Joyce Chan

Joyce Chen was credited with popularizing northern-style Chinese cuisine in the United States, coining the name “Peking Raviolis” for potstickers, inventing and holding a design patent for a flat bottom wok with handle (also known as a stir fry pan), and developing the first line of bottled Chinese stir fry sauces for the US market. Before there was Food Network, chef, restaurateur, and author Joyce Chen was credited with popularizing authentic, northern-style Chinese cuisine in the U.S. Previously, much of the Chinese food that most Americans consumed was a hybrid “chop suey ” that was neither authentic nor Chinese in origin. Born in Beijing, China, in 1917, Chen and her family fled the country as communists were taking over. She settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she opened the first Joyce Chen Restaurant in 1958, pioneering the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet concept. In 2014, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp with Chen’s image in honor of her accomplishments and lasting influence on American cuisine.