World famous chef and UC Davis alumnus Martin Yan was this year’s speaker at the ASUCD Entrepreneurship Fund’s (E-Fund) annual event, held at the Student Community Center on May 13.

The E-Fund was founded Fall Quarter 2012, and its main goal is to promote entrepreneurship among undergraduate students. This year, Yan was chosen to speak, not only for his fame and skill, but also for his love of cooking and his success in turning it into a long-thriving career.

“I’m not much of a business person, but I believe you’ve got to believe in yourself,” Yan said. “And passion — you’ve got to love what you do and never give up.”

Yan was born in Guangzhou, China and formally started his culinary training at the age of 13. When he moved to America, Yan got a master’s degree in food science at UC Davis and later became a teacher at an on-campus cooking extension program focusing on Asian cuisine.

“My time in Davis was a very memorable time because I made a lot of friends and got to know a lot of people,” Yan said. “Of course my food and cooking was influenced by my upbringing in China as well.”

Yan is most famously known for his television show “Yan Can Cook,” which first premiered on PBS in 1982. The show focused on cooking Chinese food and since then he has also appeared on “Iron Chef America” and “Hell’s Kitchen.”

During the event, Yan began by sharing his journey of coming to America, arriving with only $5 in his pocket. Though his passion for the culinary arts certainly helped him in his success, he said that he began to teach cooking as a way to earn money, and that money is a part of the reality of becoming an entrepreneur.

“Money gives you the opportunity to do other things,” Yan said. “If you can’t take care of other yourself, how can you help other people?”

For this reason, he said that to be an entrepreneur, you need to learn how to make sales of not only a product but also of yourself.

“Get your name and image out,” Yan said. “Take advantage of an opportunity to create more opportunities for yourself.”

The time Yan spent in Davis, the Bay Area and China influenced his style of cooking. Especially influential was the time he spent teaching in Davis — an opportunity that he said provided him with unique challenges.

“In the old days, only some of the ingredients [for making Asian cuisine] were available in Davis,” Yan said. “So I tried to use local ingredients that you can buy in supermarkets.”

Even after living in the Bay Area and Davis, Yan has still kept close ties to China by frequently visiting the country and even Chinatown in San Francisco. In addition, Yan recently won the Top 10 Outstanding Chinese Award, an award given to public figures who encourage a cultural dialogue between the West and China.

Yan said that being a cultural mediator between the States and China is an important part of what he does.

“I’m a culinary and cultural ambassador,” Yan said.

Since graduating and teaching in Davis, Yan has appeared on television over 3,000 times and written 30 cookbooks. Despite his busy schedule and success, Yan still makes time to return to his alma mater.

A way that he still remains connected to campus is through his involvement with the UC Davis Confucius Institute (CI). The CI was in the works for about three years before opening up to the public in 2013. Yan was involved with the Institute since its inception, and was a main proponent in coming up with its theme of food and beverages. He still occasionally aids the CI by bringing in chefs and giving seminars and presentations.

Apart from the CI, Yan is actively involved on campus in other ways as well. Last summer, Yan hosted a 10-day tour of Southern China — exclusively offered to UC Davis alumni. This E-Fund talk is the most recent campus event that he partook in.

Robert Hsu, chairman of the E-Fund and a third-year computer science major, said that Yan was chosen from a large pool of speakers.

“I think a lot of people are very proud of the fact Chef Yan attended UC Davis and that in some ways he is an emblem of the school,” Hsu said.

Ultimately they chose Yan because of the many qualities that the E-Fund values. Some of his qualities include his passion for his work and creativity while doing it. They also thought that his unique story to success would interest students. They also valued his tight affiliations with the UC Davis campus.

“We believe Martin Yan, with his entrepreneurial success, could give great insight into finding your passion and creating a business from it,” said vice chairperson of the E-Fund and a third-year managerial economics major Phi Nguyen.

A point that Yan stressed during the event was for students to do things differently. He said that there were many talented chefs in Davis and maybe millions in the world. But very few of them went on to become famous.

“To be good at what you are doing is not enough,” Yan said. “When you do something, try and be different.”

Toward the end of the event, Yan demonstrated his culinary abilities and cut up several vegetables, including peppers and onions. He also performed his famous 18-second chicken-deboning act.

Even after thousands of television appearances and endless hours working as a chef, cutting a particularly thin slice of onion still thrilled him.

“When you are a student and you love to play tennis or play music or you love to cook or whatever,” Yan said. “Even though it’s a job, it’s also your passion and something you enjoy. If you are able to carry your personal interest and passion into your job, then you don’t have to work a day of your life.”

