Tu David Phu: A Chef on Mission

Losing your mind with Chris Cosentino

I have known Chef Tu for many years and he is always surprising me with his delicious food and infectious positivity. He is so much more than a Chef, he is a teacher, spokesperson, film maker, advocate, leader, and a fucking incredible person who I am proud to call a true friend. Please be sure to watch Blood line his new documentary about being a child of an immigrant Vietnamese family growing up around food and where he is today. Tu is the real deal.

Chef Tu’s Vietnamese-California cuisine began garnering press and accolades, first in 2016 with his weekly pop-up dinners “AN - a Vietnamese Dining Experience.”; then in 2017 San Francisco Chronicle named him Rising Star Chef. In 2019, he was a featured contestant on Bravo's Top Chef Season 15 and invited to host ABC’s Taste Buds: Chefsgiving which was nominated for a James Beard Award.

As a first-generation, Vietnamese-American, food justice comes naturally to Chef Tu, who finds opportunities to use the medium of food as a vessel for meaningful work from cooking with incarcerated men in San Quentin; to his role as co-executive producer for Bloodline, a film about his family and food prejudice; to being a community ambassador in Oakland and working with the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. Tu’s involvement with food recovery and the Zero-Waste Movement is something else he got from his mother: During the Vietnam War, when supplies were rationed, she learned, out of necessity, that corn silk could be dried and used as a tea or toasted, deep-fried, or sautéed to serve with rice. Chef Tu not only applies these Zero Waste principles in his own kitchen but he is also a James Beard Smart Catch Leader, recognized for promoting the use of sustainable seafood options; and an avid teacher, sharing the riches and lessons of his birthright through food.

https://cheftu.com

@cheftudavidphu

Blood Line A First Kitchen Story