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Joyce Chen Foods

Joyce Chen Belongs in Everyone’s Kitchen

Healthy Asian products since 1958

SAVORING THE LEGACY OF JOYCE CHEN

WGBH Show Joyce Chen Cooks 1967
My mother, who died in 1994, is well known for her accomplishments as a chef, restaurant owner, businesswoman, and patenting and marketing the flat bottom wok with a handle. It’s my pleasure to share with you highlights of my mother’s remarkable career. She is credited with:

  • Popularizing Chinese authentic cuisine, including Peking Duck, Moo Shi Pork, Scallion Pancake, and Hot and Sour Soup
  • In 1958, introducing Chinese Dumplings at her first restaurant, the "Joyce Chen Restaurant"
  • Coining the term Peking Raviolis or Ravs for potstickers in the Boston area (The term is now used around the globe.)
  • Introducing authentic Chinese dishes by incorporating them into a restaurant buffet, which she initiated to increase business on slow week nights. Some of the changing dishes in the buffet were not offered in her regular menus.
  • Simplifying communication between Chinese and non-Chinese restaurant workers by numbering menu items
  • Offering only one menu with both English and Chinese; one for Chinese customer's, and one for American's with "Americanized versions of the Chinese cuisine," according to her daughter, Helen Chen
  • Serving the first and now popular "Soup Dumplings" (Shao Long Bao) and other northern dim sum items in her restaurant, "The Joyce Chen Small Eating Place" 1968.