LEYLA KAPLAN can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Photos by Jennifer Wu.

Tucked away at the edge of the UC Davis Arboretum, Redfield Machine, an auto-mechanic shop open since 1982, advertises its services with only one small sign.

For owner Bob Redfield and his regular customers, however, the name of the 17 Arboretum Terrace auto shop is recommendation enough.

“If anyone can, he can,” said Redfield Machine regular customer and UC Davis Associate Professor of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology Dirk Van Vuren. “He’s got a lot of tricks up his sleeve.”

Redfield himself was associated with the University as well — before opening his auto shop, he earned his Ph.D. in Spanish from UC Davis in 1980, giving a nuanced meaning to the phrase “car doctor.”

“You never know how it’s all going to end. I expected to be a professor, and it fell through,” Redfield said. “And what do you do? Fall apart? You can’t. You’ve got to keep moving, and the keep moving was open a shop, and that worked out fine.”

As it turns out, “fine” equates to a successful small business with a myriad of customers. Van Vuren said Redfield’s high-quality customer service has been coupled with both professionalism and integrity. Apart from treating customers well, Van Vuren added that Redfield’s unique ability to respond to his visitors’ car concerns sets him apart from other mechanics in town.

“He is a diagnostician. If you want to know why your car is malfunctioning and have it explained to you with the right course of action, he’s the person to go to,” Van Vuren said. “He does what’s in the customer’s best interest. He’ll present you with options.”

Sometimes providing options means telling customers that they can fix things themselves at a lower cost, that a problem is not worth the money to fix, that there are other problems with the car that need attention or that there is a variety of ways he can fix the car problem himself — like welding an old part rather than buying an expensive replacement.

For those interested in learning to fix car problems themselves, Redfield is willing to teach his ways as well.

“In many cases, people come in with problems that are more minor than they think,” Redfield said. “If we’re willing to show them a trick or two, we can perhaps prevent them from having to spend money. If a person really needs mechanical service, here we are.”

As demonstrated by a library of books on makes and models of cars in the back corner of his shop, Redfield never allowed his career to prevent him from continuing to study and learn. In fact, Redfield claims reading the car-related books is analogous to being a scholar, serving as a continuation of what started for him as a hobby.

“I’ve been a mechanic for years, and I still get a kick out of coming into the shop,” Redfield said. “[Cars are] a mystery, and you apply your knowledge to that mystery, and try to decipher it, and try to fix the car, and do it for a reasonable sum of money, in a reasonable amount of time and keep the person reasonably happy.”

Apart from learning and teaching about car mechanics, Redfield also has a passion for other disciplines. Until a couple of years ago, Redfield spent his evenings lecturing in Spanish at Sacramento City Outreach in Davis, and also has taught the language at other institutions, including UC Davis, in the past.

“Bob Redfield is a real language scholar, so it’s really neat to have that kind of multilingual, multicultural perspective,” Van Vuren said. “He lives his passion. He’s a great auto-mechanic, and a great linguist, and he does both of them during the day.”

Whether in Spanish or English, Redfield Machine’s policies transcend language.

“The only thing here is that we are honest. That’s why a lot of people like to come here,” said assistant manager of Redfield Machine Felipe Ortiz. “Sometimes we say, it’s going to be like two hours to do that kind of job, but when we find out it’s going to be something like a half hour, that’s what we charge.”

Since the shop is not located on a through street, the majority of Redfield’s customers are referred by word of mouth. But Redfield said he wouldn’t trade his location in the Arboretum. Being so close to the UC Davis campus, he said he enjoys seeing the students grow up.

“For a 71-year-old, that’s kind of pleasant to see the youth, what one had years ago,” Redfield said. “There is a future, something good is coming, even though some of us get old.”

Redfield considers what he does to be a broad kind of service, one that can help people with many different situations and backgrounds. Pulling from personal experience, Redfield said he relates to worried parents with children not living at home.

“There’s a feeling of helping out, that I understand the situation the person’s in,” Redfield said. “The parents are worried and they don’t know Davis shops, and the car has stalled out somewhere and they give us a phone call.”

Van Vuren said that Davis is lucky to have Redfield, and according to Redfield, the feeling is mutual.

“I’m grateful that the city and the University have treated Redfield Machine so well,” Redfield said. “That’s really very nice.”

EMILY MASUDA can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Photo by Ciera Pasturel. 

