View source for Shirley Fong-Torres

{{Short description|American chef and writer}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Shirley Fong-Torres
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1946|11|16}}
| birth_place   =
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|2011|06|18|1946|11|16}}
| death_place   =
| alma_mater    = [[University of California, Berkeley]]
| occupation    = Chef, Food Writer
| relatives     = {{ubl|[[Ben Fong-Torres]] (brother)|Tina Dong Pavao (daughter)}}
}}
'''Shirley Fong-Torres''' (November 16, 1946 &ndash; June 18, 2011)<ref name="aloha">{{cite news| url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/hawaii/detail?entry_id=91337&tsp=1 | work=The San Francisco Chronicle |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724073026/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/hawaii/detail?entry_id=91337&tsp=1 |archive-date=2011-07-24 |url-status=dead | title=Aloha, Shirley Fong-Torres: Guide to S.F. Chinatown, Hawai'i, their cuisine and aloha | date=June 1, 2011}}</ref> was a chef, tour operator, and popular travel and food writer based in [[San Francisco, California]], US.
== Early life ==
Fong-Torres was born on November 16, 1946. Her father was Ricardo Torres. Due to the [[Chinese Exclusion Act (United States)|Chinese Exclusion Act]], Fong-Torres' father (born Fong Kwok Seung), changed his surname to Torres and posed as a Filipino in order to immigrate to the [[United States]].  His family later adopted the hyphenated surname, ''Fong-Torres''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |author=Todd Inoue |date=October 10, 2021 |title=Documentary shows how an Oakland Chinatown kid became a more than 'Almost Famous' rock journalist |website=San Francisco Chronicle {{!}} Datebook |language=en-US |url=https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/documentary-shows-how-an-oakland-chinatown-kid-became-a-more-than-almost-famous-rock-journalist|access-date=2022-02-02}}</ref> As a child, she worked in her father's restaurants in Hayward and Oakland's Chinatown.<ref name="sfgate">{{Cite news |date=June 26, 2011 |title=Shirley Fong-Torres, Wok Wiz tour owner, dies |author=Carolyn Jones |publisher=SFGate |accessdate=2024-04-15 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/shirley-fong-torres-wok-wiz-tour-owner-dies-2366659.php}}</ref>
== Education ==
Fong-Torres was a graduate of [[Oakland High School (Oakland, California)|Oakland High School]] and the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name="sfgate"/>
== Career ==
Early in her career, Fong-Torres worked at [[Levi Strauss]] as an operations manager in women's merchandising and taught middle school. She later founded Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours (1987), which still offers cultural and culinary themed tours to locals and tourists.<ref name="sfgate"/> She developed the popular specialty tour "I Can't Believe I Ate My Way Through Chinatown."  Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours continues today, led by her daughter, Tina Dong Pavao.
Shirley published four books: "Wok Wiz Chinatown Tour Cookbook" [1988], "San Francisco Chinatown: A Walking Tour" [1991, China Books], “In The Chinese Kitchen With Shirley Fong-Torres” [1993, Pacific View Press], and "The Woman Who Ate Chinatown" [2008].<ref name="aloha"/>
== Personal life ==
Fong-Torres' brother [[Ben Fong-Torres]] is an American rock journalist, author, and broadcaster.<ref name="tour">{{Cite news |date=August 10, 2008 |title="'Woman Who Ate Chinatown' leads tasty S.F. tour |author=Stacy Finz |publisher=SFGate |accessdate=2024-04-15 |url=https://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/woman-who-ate-chinatown-leads-tasty-s-f-tour-3273636.php}}</ref><ref name=":0"/>
Fong-Torres died of leukemia on June 18, 2011.<ref name="aloha"/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.wokwiz.com wokwiz.com] - official site
*[http://www.roadandtravel.com/celebrities/wokwiz.htm "The Pied Piper of Chinatown"]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fong-Torres, Shirley}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:American food writers]]
[[Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area]]
[[Category:20th-century American travel writers]]