Award-winning master chef, Ming Tsai takes us on a world tour of some of our favorite dishes, finding the surprising origin stories of meals as far afield as dumplings and hummus. (And by award-winning, it's everything from Zagat, to the Daytime Emmys, to appearing on People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People list.)

With a sweet and salty vibe, each 10-minute animated episode takes Ming across time and space to find the humble beginnings of dishes from around the globe that many of us have come to know and love.

Each vibrant excursion concludes with a hands-and-pans guide to making each delicious offering, and is lovingly brought to animated life by Chickens on the Roof, the production company led by public media veteran, Bill Shribman.

Dishes under consideration include:

• Nian Gao (China): This sweet sticky rice cake is eaten during Lunar New Year to bring prosperity.

• Baklava (Turkey/Middle East): Layers of pastry and nuts, soaked in honey or syrup, with roots to Ottoman kitchens.

• Gumbo (Southern USA): This dish blends African, French, and Native American culinary traditions.

• Pho (Vietnam): mixing native and French cooking.

• Joumou Soup (Haiti): a dish that symbolizes emancipation.

• Pizza Margherita (Italy): with its colorful tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, it was designed to be an edible Italian flag.

• Cassoulet (France): a symbol of regional ingenuity in southwest France.

Ming Tsai is an Iron Chef, restauranteur and author, host/executive producer of Simply Ming on PBS, and is Food Network’s first Emmy winner with East Meets West with Ming Tsai; he still judges many TV culinary competitions. He has appeared on many shows, from GMA to Arthur.

Bill Shribman has been creating digital content for PBS, WGBH, NASA and many others for three decades, and has his own brace of Daytime Emmy's and Peabody awards.