On May 7, marking the 20th anniversary celebration, hundreds of alumni, students, faculty, administration and members of the Davis community gathered together in the LGBTQIA Resource Center to reflect upon its growth and development. Over the past two decades, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA) Resource Center has flourished significantly in its mission to be a vital resource on campus. “When I learned that this year marked the 20th anniversary, I was excited to celebrate it because I thought it could generate a beautiful opportunity to reflect on our story, have inter-generational dialogue about the struggles and joys of the LGBTQIA community, and also to explore a vision of what we want the center to develop into in the coming years,” Elizabeth Cote, interim director of LGBTQIA, said. Leading into the opening of the celebration, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Adela de la Torre presented a speech highlighting the several successes and achievements of the LGBTQIA Resource Center. The celebration also featured stories, music, dance, poetry performances and a special video project composed of several interviews from the campus community, illustrating the overall significance of the LGBTQIA Resource Center. “It is wild to think that for some first year students, the center has been in existence for their entire lives,” Cote said. “For me, hearing from previous generations about their experiences keeps me connected to a sense of belonging and a sense of gratitude.” The history of the center was on display in multiple photographs lining the walls, and the staff members who founded the center in 1994 had the opportunity to reflect upon their experiences as they shared their own personal stories with the audience. “Before, the center was really small,” said Hazel Quintanilla, a Student Community intern and a fourth-year human development major, pointing to the picture of the past LGBTQIA Resource Center on the wall. “And now, it is twice the size and more people are coming in here.” Quintanilla believes that the center serves as a resource for everyone, regardless of whether they identify as LGBTQIA or not. “Our allies have grown. It just shows that we are here and that our support is growing, and so is our center and the members of it,” Quintanilla said. “As an intern, I do feel like I have a home on campus. This is nice, especially because I commute.” Like Quintanilla, Giovani Lopez, a Student Community intern and a fourth-year psychology major who served on the 20th anniversary Celebration Committee, decided to become an intern after volunteering at the center. “In reality, one of the biggest reasons why I came to Davis was because of the center. Although I entered UC Davis as a biological sciences major, I went to the Pride Welcome Week my freshman year and just wanted to become a part of the center,” Lopez said. Upon taking several women and gender studies courses, Lopez’s interest in becoming involved in the LGBTQIA community sparked as well. For second-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and volunteer, Jonathon Truong, the LGBTQIA Resource Center has also evolved into an integral component of his experience at UC Davis. “I started [volunteering] this year in Fall Quarter and I honestly feel like I have a home on campus,” Truong said. Along with the comfort and sense of family at the center, several volunteers explained that they have made lifelong friendships through continuous volunteering. Although Olivia Rivett, a third-year biological sciences major, initially felt intimidated entering the center during her first academic year, she decided to come in during the summer after. “People were so friendly and told me I could volunteer and I thought it was a good idea,” Rivett said. “I started volunteering my sophomore year and every quarter I have met new people and my group of friends has really grown. To be honest, I am friends with half the people here right now.” Rivett stated that she is really looking forward to seeing everyone’s faces at the event because conflicting and busy quarter schedules often hinder her from spending time with those involved in the center. Due to her positive experience, Rivett eventually recommended volunteering to her friend, Cynthia Terry, a fourth-year biological sciences major. Terry, who currently works as a volunteer, explained that she has formed and developed several friendships during the course of her experience as well. “It is a celebration of having the space here on campus and that is one of the main reasons why I came to this campus,” Lopez said. “It is a home.” LUJAIN AL-SALEH can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Photo by Katie Lin

When I first saw Kevin Smith, he was twining cord using strips of a leaf from a New Zealand flax, one of several useful plants one might find on a walk through Davis.

Smith is a Ph.D. student in archaeology at UC Davis, pursuing his interest in studying and practicing how our ancestors lived. He’s written a blog called “Countryman: Foraging California’s Wild Side,” where he details many of his adventures around California and in local areas, hunting wild animals, collecting edible plants and then cooking gourmet meals. He took a couple hours from his studies to show me a few samples of California’s wild side that are right here in Davis.

In our short trip through the Arboretum, Smith pointed out and told me the names of several different plants and what they could be used for.

“People don’t really understand how much of this is edible, and how much of it is useful,” Smith said.

He identified and attempted to harvest a sample of chia seeds from a chia sage, which he said was once a staple food for the California native peoples. He said the leaves make a good herb for cooking, as do the leaves of the California bay tree, which we also found on the path. Elderberry plants have edible berries and flowers, while the rest of the plant is poisonous. He pointed out other plants that were useful for crafts, like basket weaving, or medicinal purposes, such as the disinfecting properties of yarrow.

