Chef Tu David Phu, a San Francisco Chronicle Rising Star Chef and chef-partner at GiGi’s, a Vietnamese-inspired wine bar in San Francisco, draws from his Oakland upbringing and his family’s artisanal fish sauce legacy from Phu Quoc, Vietnam.

His culinary path began in his mother’s Oakland garden and developed in prestigious kitchens like New York’s Daniel and San Francisco’s Acquerello, where he was surrounded by the team that earned two Michelin stars. This journey inspired his Vietnamese-Californian pop-up Ăn and his Rising Star Chef honor in 2017.

Beyond the kitchen, Chef Tu shares his family’s story through the Emmy-nominated PBS film Bloodline and his cookbook The Memory of Taste, co-authored with James Beard Award-winner Soleil Ho.

Students are invited to a Pierson College Tea with Tu from 12-1:30 pm to discuss his book and career. All are welcome to join author talk and book signing at Possible Futures Bookstore at 5:30 PM. This event is co-sponsored by Pierson College and the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration.