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Bun Lai

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Bun Lai
Born1973 (age 50–51)
Hong Kong
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Chef, restaurateur
Years active1992–present
Known forMiya's, sustainable sushi, sustainable seafood

Bun Lai (born 1973) is a Hong Kong-born American chef. He is a leader in the sustainable food movement.[1][2] His family restaurant, Miya's in New Haven, Connecticut, is the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the world.[3][4] His mother, who received an award from U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro for her contribution in sustainable seafood,[5] is the founder of Miya's and his father is a Cambridge and Yale University-educated scientist and surgeon.[6][7]

Bun Lai's work as the chef of Miya's and as a leader in the sustainability movement has been featured in local and national publications (see "Media" below).

Career

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In 2001, Bun Lai initiated the removal from the menu of seafood that was caught or farmed in a way that was detrimental to the long term well-being of the harvested species or its habitats. Bun Lai is credited as the first chef in the world to implement a sustainable seafood paradigm to the cuisine of sushi.[8][9][10][3] The sweet potato sushi roll, which Bun Lai created in 1995 at Miya's, is the California Roll of plant-based sushi. Today it can be found on sushi menus throughout the country.[11][12] The use of brown rice — instead of white rice — and other whole grains for sushi, is also a Bun Lai innovation, which today is emulated throughout the world of sushi.[13][14]

Chef Bun Lai preparing his wabisabi roll made from Alaskan sockeye and wild grape leaves he foraged himself.

Chef Bun Lai created the first menu dedicated to the idea of using invasive species at Miya's in 2005, during which time half the menus invasive species offerings were conceptual because invasive species were not yet commercially available.[15] The menu featured locally caught invasive species such as Asian shore crabs and European green crabs. The invasive species menu was created in order to take pressure off of popular over-fished species by utilizing ones, instead, that are abundant but ecologically destructive. [16][17][18][19] Today, Miya's offers a plethora of invasive species such as Chesapeake blue catfish, Florida lionfish, Kentucky silver carp, Georgia cannonball jellyfish, and invasive edible plants such as Connecticut Japanese knotweed and Autumn olive.[20] In 2013, Bun Lai's use of cicadas in sushi was satirized by Saturday Night Live,[21] though in 2021 the New York Times praised his use of the insects as part of his mission "to encourage diners to eat in an environmentally conscious way."[22]

Bun Lai is the former Director of Nutrition for a non-for-profit that serves low income diabetics.[23]"

Chef Bun Lai and conservation biologist, Dr. Joe Roman, hunting for invasive Asian shore crabs in Connecticut.

Bun Lai has authored papers which were published in Scientific American, Harvard Design Magazine, and The Hill (see "Publications" below).[16][3][24] He has spoken at the White House, the Harvard School of Public Health,[25] the American Fisheries Society,[26] the World Wildlife Fund,[27] and the National Geographic Society.[11]

Publications

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Documentaries and Podcast Appearances

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Media

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  • "Lionfish and Friends: How Chefs Tackle Invasive Fish," National Geographic.[36]
  • "Should I Eat Sushi?" Time Magazine.[37]
  • "Safer Sushi," The New York Times.[38]
  • "Meet The Sustainable Sushi Chef Who Also Lassoes Giant Jellyfish The Size Of Volkswagens," Prevention.[39]
  • "Sushi Master Bun Lai's Sushi Recipes for the Future," Eating Well.[14]
  • "Have You Ever Tried to Eat a Feral Pig?" The Atlantic.[40]
  • "Alien Entrées," The New Yorker.[41]
  • "The Truth is in the Muck," Popular Mechanics.[42]
  • "Can Sushi Save The World? How Chef Bun Lai Leads a Sustainability Revolution of Love," Gotham.[43]
  • "Watch Brianna Keilar eat dead cicadas on live TV," CNN.[44]
  • "5 Food Activists Connecting Hearts and Histories to Heal a Broken System," BMO.[45]
Bun Lai hunting invasive python