“I was working as a shepherd up in Northern California for a summer, and I had this baby goat stab his sharp horn right into my hand, and it went so deep that I couldn’t see the back of the hole,” Smith said. “I cleaned it all up, put alcohol and stuff on there, but it wouldn’t close. After like three days, I took all the bindings off, crushed up some yarrow, stuck it on there, 20 minutes later it closed up, no joke, I still can’t see where the scar is.”

Our small adventure was only a taste of his knowledge and his more regular experiences. Although he did not collect food or otherwise useful materials this time, he often does. He was not short on foraging stories during our tour, however, and some of them can be found in his blog, which he said he started as a result of living in a more urban environment during college.

“It makes me think about the details more,” Smith said. “Growing up we just did it, and so it was just the way of life, and then once I got stuck in the city I realized all the things that we were missing. Now when I go out with my buddies, we’ll make sure that we take photos, we’ll make sure that we reminisce about all the good times and make sure that if there is something really amazing, it doesn’t get overlooked.”

His latest entries include him and his friends harvesting unpicked oranges from a couple of trees around Davis and making orange marmalade, as well as catching crawfish in the Sacramento River Valley District while on a spearfishing trip.

Smith’s longtime friend and fellow spearfisherman, Kirby Morejohn, who just weeks ago fought a shark over a 60-pound sea bass, joined him on the latter trip. Morejohn is a marine biologist and he commented on the several benefits of this kind of hunting, including being able to see and appreciate life as well as feed yourself.

“You can spearfish or grab a lobster or abalone or scallop, clams or whatever and make your hobby fill your stomach,” Morejohn said.

While we browsed the Arboretum, Smith commented on the economic side of foraging.

“It was nice as an undergrad when all your buddies would be telling you, ‘oh, financial aid hasn’t come in, I’m eating top ramen,’ and our reply would be, ‘yeah, financial aid hasn’t come in, we’re having grilled abalone and fresh lingcod,’” Smith said.

He did admit that foraging does not make up his entire diet, and he does go grocery shopping. However, fish is a staple in his diet, and he said he can’t remember ever buying fish from a store. Foraging is a regular activity for him, and even the day we spoke he had eaten some dried wild mushrooms for lunch and tried his first mulberry. He said he has his childhood to thank for his interest in hunting and foraging.

“My oldest memory is digging shellfish with my dad and my brother, out in Tomales Bay,” Smith said.

As a kid he began learning to identify what foods were safe to eat, a practice which aids him even today as he forages for wild mushrooms and continues to learn about plants that could be helpful or harmful.

“The golden rule is, identify everything twice in the field and once again in the kitchen,” Smith said.

He stressed the importance of staying safe and not eating anything without knowing what it is or what process might be required to make it edible. Smith pointed out the irony in the fact that this type of knowledge is very old.

“It seems strange looking at an archeological perspective, because this is all knowledge that all of our ancestors had and applied every single day, which is why we’re alive and able to talk right now,” Smith said. “It seems strange to me that we’ve lost so much of it. And I love agriculture, go Aggies, but at the same time there’s great power in knowing your local edible and utilitarian plants.”

He has continued to exercise this power by collecting food and generally making use of what is freely available to him. He believes many useful resources are underutilized, and recalled an incident with an orange tree from which he picked an orange that was hanging over a wall.

“This branch was clearly in public domain,” Smith said. “There was a pile of rotten fruit on the ground, and that’s my first indicator. If there’s rotten fruit then I’m taking an orange if I’m hungry, so I picked this orange, and this guy yells, ‘hey, that’s not your fruit.’ And all I could think was, ‘you’d actually rather see this rot on the ground than have a stranger eat an orange off this tree.’ That’s a strange mentality to me.”

Smith and his foraging companions expressed interest in not letting resources go to waste. His friend Alex Izzarelli said one of his hobbies is collecting wood to make parts for guitars.

“A lot of materials I use are scrap woods that people don’t use, or even parts of trees that I collect,” Izzarelli said.

The second half of my adventure with Smith consisted of an unfruitful search for a stray almond tree off of a bike path beyond the east end of the Arboretum. Although we never found it, Smith mentioned that Davis is full of nuts, with various trees in the public domain. These, among the many other useful plants, offer their crop to anyone that will take it.

“All of this is free,” Smith said. “One of my favorite things about it is nobody’s watering it, nobody’s putting fertilizer on it, nobody’s doing anything, this stuff just volunteers. It grows in the fog, it grows in the rain, it just grows, and you can eat it and it’s really good for you, so why not?”

At the end of the day, whether a foraging trip offers up a bounty or not is of little importance. Smith and his friends emphasized the fun of being able to interact with each other, as well as with nature.

