welcome to the "journal" on dw-tv. the headlines at this hour, eu leaders to back the french and german plan to stave off the debt crisis. indonesia's mount merapi continues to erupt. and two weeks after the rescue, the chilean miners say it is their families and faith that help them cope with life.

the european union is facing a new round of negotiations on the lisbon treaty after leaders agreed to embark on landmark reforms designed to fend off another financial crisis. the agreement was sealed under pressure from german chancellor angela merkel and endorses limited changes to the treaty. berlin and paris demanded document be amended so we rescue fund could be set up to help nations in financial distress. >> the german chancellor and french president spent long hours trying to win over their partners. many were anchored by the agreement. but there were no hard feelings. >> my relations with mrs. merkel are untarnished and warm, but this time we did not embrace as much as usual. that has nothing to do with the news from deville. it is more about my sense of

christian altruism, which forbids me from kissing anyone when i am suffering a bad cold. >> they resisted a german proposal to suspend voting rights of member nations that break eurozone rules, but leaders endorsed a rewrite of the treaty to create a permanent debt crisis mechanism in which private creditors shoulder part of the losses. >> some leaders were not particularly interested in this, but i understood the argument, which i repeatedly put forward. that is to ensure the legality of a debt crisis mechanism, we need to amend the eu treaty. >> the best way to solve the problem is to tackle the issues and not sweep them under the carpet. >> the details of how a permanent crisis mechanism should work must be thrashed out in time for the next summit in september.

>> we will have much more on that summit coming up later in this half hour. u.s. authorities are investigating what they're calling a potential terrorist threat after receiving intelligence that al qaeda in yemen may have shipped an explosive device to chicago. the security scare was triggered after suspicious packages were intercepted on their way to chicago. an american cargo plane in central england was intercepted, the other was at an airport in dubai. they then searched cargo planes in philadelphia and new work. so far, no actual explosives have been found. u.s. officials also ordered fighter jets to escort passenger planes from the united arab emirates into new york city's jfk airport because it was carrying a parcel from yemen. at least 21 people have been killed, 45 wounded in a suicide bombing northeast of baghdad.

authorities say the assailant blew himself up at a cafe and many of the victims were women and children. the attack occurred in a neighborhood predominantly made up of ethnic kurd shiites. now merapi has been erupting just two days after a killed 33 people on the island of java. officials brought people to safety. tens of thousands of people have left the area or have been as accurate. >> mount merapi was still spewing clouds of smoke and ash on friday, with the lava flows down the hillside, causing a remote threat. officials of evacuate residents living in the danger zone. villagers who initially ignored the orders were brought to safety. medical personnel say many are still in shock after losing friends and loved ones in the initial eruption.

>> i just let go and pray to god. i hope this will be over soon and there will be no more casualties. >> but experts said the volcano showed few signs of settling down, raising fears an even larger eruptions could be on the horizon. mount merapi is considered one of the world's most volatile volcano. the death toll from a tsunami that hit indonesia on monday it was still rising as rescue teams continued their search. but there were glimmers of hope. four days after the disaster, an 18-month-old baby was found alive in some trees. both of his parents were killed. very good news for a change in the u.s. economy, growing at a moderate pace in the third quarter, reinforcing the view that the federal reserve will introduce further stimulus measures next week.

gdp rose 2% on an annual rate. soothing fears the economy was falling back into recession. it was not enough to create new jobs. much of that growth was because of a sharp increase in consumer spending. the gdp data was largely in line with expectations. on to the markets, european exchanges focused on the u.s. job data friday to end slightly higher a second straight month. dorothy is our correspondent and sent us this report from the frankfurt stock exchange. >> after plenty of positive results, traders could take a break, concentrating on u.s. economic data, backing the markets. the dax finished with modest gains. next week, the u.s. central bank could make a policy change. shares of germany's second-

largest construction company have been heavily under pressure, traders sceptical to the announcement of the ceo of the company. looking at several market indices in more detail, sting in frankfurt, the dax index closed the trading day up about -- up very slightly, less than a percentage point. the euro stoxx 50 was also a tad lower. the dow industrials were up at 6601. finally, the euro is trading at $1.3916. the french strike over pension reform has eased further, with workers at the world's third biggest oil and gas terminal voting to end their protest. the workers at the terminal had

been striking for a month. the strike at france's oil refineries had led to massive shortages and long lines and the country's filling stations. will companies in france as they have lost hundreds of millions of euros of revenue as a result of the strike actions -- will companies said. one of the country's biggest engineering companies has detailed an attempt to stop a train operator from purchasing trains from its german rival, siemens corporation. they tried to force the suspension of a deal worth 600 million euros for 10 high-speed trains. the inner-city express trains from siemens could be traveling to cross channel route between britain and france beginning in 2014. the deal to buy the trains has sparked a fight between germany and france. delegates at the e.u. summit in brussels have agreed on

measures to prevent another european debt crisis like the one increase earlier this year. currently, members must keep their budget deficits below 3% of gross domestic product and a total debt under 60% of gdp. that is a feat that few have managed to achieve. >> the financial crisis burned big holes in the balance sheets of the eurozone countries. it hardly any nation got away with having -- without having to fork out billions to save banks. after the bailout scheme the economic stimulus packages, that and more debt. a national debt last year for greece hit over 150% of gross thematic product, higher than the economic output for the entire year. other countries that are heavily indebted include italy and portugal. the same applies to ireland, which booked solid before the crisis hit.

in germany, that was also high, 73%. -- debt was also high. most economies in the eurozone are still sluggish. what is how countries with low earnings will be able to effectively tackle those mountains of debt. the world expo in shanghai drew to a close this weekend. a better city, better life, the the theme. they're addressing urban issues, such as overcrowding, transportation, and the informant. >> people attending the expo had to wait up to five hours to get in, so they were a bit impatient once inside. a record number of people thronged to the event. >> china has been very active, and there have been 17 million

visitors and expo. >> 240 countries put their products and inventions on display. this is a larger than life chair lift, to showcase a mode of transportation some see as a way to get around future megacities. >> this is really amazing. you get a great view of the ground from the left. >> from the outside, the german pavilion is futuristic. organizers say people spent on average about an hour inside. from the inside, it is traditional, yet filled with state of the art environmental technology. the construction cost german tax payers and record 50 million euros, an investment that government and businesses hope will pay off in the long run. the expo closes sunday, but not before another flood of visitors arrive. in germany, the sister party

of chancellor angela merkel's cdu is holding a conference in munich. after decades of dominance, csu has lost its absolute majority in bavaria and is forced to share power with the free democrats. there also facing questions about their leadership. >> a solid majority of delegates support efforts to bring military conscription to an end, making it a volunteer army. it gutenberg, the defense minister, is the architect of the plan. some say it is a sign of his tenuous position. guttenberg is enjoying immense personal popularity. but this was a time for the party to come together. >> it is unity that counts, not a silly leadership debate. unity is what counts in the

coming days. >> chancellor merkel also paid a visit to munich, seeking to lend support to the embattled leader. >> the question is, how much concern is being shown over the concerns of a successor or whether i am concerned? no, is that clear? >> despite the appeals for harmony, there is mounting uncertainty over the csu leadership. it would appear the head of the party is increasingly in question. >> olympic and world swimming champion from germany is set to end her 15-month. from competition because of illness when she races in the world cup in berlin. she is engaged to be double world champion, who won three freestyle titles in rome last year. >> it was the first public appearance since they announced

their relationship in march. the break from competition was tough. she admits that she considered giving up. >> once i said maybe it was just luck that i became an olympic champion, but he gave me a reality check and said, if you really want to achieve something, then you will. if somebody believes in you like that, you begin to believe in yourself again. >> the grind of daily training took its toll on the 26-year-old berliner. she suffered a shoulder injury and prolonged illness. it is a long way to the london olympics, and she needs to exercise caution as she seeks to regain her peak form. >> this is the first that. i have a goal, the 2012 olympics. there is the world championship in shanghai next year. i want to use the short course to get back into these competitive spirit and the training regimen.

>> she wants to prove herself and that is exactly what she is going to do. >> she appears relaxed and ready for the challenge. the 33 miners rescued and chile earlier this month have been talking about what the thing going for the 69 days on the ground. they say was their faith in god and the love of their families that was most effective. as they adjust to the limelight, they say it is these aspects of their life helping them maintain their balance as the work to adjust to their new lives as media stars. >> there are heroes' welcome galore for the rest you to minors. it is clear they are still not comfortable in their new-found role, but they're learning to deal with that. >> i am very thankful to my country. chilean hands made it possible. >> for the past two weeks, they have been on tour, turning up

everywhere. they played a football match against chilean politicians and attended a festive dinner in their honor. they have accepted all kinds of personal gifts, from medals to tiny flags. >> i am not an artist or journalist. treat me like a worker and a minor. >> the chilean president often shares the limelight with the miners. their plight has turned him into a hero on the world stage. he sometimes jokes about their ordeal. >> the winners go over here, the losers go back down the mine, and we will rescue them again.

