Photo by Wes Kroninger
There’s no doubt in Jim Yue’s mind: Food completely transformed him.
Yue was an Arizona State University graduate with a theater degree when he moved to New York City to pursue his dream of acting. Like many young hopefuls trying to make it in the Big Apple, he turned to food service to get by.
“I was a professional actor – and a professional waiter,” Yue says.
He appeared in a couple films and television shows, including an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Although he tried to make it to the Broadway stage a few times, Yue’s dancing abilities held him back.
Little did he know, his side job at famed Manhattan Japanese restaurant Nobu New York was already preparing him for his future career.
“I walked into Nobu and just applied for a job,” Yue says. “I didn’t know it was widely recognized.”
Yue had one day to memorize all the restaurant’s main dishes. He was one out of 20 applicants to pass the test. He worked there for two years.
“There were always stars there,” Yue says. “Any celebrity you could possibly think of.”
But it was Masaharu Morimoto of Japan’s Iron Chef, head chef at Nobu, who set the foundation for Yue’s love for cooking.
“I did get a chance to pick his brain,” Yue says. “Even today, I think about how he’d want me to taste something, and I could tell I’d hurt his feelings if I criticized his food. Since then, I’ve been aware that if I’m trying someone else’s food, stray away from criticism. It isn’t always necessary. But I always thought he was a cool guy. He was one of the only chefs that was kind of like a mentor.”
Yue met his wife in New York City. He lived there for five years – until the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
“That changed how we viewed the world,” he says.
They moved to Phoenix first before heading to Columbus for a job. At that point, Yue says, he had given up on his dream of becoming an actor.
“I was working in sales,” he says. “I became overweight and unhappy. I was let go from my job, and I thought, ‘This is the perfect time to reinvent myself.’”
Yue became a volunteer sous chef for Local Matters alongside executive chef Laura Robertson-Boyd. The cooking demonstrations he did then, and now does at Franklin Park Conservatory, reminded him of his background in theater.
“(Cooking demonstrations) let me express myself,” he says. “I feel like they help me tell my story. That’s been a great outlet.”
Along with teaching cooking classes at the conservatory for the past four years, Yue is a cooking coach for Whole Foods Market. He’s worked at the location in Upper Arlington for about two years.
He says that cooking professionally changed not only his body, but his entire outlook on life.
“(Cooking) reignited expression for me,” he says.
Yue says he doesn’t have dreams of owning his own restaurant, or even his own food truck. He compares it to being a captain on a pirate ship, saying that many restaurant owners appear to be overworked and unhappy.
He doesn’t want that atmosphere to taint his love for food – one of the only true art forms, he says, as it engages all senses. Instead, Yue’s trying to prioritize what’s important in his life, such as his wife and two sons.
Cooking also helped Yue reconnect with his culture. He emigrated from Taiwan at the age of 4. By 10, he says, he was morbidly obese, as his diet changed to predominantly fast food, pizza and soda.
“I had pushed (my culture) away,” he says. “When you’re an immigrant, all you want to do is fit in.”
He recalls the one and only dish his father taught him to make as a child: Chinese dumplings.
“Dad didn’t speak any English,” he says. “I would just drink soda and eat junk food, and he would want to cook. We could spend hours chopping vegetables and making things from scratch. I remember thinking it was awful.”
Now, Chinese dumplings are Yue’s favorite dish to prepare. Some people have spirit animals, he says, but his spirit food is a Chinese dumpling.
Cook with Jim Yue
All cooking demonstrations and tastings are held 6-8 p.m. at Franklin Park Conservatory, 1777 E. Broad St. Visit www.fpconservatory.org for more information.
Thai Me Up, Thai Me Down
May 11; $30 for members, $35 for nonmembers
How to Prepare and Cook Fish
May 18; $35 for members, $40 for nonmembers
Knife Skills I
June 10; $30 for members, $35 for nonmembers
Farmers’ Market Finds – The Unusual Suspects
June 11; $30 for members, $35 for nonmembers
Extreme Wing Challenge
June 22; $35 for members, $40 for nonmembers
Hannah Bealer is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
