Kathy Fang talks new Food Network series featuring her and her father, ‘Chef Dynasty: House of Fang’
Food has always been a big part of Kathy Fang’s life. Aside from cooking, she grew up in the food service industry.
“I was about 7 years old when my parents opened the restaurant. They couldn’t afford a daycare, so I spent all my waking hours at the restaurant,” recalls Fang. . “It was basically my house. I spent all day and was there until midnight even on school nights.”
Fang found ways to spend his time in restaurants, such as delivering drinks, busing tables, interacting with customers, and cooking in the back with his father when he was old enough. .
“Naturally, I fell in love with food. I just wanted to be around it because of its taste and smell. Even before I entered a restaurant, I always loved eating,” said Fang. say. “My father said I would find something to eat. I tried to talk about
Born into a family of gourmets and having a wealth of experience from an early age, it was only natural for Fan to enter the food service industry as an adult. When she was 27, she opened her Fang in San Francisco. Fang, like House of Nanking, puts a modern twist on traditional Chinese cuisine.
As a chef, much of Fang’s cooking is based on how she was raised. Her parents have her two different styles of local cuisine, which also incorporates her father’s creativity.
“In fact, I feel like a chef myself, and I have created my own way of doing things thanks to growing up. “When my father first started cooking Chinese food, he was cooking Chinese food that no one else was doing. He was very creative.” I think it’s actually because of his mother that he got it.”
Fang and her father will appear in one of Food Network and discovery+’s new exclusive series Chef Dynasty: House of Fang. In this series, we take a look at the inner workings of the Fang restaurant and how Fang and her father put their own spin on traditional Chinese cuisine.
Fang knows the Food Network well. She has won the hit competition show “Chopped” twice. She always wanted to do a TV show, but she wasn’t sure what she would do.
“I’ve entered a few cooking contests and I love being on TV, but I thought having my own show wasn’t in the cards. , I didn’t know what else I could do in the realm of food TV, maybe be a judge or something, but on my own show, I don’t know what to do,’ Fang said.
When Fang was first approached about “Chef Dynasty: House of Fang,” she was a little skeptical, but seeing all the pieces put together, she knew the show would make it to the screen. I was so excited.
“At first, I think this is really going nowhere. I had no expectations. I didn’t think much of it, but once everything settled down, oops, this was really weird,” Fang said.I never thought of doing a reality series. What will it be like, is my life interesting enough? But things worked out. ”
For Fang, she’s looking forward to seeing the inner workings of how viewers run a Chinese restaurant, especially one in San Francisco.
“Being a featured restaurant in San Francisco, which has the largest Chinatown, the largest Chinese community, a Chinese restaurant is a big deal,” says Fang. “In that regard, I feel very excited about it.”
Fang says that when she first started Fang, she had some preconceptions about how she would do as a chef, especially considering her father was already successful in the industry.
“Many people who don’t know me very well may have all sorts of preconceived notions. Like when I first opened Fang, many people were surprised that I was a chef. “People thought I was on board because of my father. It was like running away from fame in Nanjing and all that,” Fang said.
With this show, she hopes to showcase how important her relationship with her father is and how it relates to running the business together.
“The other aspect is [to show] How close I am to my father and how traditional Chinese I am. People look at me and think, oh, she’s American, her style must be very Western. It still amazes me at that time, because in Western culture, they push through that if you’re a strong female figure, you do what you think you should do,” Fang said. . “However, in Chinese culture there is a very good balance between them. I don’t actually openly disagree with your elders or your dad who happens to be my business partner. you don’t make things uncomfortable. So what I want to emphasize is the overall balance of play that I think people will be surprised to see. I feel that I can do things in our restaurant, achieve something, and remain a very respectable Chinese daughter while still being a great female entrepreneur.
But at the heart of it all is wanting people to know that her experience is about family.
“Without my family, the Fang and Nanjing family would not exist. We have done it in a very harmonious way.
“It feels like there are a lot of reality shows out there that are very engaging and often know there’s a lot of drama, but they’re not really relatable,” Fang added. “Now that we have children, we think a lot about the content that is out there. The content here is not only true to our favorite stories, but it can also appeal to people of all cultural backgrounds, not just Asian cultures. People who have.I think it would be nice if there were more programs like this.”
Chef Dynasty: House of Fang will premiere on the Food Network and discovery+ on December 27th. For more on Fang, visit kathyfang.com or follow her on her Instagram @chefkathyfang.