Molly Yeh is known for being the star of a Food Network series where she shares the very best of her recipes inspired by her Jewish and Chinese heritage. Her first cookbook won the Judges’ Choice IACP Cookbook Award in 2017, and her food blog regularly welcomes tens of thousands of visitors each month. She is also an accomplished musician with a degree in percussion performance from Juilliard.
Molly is a great example of someone who is proud of her heritage and shares it with others. She said, "It's so important to choose connection beyond family because we live among tons of other people; we share a planet with billions of other people." For her, cooking is the first step in that journey. "I want other people to experience the joy of cooking: feeding people who I love and creating those memories and traditions around it," she explained.
This year, Molly Yeh is a keynote speaker at RootsTech! Visit RootsTech.org to watch her delicious keynote address.
Molly Yeh: Blogger, Chef, Musician, and More
Molly Yeh is the star of the show Girl Meets Farm, on the Food Network, where she invites the audience to her home kitchen and amazes them with her wonderful fusion of Asian and Jewish cuisine, with Midwestern inspiration. She is also the creator of the highly popular food and lifestyle blog My Name Is Yeh, recognized in 2014 by Saveur and Yahoo as “Food Blog of the Year.”
Molly came to national attention with her cookbook, Molly on the Range: Recipes and Stories from an Unlikely Life on a Farm. The New York Times selected her cookbook as one of the top releases of 2016. The book was also the winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals' "Judge's Award." NPR selected the book as one of their "Great Reads of 2016."
In 2019, Molly was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Media Award for "Outstanding Personality/Host" and a Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Culinary Host." She was named to Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2017 and Apartment Therapy’s 10 under 40 list. Molly Yeh has accomplished so much in the world of food, but for Molly, food has one goal—to bring her family together.
Molly Yeh's Personal Life
Molly Yeh is originally from the suburbs of Chicago. Her father is a professional musician who always encouraged her to be creative. Her mother is a former chocolatier, and while she no longer works professionally in food, she is always cooking up new recipes to share. Molly recalls having a fun childhood, growing up in a household filled with great food and great music.
After high school, Molly moved to New York City to study classical percussion at Juilliard. That is where she met her now-husband Nick, who is a trombonist. As a percussionist, she has performed with orchestras around the world.
During her time in New York, she fell wildly in love with food. She kept journals from a young age, which she decided to turn into her blog in 2009. That food blog just started as a hobby while she was living in New York, but it has since transitioned into cookbooks and now into Molly's own TV show.
From New York, Molly and her husband, Nick, moved back to his family's fifth-generation sugar beet farm on the border of North Dakota and Minnesota. They now have a two-year-old daughter, a second child on the way, and a little flock of chickens.
Molly Yeh at RootsTech 2022
Molly Yeh is very aware of her roots and their influence on her. "Knowing my ancestry definitely gives me more confidence in knowing myself and who I am. It's sort of like feeling like I'm not alone," she says. "I hope that my story will inspire people to be proud about where they come from and their heritage. I also hope people will look at their differences as positive things and see that they can celebrate other people's differences and embrace them in such a way that brings love and joy into this world.”
Visit RootsTech.org to see Molly's inspiring keynote address and to learn how she has more in common with her ancestors than she thought. RootsTech is the world's largest genealogy and family history conference, which will be held online this year for free. You won't want to miss it!
(Note: To view Molly Yeh's keynote address, you will need to sign into your FamilySearch account or create one.)
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