Ho Chi Minh City-based Dien Quan Media company will launch a new series featuring Vietnamese cuisine. To host the show is the popular celebrity host Martin Yan. The show, named Taste of Vietnam, will be shown in seasons. After Yan signed a contract with the media company on May 10 in ${bigcity_Ho_Chi_Minh_City:"HCMC"}, they held a press briefing announcing that the first season of the series will air early of 2013 and will include 26 episodes, each to run between 22-24 minutes, and will feature Yan's experiences throughout Vietnam where the host will explore different regions to discover local tourism, cuisine and culture. In each episode, the chef will join local residents to prepare the specialty dish of that particular place. There will be casting at each location to find a Vietnamese partner for chef Yan during his journey.

The show will not be entirely about cuisine as it will also feature fashion, lifestyle and everything the international tourists can watch and make them want to come to Vietnam.

Yan is a certified Master Chef, a highly respected food consultant, a cooking instructor and a prolific author. He is well-known for his Yan Can Cook TV program, which he ran since 1978, and have hosted over 3,000 other cooking shows aired worldwide. His cooking prowess made its way to over 30 cookbooks, including the award-winning Martin Yan’s Feast, Martin Yan’s Asian Favorites and Chinese Cooking for Dummies among many others. His cooking skill is so well-combined with his outstanding showmanship which makes all his shows entertaining and successful. His cookbooks are an excellent resource - both for the recipes and the added information about Asian ingredients and cooking techniques.

The 64-year old celebrity chef expressed his personal connection with Vietnam and is considering moving to Vietnam if the upcoming reality show succeeds. At the briefing, Yan told Tuoi Tre Newspaper, that “Nowhere else do I feel at home like in Vietnam.

“Vietnamese food is delicious, fresh and healthy and is ideal diet food. I want to promote it to more people in the world” Yan said.

Organizers of the show are aiming to broadcast the show on several US channels in addition to domestic TV networks. They aim to make “Martin Yan – Taste of Vietnam” a high-class brand which will spread Vietnamese cuisine to as many countries as possible. Dien Quan Media will also work with Food Channel and PSB from the US, who have worked with Yan previously, to broadcast the series worldwide and promote Vietnamese tourism and cuisine.

“In my ability, I will showcase Vietnamese cuisine in the most vivid way.” Yan added.

The filming will begin in August, according to the show’s producer Dien Quan Media. The organizers will invest around US$650,000 for the whole production.