Name Shirley Fong-Torres Role Writer | Died June 18, 2011 Siblings Ben Fong-Torres | |
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Books The Woman Who Ate Chinatown: A San Francisco Odyssey Organizations founded Wok Wiz Chinatown Walking Tours | ||
Shirley Fong-Torres (November 16, 1946 – June 18, 2011) was a chef, tour operator, and popular travel and food writer based in San Francisco, California.
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Early life
On November 16, 1946, Fong-Torres was born. Fong-Torres' father was Ricardo Torres. Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Fong-Torres' father Ricardo (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.
Education
Fong-Torres was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
Career
Early in her career she worked at Levi Strauss and taught middle school. She later founded Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours (1987), which still offers cultural and culinary themed tours to locals and tourists. She developed the very popular specialty tour "I Can't Believe I Ate My Way Through Chinatown." Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours continues today, with Shirley's team of talented tour leaders and her daughter, Tina Dong Pavao carrying on her legacy.
In 2006, Shirley Fong-Torres appeared on the hit Travel & Living Channel show Cocktail Kings, and inspired mixologist Dimitri Lezinska to create a Margarita style drink named "Diva of Sausalito."
Personal
Fong-Torres has a brother Ben Fong-Torres, an American rock journalist, author, and broadcaster.
Fong-Torres died of leukemia on June 18, 2011.