About Simply Ming

PUBLIC TELEVISION'S SIMPLY MING SELECTED AS IACP AWARD FINALIST

- SIMPLY MING vies for new Televised Culinary Series Award

BOSTON, MA (February 21, 2012) The Emmy® nominated public television series SIMPLY MING has been named a finalist in the category of Televised Culinary Series by the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals). With the tremendous growth in broadcast and new media, the IACP has introduced nine new categories this year, including Televised Culinary Series, Culinary Website and Audio Series formats, to honor trendsetters and excellence in traditional and emerging communications technologies. Chef Ming Tsai's SIMPLY MING television series will face off against "Essential Pepin," hosted by the legendary Jacques Pepin, and "New York Chow Report" with Alexandra Van Buren.

The IACP's annual cookbook awards are considered the gold standard among cookbook awards for using the most selective criteria in the industry. For the past 25 years, the awards have promoted quality and creativity in culinary writing and publishing. Past honorees have included Julia Child, Mark Bittman, Thomas Keller and Dorie Greenspan. The Awards Ceremony will take place on Monday, April 2 during a gala event at the IACP's 2012 Annual Conference in New York City.

"The IACP cookbook awards are one of the most respected achievements in the culinary world." said Ming Tsai. "To be selected as a finalist for the best Televised Culinary Series is humbling and a great honor. I am further honored to be considered alongside my good friend Jacques Pepin, who is an accomplished chef with one of the best palates bar none."

SIMPLY MING delights fans with insights into East-West ingredients, delicious recipes and culinary destinations as well as cutting edge technological innovations. Since 2007, Tsai has produced weekly vodcasts, offering additional tips and tutorials on everything from filleting fish to food allergies, which viewers can access from the SIMPLY MING website and from YouTube or download for free on iTunes. SIMPLY MING partnered with ZipList in 2011 to enable viewers to save recipes to their own personal electronic recipe box by texting from a mobile device. The technology eliminates the time-consuming process of navigating a web site to locate and save a recipe from the show.

The ninth season of SIMPLY MING, which premiered in October 2011, showcases Ming Tsai and his guest chefs "Cooking on the Fly" with surprise ingredients and finding inspiration from an East-West pantry. In each studio episode, Ming kicks off the show by highlighting techniques to help viewers "Cook on the Fly" at home. For half the season, Ming is on the road visiting some of his favorite chefs and places in San Francisco, Napa Valley and the latest culinary hotspot, Singapore.

All-Star In-Studio Line-Up
This season, Ming has an all-star studio line-up. Sharpening their knives are: Jacques Pepin, chef and cookbook author of over 26 books/cookbooks, Andrew Zimmern, host of Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Jason Santos, chef/owner of Blue Inc., Jody Adams, chef/owner of Rialto and Trade, Joanne Chang, chef/owner of Myers+Chang and pastry chef/owner of Flour Bakery+Cafe, Jonathan Waxman, chef/owner of Barbuto, Michel Schlow chef/owner Radius, Alta Strada, Via Matta, and Tico, Jamie Bissonette, chef/co-owner of Coppa and Toro, Carla and Christine Pallotta, chef/owners of Nebo, Bryan Caswell, chef/owner of Reef, Little Biggs, Stella Sola, and El Real Tex-Mex Cafe, Charles Phan, chef/owner of the Slanted Door, Out the Door, The Moss Room and Heaven's Dog, Michael Rhulman, Author of seven books/cookbooks, Dante deMagistris, chef/owner of Dante and il Casale, Jonathan Taylor, Tom Woods and Michele Fadden chefs/pastry chef of Ming's own Blue Ginger.

All-Star California Line-Up
Ming hits the road, taking us on a culinary adventure with stops in Napa where we cook with Iron Chef Morimoto, chef/owner of Morimoto; a visit to San Francisco with Julio Bermejo, owner of Tommy's, and Dennis Lee, chef/owner of Namu, and a trip up to Cain Vineyards where Ming cooks with Mom & Dad, Iris and Steven Tsai, and wine maker and General Manager, Christopher Howell.

All-Star Singapore Line-Up
This season, Ming also embarks on a trip to the other side of the world when he teams up with Singapore chefs to create six all new international episodes. The programs will feature: Andre Chiang, chef/owner of Restaurant Andre, Janice Wong, chef/owner of 2am DessertBar, Shermay Lee, chef/owner of Shermay's Cooking School, KF Seetoh, author of Makansutra, Samson Chan, chef of Barnacles at the Shangri-La Rasa Santosa Resort, and chef Damian D'silva.

About SIMPLY MING
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SIMPLY MING is produced by WGBH Boston and Ming East-West, LLC, and distributed by American Public Television. Ming Tsai is host. Executive producers are Ming Tsai, Laurie Donnelly for WGBH Lifestyle Productions, and Julia Harrison for Ming East-West, LLC. Studio production facilities are provided by Clarke. SIMPLY MING is closed-captioned for viewers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing by The Media Access Group at WGBH Boston.

Funding for SIMPLY MING is provided by Melissa's/World Variety Produce, Inc., Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Subaru of New England, T-fal ActiFry, and Wanjashan. Special thanks for the generous support of the Bernard K. Chiu Charitable Foundation, the Singapore Tourism Board and the California Travel and Tourism Commission.

Viewers can also become a fan of Simply Ming on Facebook www.facebook.com/SimplyMingTV and follow the series on Twitter www.twitter.com/SimplyMingTV.

Simply Ming Media Contact
Lauren Klatsky
PR/Marketing
Ming East-West
781-283-5797
lklatsky@ming.com

Ming Tsai/Blue Ginger Press Contact
Lauren Klatsky
Ming East-West
781-283-5797
lklatsky@ming.com

All press materials and photography for SIMPLY MING are available through the WGBH Boston and American Public Television online pressrooms: pressroom.wgbh.org and aptonline.org/press.

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