>> but in reality, there is no going back. their lives will never be the same. changing the lisbon treaty to protect the eurozone. more on that coming up. >> we will be right back.

welcome back. some are calling it a victory for german diplomacy. berlin, together with paris, convinced e.u. leaders the lisbon treaty needed to be overhauled. the reworking it includes a permit rescue fund to handle any future crises. angela merkel and nicolas sarkozy did not get what they wanted in terms of punishing countries that fail to reduce their debt and deficit levels quickly enough. they were aiming for an immediate suspension of voting rights for offenders. the president of the european council is set to report back on how changes to the treaty could be implemented in december.

chancellor merkel took a gamble at this summit, but didn't pay off? we put that question to our correspondent in brussels. at -- did it pay off? >> yes, it did. she lost one battle, the suspension of voting rights. frankly, the bigger prize was the one that she got, which was the agreement to look into ways of putting this permit crisis mechanism, the permanent bailout mechanism as was agreed it temporarily for greece into the treaty. that means reopening the treaty. the wording is clear in the summit conclusion, limit it reopening of the treaty. what that means, it will require ratification of their revised treaty in 27 member states. european parliament and peas are are saying -- european

parliament mp's are saying they need to be involved in this could be a long, drawn-out process. but the hope is this can be achieved, that the lawyers can come up with a way of putting this permanent crisis mechanism into the treaty as the german chancellor wants without having to go down the road with major surgery on the existing treaty, which would require parliamentary approval across europe. >> what are the risks involved reworking the lisbon treaty? >> the big danger is if there is any sort of slim opening of the door for a treaty change, there will be those who will say, look, while we are at it, let's look at other things. this is always the risk. when the tree is reopened, it is fair game. -- when the treaty is reopened, it is fair game. they may look at other issues. that is why e.u. leaders want to

avoid setting up a convention which brings mp's into it and almost invites people to say, let's make a more thorough revisal of the lisbon treaty. that would be a real negative for your's long-term future. this lisbon treaty took nearly 10 years and caused all sorts of disruptions. one of the e.u. nations especially at risk of national insolvency is ireland. the government deficit following the bailout of anglo irish bank is now 32% of gdp. unemployment is 13.7%. the situation is especially bitter for young people. a poll conducted earlier this year of young people between 12 and 18 showed about 16% expected to be unemployed after finishing their education. 48% anticipated having to leave

the country for work. here is more on the new irish generation being forced to leave their homes and families and seize their chances overseas. >> gaelic football is the most widely played sport in ireland. these men train price a week at the mixture of football and rugby. in recent months, fewer players have been attending sessions. the economic downturn is threatening the team. >> to be honest, it looks like things are only getting worse. it looks like there will only be more money leaving the country. >> they have all left. every few weeks, another player leaves the team, often to seek their fortunes abroad. it is a countrywide trend. 5000 people leave ireland every month.

>> good afternoon, fellows. >> this part of ireland has always been home to more cows than people. the butter made in the region is famous. the scene make sure remember of a holiday in a brochure. but the area is no longer wealthy. during the boom years, are alleged involvement economic upswing. -- ireland invenjoyed an economic upswing. now the landscape is covered with ghost towns. two of this couple's three children have both emigrated to australia, but she is regularly in touch with them and their young grandson by the internet.

patrick has found a job there, but he misses ireland. [inaudible] >> his mother is not confident he will leave australia anytime soon. >> i could see him coming back in a few years, but not the next five years. >> there is certainly little work in ireland at the moment. this family's plaster molding business is struggling. they once employed 10 people, but now there is only one left. her sons used to work for the family business. domestic demand is at rock bottom and unemployment has risen to 13%. that is almost twice as high as

in germany. >> first of all, with the scale of the banking crisis, banks are eating up the cash from the government. the other thing is the recession. a recession and ireland is protected the lead bad. >> in dublin, angry locals have taken to the streets in protest of the banks who they say are the root of the problem. it has cost the irish government 50 billion euros to bail out two of the country's largest banks, and almost bankrupted the state itself. now the country is owning in debt and its citizens a strict austerity measures. the mood is reminiscent of earlier, a darker times in the 19th century, when millions of people left ireland in search of a better life. most were fleeing the potato famine that claimed the lives of 1 million of their countrymen. the story of those who left is told in a heritage center.

there are now far more people of irish origin living abroad than in ireland itself. immigration is still common. -- emigration is still common. >> it is particularly because of the developments, where people have relations in america, australia, britain, many other countries. iis not as scary because they know people who have done at. >> many have found a better life in far-flung countries, this monument recalls those who went down with the titanic on their way to america. contemporary irish immigrants may face an uncertain future, but at least these days their journey is less perilous. that has been our look at the e.u. summit and its implications for countries like ireland. thank you for joining us. stay with dw-tv if you can.

captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

>> hinojosa: east meets west in his kitchen, his cookbooks, and in his life-- chef, restaurateur, tv host, and author ming tsai. i'm maria hinojosa, this is one on one. ming tsai, it's great to have you on this show. >> thank you; it's great to be here. >> hinojosa: so people know you because of your televisions show simply ming, they might know you because of your books, or they might know you because of your restaurant blue ginger. but here's the question that i have for you. so you are third-generation yalie... >> correct. >> hinojosa: but you... even though your grandfather studied

at yale, he went back to china. your dad studied at yale, and then ended up... >> and stayed. >> hinojosa: ...staying here. >> yup. >> hinojosa: you're then born... >> i was born in newport beach, california. my brother and i. >> hinojosa: and you grow up in dayton, ohio. >> and we ended up in dayton, ohio. culinary capitol of the world. >> hinojosa: you know, i didn't know this about dayton, ohio! >> ( laughing ) yeah, no; not so much. >> hinojosa: but the questions was how was it, you know, growing up-- and you were the first chinese family in dayton, or one of the few? >> we were... we always joked that when we had our chinese friends over to our home, we were chinatown. ( laughing) so there weren't that many, no. there weren't a lot. >> hinojosa: so what was it like in terms of food? because you know what? kids can be kind of intense when you're like, suddenly bringing something different to lunch that's not peanut butter and jelly. >> no, you're right, you're right. we actually... we did both. being in dayton, and... there probably was 50 chinese people, so we did want to blend in, so we absolutely had turkey for thanksgiving, and we'd have the

pot roasts, and mom had the famous clay pot that she would always do the chicken in. so we certainly had american food, and dad's famous one was his texas toast and steak. you know, getting big steak from woody's market, and he'd buy these big steaks. texas toast was just a thick sliced bread on a griddle. but thank god, they also cooked tons of chinese food as well. it was, one, it was just the best food in the world. i still say that. i'll say that to my grave. but it's also part of our culture, and all... everything that happened in our family, it usually started at the dining room table. >> hinojosa: what do you mean? >> any decisions-- "where do you want to go for vacation," or "what are you thinking about schools," "how come you're not doing this or doing that?" the discussion was always at 5:30, keep in mind. this is in the midwest; you ate dinner at 5:30. >> hinojosa: right. >> and but the dining room table was when-- i had one brother-- the four of us would get together, and that's any family issue or discussion would happen there over great food. >> hinojosa: so was there this whole pressure-- or not pressure, but the sense of wanting to blend in-- from a culinary place? like, what would you take to

lunch, for example, when you were a kid growing up? >> yeah, that's a great question. i mean, we'd do two things. sometimes i would just take the baloney sandwich or that turkey sandwich, and i'd be normal with the fritos or whatever. keep in mind, though, back then there was... the school lunch was 40 cents, so we would actually buy lunch as well. >> hinojosa: okay. >> so this is at south elementary school, and as a side note, 40 cents, everyone got a dime. i used to cross the street to buy a case of hot tamales for 5 cents a piece and sold them for ten, and i said... >> hinojosa: ( laughing ) >> ...and they would say, "why is it ten cents?" i said, "because you don't have them, and do you want it or not?" so that's how i started my entrepreneur. >> hinojosa: oh, my god! >> absolutely. >> hinojosa: you were... >> this was fifth grade. fifth and sixth grade. >> hinojosa: ...fifth grade business man in food! >> yeah, exactly. well, i'm not sure hot tamales is food, but... >> all right, well, okay, that's true. >> it's sugar. >> hinojosa: that's true, true. >> but sometimes, mom would then back a thermos of hoisin pork and... served hot with this potato bread. so i would break this open, right? and people are eating their tuna fish and pbjs, and i'd take... and i'd... and then literally

the crowd would form. >> hinojosa: ( laughing ) >> and i'd be like, "two sandwiches for half of this," and i would barter. so i would end up, sometimes, with eight sandwiches. i should be obese, considering how many sandwiches i got, and i'd be like, "give me the two pieces fruit-- banana-- and a sandwich, i'll give you one hoisin pork." teachers, too, started getting involved, and then i'm like, "okay, come on, guys, enough!" that was funny. >> hinojosa: so but still, so you got the whole food thing, right? but there was still this like, "well, ming, you've got to go to yale." >> absolutely. i mean, you used to see these pictures... >> hinojosa: and be an engineer, right? >> i had a couple rules growing up. one is, "ming, get any grades you want"-- my brother and i had the same rules-- "any grades you want, as long as they're straight a's. be anything you want, as long as it's a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, and if you marry asian, that'd be great too." i am 0 for three! ( laughter ) >> hinojosa: no kidding! >> ( laughing ) no, not even close! my... all those aside, though, my wife, polly, speaks fluent chinese, so... and is loved by my parents to death. i never got straight a's, and i did study mechanical engineering at yale, i did graduate... >> hinojosa: you did make it to... you made it to yale.

