 According to Beard he was raised by Thema and Jue-Let, who instilled in him a passion for Chinese culture.Beard reportedly "attributes much of his upbringing to Jue-Let," whom he refers to as his Chinese godfather.David Kamp wrote, "In 1940 he realized that part of his mission [as a food connoisseur] was to defend the pleasure of real cooking and fresh ingredients against the assault of the Jell-O-mold people and the domestic scientists."