Alan Wong is developing a new restaurant in Shanghai that brings in Hawaiian regional cuisine while adding some Shanghai flavor.[Photo provided to China Daily]

He calls the five categories of flavor - salty, sweet, acidic, bitter and spicy hot - the foundation of cooking, without which creativity usually makes little sense.

But more importantly, he believes that the types of food one grows up eating as a child shapes how one cooks later in life.

Wong's own influences are mainly Asian, as his Japanese mother had worked at restaurants there before the family moved to Hawaii, and his Chinese grandpa, of Cantonese origin, gives him the sense of seasoning.

After working at various restaurants in Japan, New York and Hawaii, Wong made his breakthrough in the 1990's while creating a new American regional cuisine with other top chefs in the 50th US state.

But his education is continuing now in Shanghai.

"What I really enjoy here is that when I tell people I want to learn from them, they really take it to heart. As I learn and grow, my thoughts about food and people change. When I change, my food changes," he says.

Contact the writer at xujunqian@chinadaily.com.cn