>> i got my diploma. my motto was "d is for diploma" my senior year because i had to get the piece of paper, but literally two weeks after graduating i went to paris and started cooking. >> hinojosa: so you knew food was it? you... how did you know that? >> i knew... i mean, at age six i made my first duncan hines cake. i thought it was fascinating that you could take eggs, oil with this mix and-- poof-- in 30 minutes there was a cake. and yeah, all my friends are playing baseball and whatnot, and they'd be like, making fun of me a little bit until the game was over and i had then i had this cake. i'm like, "oh, you want some cake?" ( laughing ) >> hinojosa: and so you were like, the hit! "let's go to ming; he's going to eat!" >> yeah, "let's go to ming's and eat some cake." and then at age ten-- and this is what really... i remember this story to death-- a couple showed up at our door. this was back in dayton, ohio, where the doors are unlocked, right? it was very safe for everyone in the world. and this couple was driving through, but i recognized them. they were... we called everyone "uncleand "auntie," but they were not, you know, blood. but the first thing you ask in chinese culture is not, "how are you," but "chifanle le ma," which is "have you eaten?" because we... although we care

how you are, we're more concerned about, "are you hungry," which gives me an opportunity to eat, as well. so of course, they said, "oh, i'm starved." i quickly made fried rice. i never had made fried rice, which was an issue-- i'm ten years old-- but i'd seen my grandparents and parents make tons of it. so i said, "well, i'll do it." i made it. it was about a six out of ten in quality. i think i put too much soy sauce, too much oil, but what i did see is they smiled and they were happy, and they were like, "this is fantastic stuff." and that stuck-- that you can make people happy through food. and then eventually, my mom opened the mandarin kitchen in dayton, ohio. she taught a lot of cooking classes and was encouraged by her friends. both my brother and i went to andover to prep school so we were empty nesters... they were nesters early on. and that was my summertime job age 14, 15, 16, working at the mandarin kitchen. and then once again, it kept continuing-- i can make people happy through food, give them good value, and it stuck that that "restaurant bug" as they call it; i got it early on. >> hinojosa: ming, talk a little bit about that experience at cordon bleu. what did it mean in terms of your career and understanding that no, you were not going to

be an engineer from yale; you were going to do something else? >> it was significant because up until cordon bleu, i cooked only chinese, so i learned about primarily beijing style food-- mandarin style food-- from both my parents and grandparents. so i ended up going to cordon bleu and i had a wonderful french family, the moussards, that i got to stay for free in france, which is huge. i go to cordon bleu, i realize that-- wow! the french can cook, too! >> hinojosa: ( laughter ) >> because up until that point, i thought it was all chinese, chinese, chinese-- especially with desserts, right? we don't have desserts in chinese cuisine. you know, milk was never... you know, cream was not around in china, so the pastry cream and soufflés and crème anglaise and all that stuff was like, just... it just completely opened my world. and the first thing i actually thought about was, "why can't i take chinese and french to combine the techniques and the ingredients? why can't there be that flavor combination?" because it seemed to work-- i mean, we call it a wok, they call it a sauté pan. i mean, it's the same technique, the knife skills are the same, and that really got me thinking

i can not only perhaps be a chef, but i can cook what i like to eat by combining the cultures that i've learned from. >> hinojosa: and so how would you categorize, or if you had to, kind of describe what your cooking ended up becoming? because you're not... you're like, "i don't want to be a fusion cook," so what... how do you describe.. >> i don't like the term "fusion," because "fusion" is so forced. that's what you do with atoms, so that's... that's what scientists do. food is blending, so i call it east/west cuisine which in a nutshell is the blending of eastern and western techniques that produce a food that is bold in flavor-- so if you say it's a ginger broth or a lemongrass coating, you want to really taste that-- that has contrasting textures and temperatures. i love crunchy and smooth, i love hot and cold, so hot shrimp toast on a gazpacho or a banana split, right? you have hot fudge and cold ice cream and crunchy nuts. and at the end of the day... a lot of my food at the end of the day is inherently healthy. i'm not a health nut. i don't really care about calories and fat, but because of

the steaming and the braising and even flash-frying-- which is with flour versus a batter-- you can cook more healthily with without sacrificing flavor, which i think is the key. because anyone can make a granola blah, blah, blah with no fat and is great for you, but it doesn't taste very good. so how do you make food that does really taste good and people come back for it that's also good for you as well? >> hinojosa: now, you say that in the chinese culture the first thing is like, "are you hungry?" >> right. >> hinojosa: so you would think that if everybody's kind of always being offered food that you would have a population that would be obese. not so. >> no, not at all in china. it's the... a lot of people are studying it. i mean, talk about the food pyramid. but it's really a combination of like, a steak here-- you go to one of these steak houses in boston, that meat would feed a family, probably, for a week. that, you know, 18, 22 ounce rib eye. and i think it's the ratio of carb to protein to sauce and to veg. there's much more vegetables in chinese food.

