Quote Of The Day By Chef Jet Tila: 'I Want To Learn And Cook The Classics, Become So Intimately Familiar With...'

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Born and raised in Los Angeles, chef Jet Tila got his start in the food industry very early in his life. Tila's parents, who immigrated to the States from Thailand, opened the nation's first Thai food market in Los Angeles — called Bangkok Market — in 1972 (and which sadly closed in 2019). Tila, short for Tilakamonkul, grew up working in Bangkok Market, and watched his father Pramorte Tila open Royal Thai Cuisine in West LA, amongst the first Thai restaurants in the area. 

Since then, Thai food has exploded in popularity in Los Angeles, and the city is now home to some of the best Thai restaurants in America. Yet despite being born into an Angeleno Thai-cuisine dynasty, Tila felt adrift in his youth, before eventually offering Thai cooking classes out of his mom's house. When a Los Angeles Times article covered his classes in 1999, Tila knew this is where his career would take off. Tila went to culinary school at both Le Cordon Bleu and the California Sushi Academy, then worked as a chef in large corporate environments and then bustling restaurants in ritzy Las Vegas hotels, where he learned the business side of being a chef. 

Tila appeared on "Iron Chef America," where he competed against the Iron Chef himself — Masaharu Morimoto — and launched his long-running and successful Food Network career. Since then, Tila has been a competitor and judge on numerous Food Network shows like "Cutthroat Kitchen," "Chopped," and "Beat Bobby Flay," as well as hosting his own Daytime Emmy Award-winning show, "Ready Jet Cook." In addition to television, Tila has written for various media outlets like The Today Show and the Los Angeles Times, and has authored cookbooks. Surprisingly, Tila holds multiple Guinness World Records for preparing several of the world's largest foods — including stir fry, California roll, fruit salad, and seafood stew. 

"I want to learn and cook the classics, become so intimately familiar with them, that I can understand where they came from. And I want to know why: why does this dish exist and why is it so delicious?"

This quote comes from the introduction of Jet Tila's cookbook "101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die," which was published in 2017. The introduction, titled "A Kid from LA," describes his upbringing in the great multicultural playground that is Los Angeles, and how he learned to cook watching his grandmother before starting to join in the cooking himself. Tila goes into further detail about this upbringing surrounded by food markets and restaurants, and how he went on to immerse himself fully by continuing his culinary education through schools, restaurants, and eventually television. 

Tila is the author of three cookbooks, all of which feature 101 recipes focused on a specific culinary realm, like Asian dishes, Thai dishes, and what he calls "epic dishes." By narrowing in on a certain cuisine, Tila must bring his personal culinary experience to the table, but such narrow focus requires deep knowledge, research, and precision to execute successful and replicable recipes. Writing a cookbook requires testing recipes over and over again until they are perfect, something that Tila clearly enjoys and reveres as part of his culinary process. 

Chef Jet Tila's quote shows his deep interest and reverence for not only particular dishes and their ingredients, but also for the reasoning, origins, and history behind each dish. To Tila, cooking is more than just preparing various foods to be edible, but about showing respect to a dish's past and likely evolution throughout the years, especially if they are traditional and authentic dishes. The quote also gives us a deeper insight into Tila's curious nature and thirst for knowledge, especially around food.

Given Tila's Chinese and Thai background, it's only fitting that his interest is piqued not only by the Thai food he grew up with at home and in his parents' shop and restaurant, but dishes from all over. Growing in Los Angeles, Tila was exposed to the cuisine of almost every culture imaginable, from LA's Koreatown eateries to remarkable hotspots of Mexican, Filipino, and Central American foods, all of which are prevalent in Los Angeles. 

Many first-generation children of immigrants are brought up to assimilate to American culture in the United States, and it's likely that Tila experienced this despite the multiculturalism that exists in Los Angeles. Being a chef as well as the son of immigrants, it's no surprise that Tila feels the need to connect with classic dishes by not only learning how to properly execute them, but to know the origin story behind them. In 2013, Tila was named Culinary Ambassador of Thai Cuisine by the Royal Thai Consulate-General of Los Angeles, acknowledging his deep respect and passion for authentic Thai food. 

• "Make people feel something. At the end of the day, food is about connection. When someone eats your dish and says 'This reminds me of home,' or 'I've never tasted that before,' you've told your story right." — speaking at US Foods' Food Fanatics 2025 conference
• "I do believe in the 10,000-hour rule of becoming an expert. I clocked probably 20,000 hours by the time I was 22." — Interview with "Business Insider"
• "Ingredients are identity. Ingredients tell people who you are. Thai food is fish sauce, bird's eye chilies, holy basil. Using authentic ingredients keeps your story honest." — speaking at US Foods' Food Fanatics 2025 conference 
• "My grandmother was my first culinary teacher. I sat on the counter and watched her make dinner every night." — from the introduction of "101 Asian Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die"
• "It's my responsibility to represent my culture in a very positive way." — Interview with "Today"