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Chen, Joyce
Appears in
Published 2004
Joyce Chen (1917–1994), born into an affluent family in Peking, China, is recognized for popularizing Mandarin cuisine in the United States. Chen’s father was well known for his affection for delectable cuisine and hired a skilled family chef to be part of his household. Chen was encouraged by her parents to develop culinary skills from a young age, despite the availability of servants.
These skills proved invaluable following Chen’s arrival in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1949, when she fled Shanghai with her family on the second-to-last boat to leave China just before the Communist Party’s assumption of power. When Chen settled in Cambridge, authentic Chinese cuisine was still considered foreign to the American palate and challenging for the home cook due to the limited accessibility of ingredients and lengthy preparation time.