and you don't eat... you don't sit down and eat a huge... you know, you might eat a lot of little things, but you're not eating that much quantity. >> hinojosa: so portion control. >> absolutely. same in europe. i mean, look at the french. they're eating foie gras and blah, blah, but they're eating this. whoever invented "supersize" really should be taken... >> hinojosa: what is that about? what do you think, i mean, when you think about kind of, you know, let's talk foodie culture here... >> right. >> hinojosa: ...what is that about in the united states? it's like, you've got to have the biggest, grand slam, you know, all-you-can-eat... >> yeah, i think it's parallel with what's going on everything with this country-- with wall street, as well-- it's excess. we somehow became the country of excess, and more is better. the bigger the house, the better. the more cars, the better. the bigger the plate of food, the better. it's very warped, and it's a shame, because it's quality, not quantity, that should matter. >> hinojosa: so i feel like there's something that's happening in the united states, that on the one hand you have the most availability of food shows, the food channel, food cooking, everything-- on the

other hand you have massive bombardment of fast food, you know? so it's like this double thing. like, "cook at home, do this," but at the same time, when... you know, with working families it's going to be like, "oh, wow, i really could do that great ming recipe, or call, or drive through." how do you see it? >> well, i think on top of that is people... it's really... it'g cooking shows, are getting their fix of cooking and so end up not cooking themselves, which is the exact opposite of what we're doing... >> hinojosa: like, you guys have actually looked at this statistically? like there is a... >> that is one of the theories that... i mean, michael pollan said this. i mean, it's amazing. there's so many more cooking shows than ever before, but less and less americans are actually cooking. and we actually think it's because, "oh, that looked great. okay, that's my fix, but i'm just going to go order out." it's sad, because the reason i'm doing a cooking show is to teach people how to cook, to hopefully

make them eat, or help them eat, more healthily, and talk about different cuts of meat or fish and all the omega-3 and all the wonderful things you can get through food. but at the end of the day... and it is-- i'm glad you're talking about this-- it's one of the major problems is obesity in this country. and that starts with school cafeteria, that starts with the food source, that starts with everything that we can effect a little bit. but the reality of the situation is if you're a single mom with two kids and you have ten dollars, you can actually get sustenance at a fast food place for five bucks for each kid. and without the knowledge and the time-- yeah, you can buy organic carrots and this and that, but if they don't know how to put it together... that's reality. >> hinojosa: well, and what about when you have these communities that are now being called "food oasis," where for example, you're in a poorer community and you cannot find a place to get fresh vegetables, you cannot find a place that's going to sell you fresh fruits, so all you can get-- and you've seen this-- the kids walking out

with soda pop for breakfast? >> that's horrible. >> hinojosa: as a foodie-- as an insider-- what do you do about taking on the "food industry," right? because this is, like, a lot of people don't want to talk... we're all about supposedly getting healthy and doing the right thing and eating smaller portions-- what about the food industry, ming? >> it's such... this world is run by money and corporations with money, and that's the challenge. because it's easy to go to a coca cola or any one of them and say, "you need to stop putting so much sugar," and this and that, but they're making billions of dollars, so why would they listen to someone like me or anyone? and what has to happen is that the government has to get much more involved. the fda and everyone on down has to really make law. i mean, it's absurd, but what's going on now in new york is they post, you know, fat and calories at all the fast food places. >> hinojosa: and no trans fat. >> and... but what has happened-- i was speaking to one large company-- what's happened is people now realize that this chicken salad actually has as much fat as their pasta

primavera, so now they're going to eat the primavera, because if they're going to go out, they might as well eat the primavera instead. so it doesn't... just because you're giving the information doesn't necessarily mean people are going to change their habits. i think it has to go back to just educating. i think we have to teach families and children-- starting in second and third and fourth grade-- about you are what you eat. and that old adage has been here for years and years, but is so true. and you really need to think about what you can eat and how government can help the schools-- starting with the cafeterias-- to educate. because in some instances, the kids will then educate the parents. because some of these parents are working their two or three jobs. they don't know about what is good food, or they could actually get a good meal making this soup or whatever. >> hinojosa: so we actually need just young mings at home waiting for us, cooking at nine years old, cooking, you know, a little bit of fried rice. >> a little fried rice, a little chicken soup, a little sautéed spinach, i mean, any of that stuff.

>> hinojosa: so take me inside for a little bit, because i'm not a foodie. >> right. >> hinojosa: i would love to be a foodie. honestly, i don't think i can afford to be a foodie, because it's expensive out there to be a real foodie. but let's talk about foodie television-- the politics behind foodie television. like, when you're looking at these new cooking shows, are things better, or are we looking at cooking shows where actually it's like, you know, open up a can and make it seem like you're really... what do you see? >> well, i think there's two types of cooking shows now. i think there's the ones that are based on entertainment-- and there's nothing wrong with that, and they're entertainers, and they're nielsen rates... you know, they're the ones that talk about nielsen ratings, and they're trying to get higher neilsen, they're trying to get more demographics, so they're entertaining people and food is just kind of the conduit. so they're not really "chefs," per se. i mean, look at the food network, and they're a huge success, but there's really one chef left at the food network-- there's bobby, right?

