SINGAPORE — Most of us dream of retiring early, but not Martin Yan.

The 68-year-old celebrity chef, who is known for his popular Yan Can Cook television series, says he loves his job so much, he sees no reason to stop any time soon.

“35 years ago, there were only two or three cooking shows, and Yan Can Cook was one of them,” he said, in a phone interview with TODAY from Hong Kong. “Now there are thousands and thousands all over the world and I still enjoy what I am doing, and I don’t think I need to retire.”

He added: “When you love what you do, just like people playing golf or fishing, why should you retire? I may slow down a little bit, I may work less, but I don’t need to retire. I love what I do, I will never retire.”

And that is perhaps why Yan remains one of our favourite chefs — even though few of us have actually ever tasted anything he has cooked. A man of simple tastes, Yan’s idea of a perfect last meal consists only of “steamed fish with good quality soy sauce and some scallion and ginger”, but his enthusiasm on screen is so infectious, he makes you feel no culinary feat is impossible.

Even after over three decades in the business, Yan still keeps a grueling schedule, travelling to Asia every 1.5 months to travel for two to three weeks at a time for work. He has restaurants in San Francisco — where he lives — and other parts of California, and his newest eight-episode series, Martin Yan’s Asian Favourites, which sees him teaching viewers how to make his favourite Asian dishes such as fish head noodle soup and chicken eggplant green curry, premieres in Singapore on Thursday (Jan 5) on the Asian Food Channel.

“I personally don’t like the travel part itself, in terms of the plane or the road, but once I get there, I get excited. I am very curious about things, not just about food, about people, about culture, about heritage,” he said.

“To me it is an experience of a lifetime. Everything that I do in one month other people have to take a lifetime to dream about, I feel so fortunate and so thankful... When you are passionate about what you do and you are thankful, things go really easily, and I just love it. I love what I have experienced and I love my life and my career.”

The satisfaction also comes from the knowledge that he has been an inspiration to many. While on the road, Yan often meets people who tell him they chose to become chefs because of his shows.

“When you hear something like that, you feel somehow you made a little dent in the industry and you inspire some people. I feel I have lived a very meaningful life.”

He continued: “I always try to inspire young people, anything that I can do, they can too. I came from China and I had nothing. My mother gave me five dollars when I left China. I still don’t have much, but I feel that you don’t need a whole lot to really enjoy life and to be happy. Life is about attitude, you’ve got to have the right attitude, the right personality, to be happy.”

Ultimately, Yan says he hopes he will be remembered for making people smile.

“I want people to remember me (as a) happy guy (who makes people) feel good. That is all I care about, that is all I want. I want to make people smile, I want to make people happy, I want people to feel there is a future, there is a lot of hope. I want people to feel that there is hope so they can look forward to life in the future.”

Martin Yan’s Asian Favourites premieres on Thursday (Jan 5) at 9pm on Asian Food Channel (Starhub Channel 435).