Chef Robert Danhi ’91 is founder of Chef Danhi & Co., a consultancy that provides R&D, sales, marketing, and training services to foodservice operators, consumer packaged goods companies, agricultural boards, and educational organizations. He is also an award-winning author, television host, and former CIA chef-instructor who has dedicated his career to sharing the art of cuisines of Asia.
Danhi has spent the last 35 years exploring, preserving, and sharing Southeast Asian food cultures with students and fellow culinary professionals around the world. His passion for food and culture propelled him from dishwasher through executive chef positions.
From 1998 to 2002, he returned to CIA as a chef-instructor—at the New York and California campuses. He developed and taught more than 25 courses, including leading the redevelopment of the Cuisines of Asia course covering Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, and Indian cuisines. Danhi has traveled the globe teaching for CIA in Japan, Korea, Brazil, and Singapore.
A James Beard award-winning author of Southeast Asian Flavors: Adventures in Cooking the Foods of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia & Singapore, Danhi also hosted Taste of Vietnam, a 26-episode docuseries broadcast globally that explored Vietnamese culinary traditions through interviews and cooking adventures. This experience prepared him to serve as a judge for the entire first season of Top Chef Vietnam.
Danhi is also dedicated to giving back. He serves as chairman of the Professional Advisory Board for STREETS International, an organization that empowers disadvantaged youth across Vietnam, providing life skills, English language education, and hospitality training. He is also involved with a recently launched Culinary Life Skills Program for hearing-impaired children ages ten to fourteen in Vietnam’s Kwang Tree Province.
A life-long learner, Danhi is pursuing a master’s degree in Gastronomy at Boston University, exploring the intersection of culinary arts, flavor science, and cultural heritage.