i mean, a true chef that owns a restaurant, that still cooks for a living? the rest are entertainers. and there's nothing wrong with the rachel rays of the world. i mean, she's done fantastic, but she's not a chef. so fortunately, they do have some shows that are called, you know, the healthy cooking shows and what not, so they're trying to promote that, but i think it is our responsibility as chefs-- and as an industry-- to be able to show easily how you can make good-tasting food. and that is not the emphasis and the focus, i think, when people are trying to create new cooking shows. i think they're all talking about, "okay, what do people how can we make it popular? how can we make it successful?" if it happens to be healthy too, great, but that's not the focus. that's not what they're thinking. if it ends up at the end of the day, fine, but their focus is on entertainment. >> hinojosa: so not necessarily so good for a chef like you. >> well, if you take... one of the reasons i actually came to public television was because in

the public television arena, you can still do a true cooking show. so simply ming for me is i'm still honestly cooking the food i love to eat and do. it's simpler than what we do at blue ginger, but it's still true cooking. and you look at lidia bastianich, you look at rick bayless, all... there's mario batali now-- all of us are really cooking on public television, and i think that's the new forum where most of the chefs are. >> hinojosa: all right, so i just love the fact... because like you, i'm an immigrant. born in mexico. my mom is a great cook; and amazing cook with six kids in the family... or six of us all together-- fresh meal every single day. wow, did we love watching julia child. you actually met julia child. >> oh, i've met her a bunch of times. i'll tell you one of my two favorite stories. one-- the first time she came to blue ginger, i was petrified. i mean, i don't really get nervous for people, right? i don't care if you're the president of this or ceo of that, but when julia child was coming in, i'm like... >> hinojosa: well, how did you know? did they call? >> oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. oh, yeah; they called. they fortunately gave me the warning, so, you know, so everyone stood at attention, and

of course i did the best meal i possibly could. and i ended up serving this foie gras course. it's a shumai, it's steamed, and i knew she's never had this preparation, and after she ate that, she... the waiter says, "julia wants to speak to you." so i'm thinking, as i'm walking over with my shoulders up like, "oh, she's going to say it's the most creative, or the tastiest, or the best," and i have an open kitchen, right? and she goes, "ming, you don't have one woman line cook!" i'm like, "oh, god!" >> hinojosa: oh, my god! >> right into my chest! i'm like... and she was right. and look, i love women-- i married one! but... at that point at blue ginger, there was not a woman line cook. and you know, there's only 5% women in our industry anyway, and oh, i was so crushed. i went back to the line and the cooks are like, "what did she say?" i go, "shut up, keep cooking!" fast forward a few months later, i get invited to her home. she was shooting a show with jacques pépin, right? julia and jacques. it was a sandwich show. and she started with an ice cream sandwich, and she started the segment with, "when i was an itsy, bitsy girl, i loved ice cream sandwiches," took a bite,

and then jacques' like, "well, in the south of france where i grew up, i had pain au chocolat," he'd take a bite. they were like, "cut." they had to redo the lighting. there was some bad movement. so they grabbed jacques' sandwich, they grabbed julia's, she was like, "nope!" ( slurping sound ) she ate three entire ice cream sandwiches. she became my instant hero. then we went to rialto, where julia cooked a fantastic six course meal. she just chowed, which is awesome, because she was someone that loved to cook, but loved to eat even more. >> hinojosa: so do you think that things are going to-- in terms of food in americans-- are things going to get better before they get worse? what do you see? >> yeah, that's a great question. i think it's still going to get worse before it gets better. i mean, i think there's a lot... you know, there's the slow food movement and everyone's talking about cooking locally, and you know, we do as much as can. we use verrill farms, we're trying to get meats that are at least from around here, we get water that's local now and not from fiji, so we're all trying to be the... you know, reduce the carbon footprint, be as green as we can, cook as healthfully as we can, but that's just restaurants, and you

know, not everyone in america goes to restaurants. i mean, more people still do cook at home. and i think it's us continually supplying information and teaching people the simple ways to cook-- to make tasty food. it's not... i think if you try to shove, "this is healthy for you," no one's going to eat it. no one wants to know it's healthy, they just want to know if it tastes good. and is it affordable? you know, i work with the greater boston food bank. they move 50 million pounds of food a year out of their new facility, which is crazy, and they're busier than ever. and that's part, of course, of the recession and people losing jobs and what not, but there is an opportunity at least with that, that, "well, here's some food; here's what you can do with this food." and i think that's going to help our country. again, it's important to start with the children. you have to teach them. >> hinojosa: and the children is another reason why you are a real spokesperson for this particular issue, which is food allergies. who would have thought that you would give birth to a son who, at the time-- very early in his

