Francis Lam is an American food journalist, cookbook editor, and since 2017 the host of American Public Media's The Splendid Table .
Francis Lam is an American food journalist, cookbook editor, and since 2017 the host of American Public Media's The Splendid Table .
Lam was born to Chinese immigrant parents living in New Jersey and working in Manhattan's Chinatown, where they operated a small garment factory. [1] His mother wanted him to go to business, dental, or medical school. [1] Lam remembers trying to hide his "stinky lunches" from schoolmates and that he "wanted to eat what white people ate." [1]
Lam attended the University of Michigan, where he majored in creative writing and Asian studies, graduating in 1997. [1] [2] He graduated first in his class [2] from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in 2003. [1] [3]
After graduating from Michigan, Lam moved back to New York and worked as a grant writer for non-profit organizations before attending CIA. [1]
While at CIA, he wrote emails to friends describing his experiences. [1] The emails got passed around, and he was contacted by an editor at Financial Times who had read some of them and asked Lam to write for the publication. [1] In 2004 he met Ruth Reichl, then editor of Gourmet, and started freelancing for Gourmet. [1]
In 2007 he received a contract from Gourmet for regular work. [1] At the time he was living in Biloxi, Mississippi, working part-time for a non-profit helping with cleanup after Hurricane Katrina. In 2009 he moved back to New York. [1]
He has written for Food & Wine , Salon [4] and Bon Appétit and wrote a regular column, Eat, [5] about immigrant cooking for New York Times Magazine. [3] [6]
In 2013 he became editor-at-large [7] at Clarkson Potter, editing cookbooks. [8] [9] [10] One of his first acquisitions was Victuals: An Appalachian Journey by Ronni Lundy. [1] [11] He also acquired Tacos: Recipes and Provocations by Alex Stupak and Jordana Rothman, Food of Northern Thailand by Austin Bush, The Jemima Code by Toni Tipton-Martin, Night + Market by Kris Yenbamroong, Chrissy Teigen's Cravings, [8] Eat a Little Better by Sam Kass, [1] and Ryan Jacobs' Truffle Underground. [12]
He was a contributor to and guest host for American Public Media’s The Splendid Table radio show from 2010 until being named in 2017 as the replacement for retiring host Lynne Rossetto Kasper. [8] [13] He served two seasons as a judge for Top Chef Masters. [1] [3] [6] [14] He is a board member for Southern Foodways Alliance. [15]
Lam met his wife, Christine Gaspar, [16] in Biloxi, Mississippi, while they were both working for organizations helping rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. [1] They married in July 2013. [16] They live in New York City and have a daughter. [1]
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