Food Network star Jet Tila didn’t set out to become a celebrity chef. It’s in his blood.
“My family has been cooking for three generations,” he said during a visit to Purchase College on Feb. 11, where he whipped up wok-loads of healthy Asian fusion specialties for hungry students. “I am still cooking what my grandma made.”
For the past five years, Tila has partnered with Compass Group, the parent company of Chartwells, Purchase College’s food service provider. Tila, whose offerings at Purchase were part of Compass’ Modern Asian Kitchen grab-and-go cafeteria program, has run the kitchens of major restaurants in Dallas, Charleston, South Carolina, and Las Vegas and has appeared on numerous TV shows, including “The Today Show,” “The Talk,” “Food Fighters,” “Beat Bobby Flay” and “Chopped.” He holds six Guinness World Records, including one for the largest stir fry, a 4,010-pound culinary extravaganza.
And, as if that weren’t enough, he’s a gastro-diplomat. In 2013, the Royal Thai Consulate in Los Angeles named him the first Culinary Ambassador of Thai Cuisine.
“I didn’t get into the business to be a celebrity,” Tila, 41, said. “I got in because it was necessity-based.” But, he added, “Luckily, in the last decade or two, it’s been cool to be a celebrity chef.”
While at Purchase, students chowed down on Tila’s Mongolian beef, miso sweet potatoes, sweet chili tofu and other Asian specialties.
“So delicious,” said freshman Nina Rodriguez, digging into a bowl of tofu and rice. “Can he come back?” another student chimed in as her schoolmates posed for selfies with the chef, who is perhaps best known as a regular judge on Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen,” a cooking competition.
Tila is not scheduled to visit the school again anytime soon, nonetheless, he said he’s determined to improve students’ diets. Like most diners, he said, “They want fries and they want chicken strips.” However, Tila added, “We can all strive to want to eat clean and organic and healthy.”
Most Asian food is “pre-fried nuggets with very sweet and lots of MSG-laden instant sauces,” Tila explained. But, he said, motioning toward a wok full of veggies, “You can see that all our stuff is cooked fresh. There’s always a vegan and there’s always a gluten-free option.”
The American-born chef, of Chinese and Thai ancestry, is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu and the California Sushi Academy. But, Tila said, he learned the basics from his family.
“My grandmother was my first culinary instructor,” he said.
As a boy, he worked at his family’s Bangkok Market in Los Angeles, the city’s first Thai grocery, and his parents’ Royal Thai restaurant. “Before that, we had restaurants in Asia… So, yeah, to be able to be part of the first Thai food family in America and to go on to work for some of the best chefs, and do journalism and stuff, it’s been amazing. I’m really lucky,” Tila said.