life, as an infant-- had allergies to... >> soy, wheat, dairy, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, and eggs. seven of the top eight. >> hinojosa: peanuts... what came after peanuts? >> tree nuts. >> hinojosa: tree nuts. >> so all nuts. >> hinojosa: all nuts. >> walnuts, macadamia nuts, almonds, cashews... >> hinojosa: so what does that... like, when you realize that and you're like, "okay, how am i supposed to... i'm a foodie! i've got all this..." >> yeah. well, we always joke that it's the unfunny joke from upstairs. the good news, though, is i'm a chef, so you can never feel bad for david. david grew up eating organic new zealand lamb rack and alaskan line-caught halibut with fried rice or fried rice noodles. so... and asian cuisine too, because he was, you know, wheat allergy, rice was okay so all the rice products still worked. so he ate fine, but it ended up being my calling. everyone has their calling in life, and my calling became being the national spokesperson for faan-- the food allergy anaphylaxis network. and it's crazy. in the last ten years, there's ten times more peanut allergies than ten years ago. >> hinojosa: what's that about? why? >> it's... i'm not a doctor, but from all the research i've done,

it's a combination i think primary is we overprescribe antibiotics. >> hinojosa: hmm. >> no one grown up on a farm. i don't know if you did; probably not. >> hinojosa: nope. >> so because you don't grow up on farm anymore, you don't build your immune system naturally, and nowadays, if a kid has a cough-- boom-- antibiotic. and our one salient or proof was david... in utero, my wife got an infection. she got antibiotics for the infection, so he... his immune system was compromised in utero. because our other son, henry, has no allergies. and so we just... we're too clean. so antibiotics, the hand sanitizers everywhere... i say this in jest, but i think it's... it would work. if you have a newborn, you should go to a farm and roll him in some cow manure. >> hinojosa: ( laughing ) >> seriously. that's going to make your kid healthy. the kid needs to get sick and build up their immune system. and that plus a combination with over processed food... a carrot's barely a carrot now. so food has been so processed. and you know, the environment;

something. so it's a combination of all of that. but it's the fact that we are too clean and we over prescribe antibiotics. >> hinojosa: so what do you want us to take away from... you know, because my kids, for example, there has been one kid in the entire... because they've had the same kid in their classroom for all their years, and the kid actually was over at our house and said, "yes, i'm the one that's allergic to peanuts." and julian was like, "right, i can never take a peanut butter sandwich to school." how do you deal with that kind of like, there's a little bit of tension there. >> oh, there totally is. and look, we were... we live in natick and we looked at the natick school system. they did not have a peanut policy in place, although they were willing to do something. but you know, six, seven years ago that was that table did not have peanut butter but the other tables are okay. well, that doesn't work, because if a kid touches a door knob and he just ate peanut butter and my kid touches the door knob and puts it to his mouth, he can... it's cross contamination. so we actually looked at tons of different schools, and park school, where they go, had a peanut policy-- a nut policy-- in place. and i think that's what you have to do. that's no nuts, ever. you can never bring food into the school, so no birthday

cakes. it's... there's zero tolerance. you can't have a little bit. there's kids that cannot walk into fenway park because they can't breathe in peanut molecules in the air. they can go into anaphylaxis. it has to be that extreme. >> hinojosa: and you did this for your restaurant. this is part of what you wanted to do. >> well, we... we recently passed law-- which i'm very proud of-- to make restaurants safer. and we did not pull the peanuts out of my restaurant, though, purposely. i mean, i own blue ginger, so i could have done anything, but we have a system that shows what you need to do to guarantee that this dish does not have nuts-- even though there is nuts down the line, but use a new pan or you clean the grill, or you use, you know, you don't use a steamer. it's all about educating people-- just like obesity. it's about educating people about cross-contamination. and we're a busy restaurant, so it'd be one thing to pull all the allergens out of it, but i couldn't pull soy out of my restaurant, right? between soy sauce and everything we use? so it's about how you control it with a system that on a saturday

night, you can look at this system and we have checks and balances. there's seven points of checks between when the food is ordered and then it's served to the child or the adult. and we go through it, and you know, i mean, we've messed up twice. fortunately, no one's ever gotten sick. but that's twice out of, you know, 500,000 to 700,000 people. and so there's a way to be able to serve people safely. and the law right now is you have to post this poster we developed with faan that talks about cross-contamination, you have to put this blurb on your menu that "if you have food allergies, notify your server while ordering." that helps everyone-- that helps the restaurant itself and the client-- and there's a serve safe training. we're developing a training system that will talk about food allergens specifically. and my best analogy is when you talk about raw chicken. people get what they're supposed to do when they cut raw chicken, right? they got to wash, and wash the knife, wash the board. it's the same thing with allergens. if you cut peanuts on the board, you have to wash everything completely off. same thing. >> hinojosa: all right, well thanks for all those lessons, ming. >> you're welcome. >> hinojosa: thank you, and you're going to treat me to

dinner, okay, one of these days! >> i hope so! i'll cook you some mexican food. >> hinojosa: i love it! see you then. thank you. >> thank you. continue the conversation at wgbh.org/oneonone. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org