20 seconds. Stir in mango; cook 30 seconds to heat through.

Transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle with macadamia nuts. Serves 4.

(This dish was featured in Yan’s cooking demonstration Friday on Maui.)

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