Q. Cookbooks, a television show, a restaurant... this list goes on. What are you currently working on?

A. My latest push is food as the next cure or food as medicine for some of the major issues we have in this country and the world. Top of the list is obesity, and from obesity stems one of the most horrific diseases, which is diabetes.

It’s a scary fact that in five years time there will be 250 million diabetics in China alone and there probably won’t be enough insulin in the world to deal with that. A lot of that is because the Chinese eat white rice instead of brown rice. It’s also because the wave of Chinese movement to the city. They’re not working on farms like they used to and getting the normal exercise like they used to.

Q. How did you get into this?

A. Dr. William Li does a presentation on anti-angiogenesis on TED Talks.

Anti-angiogenesis is the next cure, or the preventative cure for everything from cancer on down. The old adage, you are what you eat. By what you eat, you can prevent cancer. I think that is very powerful.

Q. You’re very involved in working with allergy cures. Doesn’t your son suffer from food allergies?

A. He’s cured. He was allergic to soy, wheat, dairy, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts and eggs and now he’s cured.

Q. How was he cured?

A. Energy work. Energy doctor. It’s like feng shui, either you believe it or you don’t. Through mind over matter. He now eats nuts, shellfish, everything. There are cures out there, you just can’t look at Western medicine. Which is where anti-angiogenesis is great. On this BioMeridian machine, there is everything curable including Parkinson’s, MS and all forms of cancer. You can cure everything through energy, there just aren’t enough people who understand and practice it... yet.

There is a woman, Amy Tarenger, from Allergy Art and she is doing Allergy Release Technique. She is the only one who is doing it. Her wait list is more than a year. She has cured 130 to 140 kids. They can eat anything in the world. They couldn’t even go into Fenway Park because their allergies were so severe.

Q. How old is your son now and when did he start the treatment?

A. He’s eleven now. He was five. We did it for five years straight, once a week. You have to see her once a week. It’s a very slow process, you have to take your time, because you’re doing peanut challenges outside of the hospital.

Q. When did you discover the allergy?

A. When he was two months old, he had horrible eczema. Babies with eczema have food allergies and it matters what the mother eats.

I’m not a doctor, but from my research and what I’ve read and seen, the combination of the following is why we have more food allergies:

  1) the GMO over-processed foods that we’re doing

  2) we are just too clean as a society.

Everyone is using anti-bacterial and no one grows up on the farm. You grow up on a farm, your immune systems grows. I say this jokingly, but if you have a newborn, go to a farm and roll your kid through cow shit. Get the kid dirty and sick and the kid will never have food allergies. You may have to explain why the kid has cow manure in his ears, but if there are no police around, you should get away with it no problem! We were guilty, drop a binky on the floor, we’d sterilize it in the microwave for ten minutes. So no one gets germs anymore, good germs. Or just send the kid to a nursery. Plenty of germs in a nursery. Or fly any of the airlines.

Another person to check out is Robyn O’Brien from Allergy Kids. I just saw a presentation from her and her point is what we do to our food chain may be one of the reasons that we have so many more food allergies than anywhere else.

Q. Let’s talk about your latest cookbook, One Pot Meals.

A. It’s easy, simple recipes and the cleanup is a cinch, since it is one pot. But most importantly, the food is tasty. It makes people look like superstars by cooking something simple and no one minds that it’s usually affordable proteins. Most of the meals are less than $20 bucks for four people.

I’m not a diet chef, I don't count calories, never will, but a lot of the food is incredibly healthy, just by braising and steaming and the ratio of vegetables to carbs to protein. There isn’t a lot of butter and cream used, it’s low fat. But the key is taste.

Q. What is the one pot you recommend?

A. If you have to have one and only one? A flat-bottom wok.

Q. Which ones do you like?

A. Stainless steel hundred percent All-Clad. They make the best wok, it’s 3-ply ,which conducts heat best, it’s flat bottom, which is important because no one has a real wok burner at home. [buy one]

Le Creuset’s wok is equally as good. They make a good cast iron one. Once you get it heated, it keeps its heat. [buy one]

[See details.]

FIND...

Q. You’re doing a fundraiser for Japan with some of the purveyors that you use at Blue Ginger. Tell us about those purveyors.

A. Kinnealey Quality Meats - John Kinnealey is the owner and I’ve used them since day one, for thirteen years here at Blue Ginger. The best purveyor of meat and poultry. They are all about quality. They always pony up whenever there is a charity. They always donate to the cause.