Accolades

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References

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  1. ^ a b "11 Eco-Chefs Who Are Changing the Way We Think About Food". EcoSalon. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  2. ^ "This is what a more sustainable American food system looks like". Grist. 21 August 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Why Fight Them When We Can Eat Them?". Harvard Design Magazine. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  4. ^ "6 Restaurants in New Haven Where Food Meets Culture". ShermansTravel. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  5. ^ "White House Honors Miya's". New Haven Independent. 31 October 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  6. ^ "Why Connecticut is doing sushi right". Grist. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  7. ^ Seyfried, Thomas N.; Yu, Robert K.; Miyazawa, Nobuko; Lai, Yin‐Lok (1982). "Retinal Gangliosides in RCS Mutant Rats". Journal of Neurochemistry. 39 (1): 277–279. doi:10.1111/j.1471-4159.1982.tb04735.x. PMID 7086417. S2CID 290684.
  8. ^ "Speakers - Pages - WWF". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Australis Barramundi: The Better Fish®". Australis Barramundi. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  10. ^ Jetsetting With Miyas Sushi Chef Bun Lai
  11. ^ a b "Cancer to Climate Change: Sushi that Addresses the Problem of Modern Eating - Videos - WWF". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  12. ^ "Ocean to Table Sushi that Is Seriously out of this World! Miya's Sushi – New Haven, CT". Omnomct.wordpress.com. 12 November 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  13. ^ a b Fenton, Dominique (25 October 2010). "HuffPost's Greatest Person Of The Day: Bun Lai, Chef And Sustainable Sushi Guru". Retrieved 28 July 2018 – via Huff Post.
  14. ^ a b "Sushi Master Bun Lai's Sushi Recipes for the Future". EatingWell. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  15. ^ Jacobsen, Rowan (14 May 2019). "The Invasivore's Dilemma". Outsideonline.com. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  16. ^ a b Lai, Bun (20 August 2013). "How (and Why) to Eat Invasive Species". Scientific American. 309 (3): 40–43. Bibcode:2013SciAm.309c..40L. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0913-40. PMID 24003552. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  17. ^ "Meet The Sustainable Sushi Chef Who Also Lassoes Giant Jellyfish The Size Of Volkswagens". Prevention. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  18. ^ Jacobsen, Rowan (24 March 2014). "The Invasivore's Dilemma". Outsideonline.com. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  19. ^ "One Restaurant's Deadliest Catch". FSR. 2 January 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  20. ^ "Miya's Sushi Menu". Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  21. ^ Bun Mentioned on SNL, retrieved 2021-06-28
  22. ^ Krishna, Priya (2021-05-24). "The Cicadas Are Here. For the Chef Bun Lai, They're on the Menu". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-06-28.
  23. ^ "New Haven Farms triples capacity". Yaledailynews.com. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  24. ^ Lai, Bun (2021-10-29). "Why we need traceable seafood". The Hill. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  25. ^ "Bun Lai Receives White House Honor". Hamden Hall Country Day School. 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  26. ^ "Chef Bun Makes Waves - Café Connecticut - October 2011 -". Archived from the original on 2015-09-23. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  27. ^ World Wildlife Fund (November 12, 2014). "Whole Planet, Full Plate: Finding Ways to Feed the World Sustainably: Symposium Agenda". worldwildlife.org. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  28. ^ Lai, Bun. "Invasive Species Menu of a World-Class Chef". Scientific American. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  29. ^ "Why Fight Them When We Can Eat Them?". Harvard Design Magazine. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  30. ^ Lai, Bun (2021-10-29). "Why we need traceable seafood". The Hill. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  31. ^ "The Chef's Menu: Bugs, Plants, and Anything He Can Forage". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  32. ^ HEIMBOLD, ERIC (2016-10-31), BLIND SUSHI, retrieved 2023-10-25
  33. ^ "Experimental Insect Sushi Rolls with Miya's of New Haven". Video. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  34. ^ "Wild Food: Conversations With Chef Bun Lai + Local Foragers". Connecticut Public. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  35. ^ "Fieldcraft Survival: Episode 240: Kevin Estela and Bun Lai talk Food and Sustainability on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  36. ^ "Lionfish and Friends: How Chefs Tackle Invasive Fish". National Geographic. 23 June 2015. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  37. ^ "Should I Eat Sushi?". Time. 2015-06-25. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  38. ^ Wallace, Hannah (2011-05-12). "Safer Sushi". T Magazine. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  39. ^ "Meet The Sustainable Sushi Chef Who Also Lassoes Giant Jellyfish The Size Of Volkswagens". Prevention. 2014-08-25. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  40. ^ Matsumoto, Nancy (2013-07-11). "Have You Ever Tried to Eat a Feral Pig?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  41. ^ Kolbert, Elizabeth (2012-12-02). "Alien Entrées". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  42. ^ "The Sushi Chef Turning Invasive Species Into Delicacies". Popular Mechanics. 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  43. ^ Bein, Kat (April 22, 2021). "Can Sushi Save The World? How Chef Bun Lai Leads a Sustainability Revolution of Love". Gotham. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
  44. ^ Watch Brianna Keilar eat dead cicadas on live TV, retrieved 2023-10-25
  45. ^ "Our Stories". About BMO. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  46. ^ Srinivasan, Latha (2016-10-20). "International Chefs Day: Top 10 hottest chefs in the world". www.ibtimes.co.in. Retrieved 2023-10-25.
  47. ^ "The 2018 James Beard Award Nominees". Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  48. ^ "Champions of Change". The White House. Archived from the original on 2017-01-20. Retrieved 2016-11-06 – via National Archives.
  49. ^ "JBF Announces 2013 Restaurant and Chef Semifinalists". 19 February 2013.
  50. ^ "New Haven Living by Wehaa". Npaper-wehaa.com. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  51. ^ "Past Elm-Ivy Award Citations: Office of New Haven and State Affairs". Onhsa.yale.edu. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
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