“I use the term adventure somewhat loosely,” Smith said. “But I think a lot of people have got this concept that in order to go on an adventure, you have to buy a bunch of gear, fly across the world and do something crazy. That’s great, that is an adventure, but at the same time, if you’re only waiting for that one experience, you’re missing out on all of these cool adventures that are all local. Don’t wait for the big picture, crazy adventure on down the line, instead just get out, have an adventure around the corner.”

NICK FREDERICI can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Photo by Katie Lin.

After almost three long years of collecting thousands of recyclable bottles and redeeming them for cash, UC Davis’ Bottles for Poverty successfully raised enough funds in order to build a school in Gonder, Ethiopia this past April.

Started in 2011, Bottles for Poverty (BFP) is a club dedicated to raising funds in order to alleviate poverty, particularly in Ethiopia.

“Growing up in Ethiopia I’ve seen a lot of poverty, and I always felt responsible to do my part to help people there,” said Robel Haile, a managerial economics and international relations graduate student, and BFP founder. “I was thinking about an idea that would help me raise funds but at the same time galvanize students as well — so this idea just came to me one day. A lot of students drink and party, so they can at least donate their garbage and try to make a difference.”

From a small start of only six members, Haile said the organization has grown tremendously over the past few years, and now there are a good number of people who continuously drop off bottles at their 688 Bianco Court in Davis location.

After transferring to UC Davis in the fall, fourth-year international relations major and BFP Vice President Tyler Story became a part of BFP in January 2013.

“I was hooked on the ideals and mission of BFP,” Story said. “The simplistic idea of using recyclables to further education for children who did not grow up being as fortunate as those of us who have always had access to education really stuck with me.”

Fourth-year international relations major and BFP President Mana Azarmi became interested in the organization after meeting Haile in mutual classes her junior year.

“I think BFP offers a creative solution to the problem of fundraising on a college campus, with a fantastic end goal,” Azarmi said. “The process of building this school, meeting all of these great people and working with our incredibly talented BFP team has been very humbling and inspiring.”

The building of the school began in December and just recently finished in the beginning of April. Haile was able to fly to Ethiopia in order to oversee construction for a few months.

“It’s exciting to be there but at the same it was very depressing,” Haile said. “There’s just so much poverty and I felt like I wasn’t able to do much. I met a lot of kids who’ve never ever owned a pair of shoes in their life. Most of the kids are malnourished, and the place where we built the school — there are no roads, no electricity, no water. It was just overwhelming.”

Haile said the most important way of helping people in impoverished areas is through providing education.

“Giving these people education can open up doors,” Haile said. “They’ll be able to read more into whatever problems they have, be able to attend university, be able to come back and help their community solve their problems. For example, when most of these people are given a prescription for a medicine — they can’t even read it. Or if they knew to boil the water they get from the rivers, they wouldn’t get as many diseases — just simple things like that that can help transform their lives.”

Although females are typically put at a disadvantage and have to sacrifice their education in order to raise a family, Haile ensured that both girls and boys would attend school in Gonder. On top of that, the school is the only building in the area that is made of cement and cinder blocks; the rest are composed of mainly mud.

“It was great to see the kids so excited about the building,” Haile said. “They couldn’t wait for it to be done. The problem [before was] most of the classes were outside under a tree, so they had a little chalkboard, they sat on a stone, and that’s class. So you know, [now] it’s a classroom that has cinder blocks so that means even if it’s raining outside they can still go to school.”

Since the school opened enrollment for all ages has increased tremendously, providing a safe and stable environment for education that the children in the area would not otherwise have.

“I hope that the construction of the school will provide the community and it’s children with a lasting institution of education that will give them tools for improving not only their lives, but the lives of the people around them,” Story said. “I am not naive enough to think that this one school will solve all problems in the community but I’m hopeful that it can provide substantive positive change.”

Azarmi described the experience as both a “learning process” and “very surreal.”

“I still remember hearing about what Robel wanted to do with BFP and I am ecstatic that our initial goal has been met,” Azarmi said. “This school physically exists and is no longer a vision of what could be. It’s proof that young people, with our passion, energy and can-do spirit can come together and accomplish great things.”

Now that BFP has achieved their long-term goal of building a school in Ethiopia, their next project entails the construction of a well for the school and area.

“The fact that we’re building a well at this school benefits girls because they don’t have to walk too far to get water,” Haile said. “So the parents will think ‘if we send her to school at least she’ll bring water back,’ so it’s basically tricking people into sending their girls to school.”

ELLIE DIERKING can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Courtesy photo.