Wasik’s Cheese Shop is another purveyor we use. The Wasik’s are just the nicest family that you’ll ever meet and have been working with cheese their whole life. I love all of their cheeses. I spent two and a half years in France, so give me the bluest blue in the world or the creamiest triple creme brie or a nice salty gouda. They also donate whenever we ask them and they are donating to this cause, as well.

Ty Ku - they’ve taken traditional Japanese, sake and soju, and they’ve packaged and presented it with a modern approach. They have sake, soju and cocktails. Their white label Junmai Daiginjo sake is one of the best sakes you’ll ever have and it’s expensive. It’s $100 a bottle, so we’re not talking about cheap sake. It’s made beautifully. They also have a great melon liquor.

Captain Marden’s Seafood - one of the best seafood purveyors in town, bar none. Super high quality all the time. They always send me the best they have at all times and will tell me if they don’t have something good.

[See details.]

Q. What are some of the fish you’re getting from them?

A. I don’t use bluefin right now, I do use a lot of butterfish. I discovered butterfish when Chilean sea bass was being over-fished. It’s a better fish -- it’s unctuous. The butterfish is a Alaskan deep cold water fish, so it’s really fatty. And fat, of course, is flavor.

Q. What is the charity that you’re raising money for?

A. The charity is called Give2Asia. They give directly to Japanese charities on the ground in Japan. They did the same thing with the Thai tsunami and with the horrible earthquakes in China.

[See details.]

ASIAN MARKETS

Q. Are there local Asian markets worth visiting in Boston?

A. H Mart - it’s like a Costco for Asians. It’s a gigantic supermarket with everything from 70 different types of kimchee to a whole row of ramen noodles to diamond rings and mink coats. They have a nice little food court there that serves Thai, Chinese, Korean and dim sum. They have these huge displays of meat, seafood and live fish that they butcher right there. It’s the new cat’s meow and a good place to bring kids.

Market 88 - there are three of them and they are the Chinese version of H Mart that have been around for a long time.

[See details.]

EAT...

BOSTON / WELLESLEY

Q. Where do you love to eat off the beaten track?

A. My latest go-to place, that I go to once a week, is Gourmet Dumpling House. The best dumplings in Chinatown. For soup dumplings, vegetarian dumplings, and their Sandong Pan Fried Dumplings, which are Taiwanese style. They are handmade to order, so it takes 15 minutes and they are just freaking delicious. The pièce de résistance is a Schezuan fish soup that is the spiciest fish soup that you’ll ever eat in your life. It will blow your head off, but it’s delicious.

There is also a great Chinese restaurant called CK Shanghai. The food is delicious and it’s where I go most often here in Wellesley.

Toro is a must place. You can get such good authentic and amazing tapas.

Tico - Michael Schlow’s restaurant is also Spanish, but not as traditional as Toro. Big bar and really fun. It’s more of a scene.

Japonaise Bakery - they have this great dessert, Azuki Cream Buns. It’s like a creamed-filled croissant donut. Worth the trip. They have three outlets around Boston. They call it a doughnut, it’s the shape of a doughnut, but it’s made with croissant dough.

Oishii - for amazing Japanese food. I put it among the top five in the country.

Myers and Chang - Joanne Chang wrote the Flour cookbook [buy it]. She’s a great baker and she does traditional Asian street food. Very fun and inexpensive.

[See details.]

DRINK...

Q. Where do you like to go to get drinks?

A. Eastern Standard - I go there because it’s close to Fenway. It’s a fun, big bar. I get a draft beer or a Bloody Mary before a Red Sox game.

Silvertone is a great dive. When you walk downstairs to go to a place, you know you’re in a dive. They do have the best mac n’ cheese in town, which is something you love at 1am, after a night out.

The Chicken Bone - I adore it for their chicken wings. It’s off of 135 West. Wellesley is ten miles west of Boston and this is another five miles west. They always have live bands on the weekend. They literally have the best chicken wings... so good. Total dive.

[See details.]

Recommendations

Details of Ming Tsai’s recommendations for restaurants, cocktails, markets, and food purveyors in the Boston area, as well as his favorite woks, drinks, and food allergy resources.

Recipes

- Lemongrass Scampi with Pappardelle

Photo Credit: Leanna Creel