How Dumplings Heals Generational Trauma with Chef Katie Chin

🎙️Carrie On!

Show Notes:

Celebrity chef and performer Katie Chin shares how cooking with her mother helped heal generational trauma—spanning immigrant beginnings, the legendary Sean Connery restaurant story, sibling loss and silence, and her TEDx talk “Dumplings Released My Demons.” Celebrity chef, award-winning author, and performer Katie Chin joins Carrie On! to explore how the act of cooking can open hard conversations and help heal generational trauma. We trace her family’s immigrant journey from Guangzhou to Minneapolis, the rise of her mother Leeann Chin from seamstress to restaurateur (with a little help from Sean Connery!), and the cycles of shame and silence that Katie chose to break. Katie talks about losing a sister to suicide, finding friendship with her mother later in life through food, pivoting from a senior exec role at Fox to the kitchen, and crafting her TEDx talk,

“Dumplings Released My Demons: How Food Can Heal Generational Trauma.”

We also peek into her one-woman show, her global family cookbook, and why karaoke (and a pandemic game night!) became unexpected lifelines. If you’ve ever felt caught between cultures or ready to rewrite your family story, this episode is a warm invitation to begin.

In This Episode:

• First-gen identity, “lunchbox shame,” and love as food
• Leeann Chin’s origin story → from bus-riding caterer to restaurant empire
• The Sean Connery moment that changed everything
• Breaking cycles: speaking openly about suicide and emotional abuse
• Quitting a big job + leaving a marriage: “Leap and the net will appear”
• Why cooking together can be meditative, connective—and healing
• Building a TEDx talk that gives people tools (not just a story)
• One-woman show, five cookbooks, and a very ’70s cover band

Three Takeaways:

1. Food can be therapy. The ritual of cooking together creates space for truth and connection.
2. Tell the truth anyway. Breaking silence helps others—and stops damaging cycles.
3. Reinvention is allowed. You’re not late; you’re right on time.

Links & Resources:

• Katie Chin — IG/TikTok: @ChefKatieChin
• Website: chefkatiechin.com
• Catering: wokstarcatering.com
• Book: Katie Chin’s Global Family Cookbook (major booksellers)
• TEDx: “Dumplings Released My Demons” (search: TEDxFargo Katie Chin on YouTube)
• USA Today op-ed by Katie on breaking cycles and seeking therapy
• Legacy restaurants: Leeann Chin (Twin Cities & select airports)

Sponsor

Two Peacocks Travel — Transformative, purpose-driven group trips for women. Find your travel bestie and travel with meaning: twopeacockstravel.com

Connect with Carrie

• Instagram/TikTok/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSXJR1cAZIwf_qrXVNlvbuA
• BRA Network: bra-network.com