Part cooking show, part travel show, Netflix's Ugly Delicious tours the world in search of
extraordinary culinary experiences with chef David Chang, head of the Momofuku restaurant
group, at the helm.
If you've been craving a new binge-worthy watch with foodie bona fides, you're going
to wish you started watching Ugly Delicious sooner.
Here's why.
The words "ugly" and "delicious" might not seem like they go hand-in-hand, but they hold
a special significance for host David Chang.
The phrase originally hit the food scene through Chang's Instagram account as a hashtag he
used for food that wasn't necessarily picture perfect and Instagram worthy, but that tasted
really, really good.
"This is basically one of the ugliest dishes I've ever made."
Chang told AOL that the idea for the new show predated the hashtag, but "Ugly Delicious"
really encapsulates what the show is trying to be, saying,
"Some of the most delicious things — the things that I grew up eating — I'm now more
comfortable embracing, and so much of the most delicious stuff falls under 'beauty being
in the eye of the beholder.'"
Ugly Delicious has seen critical success and became a hit with audiences, but Chang, who
previously hosted an Anthony Bourdain-produced show, The Mind of a Chef, on PBS in 2012,
never aspired to be a TV chef.
Even hosting The Mind of a Chef wasn't something he planned.
Chang told The Daily Beast,
"Mind of a Chef was never supposed to be a TV show, it got re-purposed, I never would
have signed up for that if it was like, 'Hey, let's do a TV show.'
I stopped doing TV almost across the board, because I didn't want to do it."
Chang told Entertainment Weekly that Ugly Delicious was, quote, "never, never, never
supposed to happen."
Chang added that he doesn't even watch much TV (aside from Bourdain's shows), and doesn't
consider himself an entertainer, saying,
"I think first [and] foremost I work in the restaurant business.
Everything else is sort of secondary, incidental."
Oscar-winning director Morgan Neville (who ended up executive producing the show) changed
Chang's mind about returning to TV by pitching the show that would become Ugly Delicious
as, quote, "a punk rock TV show, a show about breaking down all expectations and borders."
On Ugly Delicious, Chang dismantles the idea that food must be fancy in order to be good,
attacking food purists as having ideals rooted in classism.
“How do you feel about MSG?”
"I'm the biggest apologist ever for MSG."
In an interview with the Daily Beast, Chang used pizza as an example, describing how many
look down on fast food chains as inferior, saying,
"Some people make fun of me because I'll order Domino's [pizza] occasionally.
And it's always struck me as classism or elitism."
“Don’t be upset at me.
But I order Domino’s occasionally.”
Chang challenged the sentiment that people who enjoy Domino's have unrefined palates,
saying that if they like the pizza, quote, "they're not wrong."
Judging other people's taste in food also carries with it a certain danger, he warned,
saying,
"If you pass judgement on someone, which we're all prone to do, you might not get that person
to appreciate any other kind of pizza.
We don't want anyone to feel like they're being shamed."
For Chang, good food is good food no matter where it comes from.
It doesn't have to be "authentic" to pass his litmus test.
On Ugly Delicious, he challenges cultural appropriation, the idea that it is inherently
wrong for someone outside of a particular ethnic group to prepare that culture's food.
For Chang, who is Korean-American, filming the show helped him appreciate how chefs borrow
from other cultures.
He told Fast Company, for example, that he was always critical of other cultures making
kimchi.
He explained that he wants people who make kimchi to understand the cultural significance
behind the Korean staple.
That doesn't mean, however, that he doesn't think people who aren't well-versed in kimchi's
history shouldn't make it.
Rather than chastising or criticizing someone because they just learned how to make kimchi,
Chang said,
"Maybe the best thing I can do is let them continue to do it because if they do a good
job of it and they like it, maybe they're going to become an expert in it.
And then through that, they're going to understand Korean culture or Asian-American culture or
cultures outside of their norm."
“I don’t know how you guys deal with him, I mean, he’s just arguing with everyone.
He’s a table-thumper.
Arghhhh!”
Ugly Delicious doesn't shy away from hot button issues, and that includes politics.
In its debut season, for example, Ugly Delicious explored the effects of the Trump administration
and how his strict immigration policies affect the culinary world.
The show highlighted chefs like Christina Martinez, an undocumented immigrant who is
also a restaurant owner in Philadelphia.
Chang told Fast Company that this issue isn't black and white, saying,
"You can't say this is good and that's bad.
It's more nuanced.
I don't think we want anyone to say that this is the definitive answer on anything that
we're talking about.
It's simply to raise awareness and to have a conversation, and to arm yourself with more
knowledge, and that's it."
If Ugly Delicious reminds you of Anthony Bourdain and his adventurous cooking shows such as
No Reservations and Parts Unknown, there's a reason for that.
Executive producer Morgan Neville, who also directed a couple episodes of Ugly Delicious,
credits the late chef with creating a demand for globetrotting shows that sample local
cuisine.
Neville told Deadline,
"I was always a huge fan [of Bourdain's].
He was the godfather of this new idea of looking at food.
His shows completely opened up this world and Ugly Delicious would not have existed
if Tony hadn't done everything he did."
Many people involved in Ugly Delicious, including Chang and his sometimes co-host Pete Meehan,
were close to Bourdain and even called him Uncle Tony.
With so many conversations about controversial issues, it would be easy for Ugly Delicious
to alienate viewers looking for a lighthearted cooking show rather than serious sociopolitical
commentary, but Ugly Delicious strikes a fine balance between serious and upbeat.
The show regularly pulls in guests, including famous comedians, who lighten the mood on
set.
Chang's decision to bring them on the show wasn't just for the obvious entertainment
value, though.
The chef truly values the culinary experiences of people from all walks of life.
He told AOL,
"It's been a crazy run, and what I've learned over the years is that everyone — comedians,
athletes — wants to eat well and know where to go.
Through Momofuku, I've been able to know a lot of these people.
[…] The important part to that was that I'm not the food expert on everything, but
someone else might know more than I do, and they don't have to be a chef."
Before the show premiered, Chang was a respected and well-known restaurateur.
Ugly Delicious not only transformed him into a recognizable television personality, but
also an Asian-American icon.
"Like I'm a Korean Vanilla Ice!"
His success was made more significant by the fact that Asian-Americans are underrepresented
in television.
This is one of the factors that convinced Chang, the son of Korean immigrants, to go
forward with the show, in spite of his initial reluctance.
He told The Daily Beast,
"There are not a lot of Asians on TV.
And I think that is a responsibility that I'm learning."
Chang added that, while he is proud of his roots, he was embarrassed of his heritage
as a kid and didn't embrace his identity until he was older.
His status as a representation of Asian-Americans isn't something that Chang aspired to, or
even something he expected.
He told Entertainment Weekly,
"The older I get, the more I appreciate someone that is of my culture that's been successful.
I never thought I would be that kind of person that would appreciate that.
And it's just weird."
One of the charms of Ugly Delicious is that it allows conversations and storylines to
develop organically.
While the food and location are planned for each episode, the show is true reality TV
in that the cameras keep rolling even when something unexpected happens.
Chang told Entertainment Weekly that the episode partially set in New Orleans was, quote, "off-the-cuff
unscripted" and turned into "truth-telling" in a way he didn't anticipate.
Chang and Morgan Neville went to dinner to talk about shrimp, but ended up talking about
crawfish, and things spiraled from there.
They ended up getting drunk while filming, leading to a far more "out of control" episode
than expected.
"We were drunk. And the main reason Cajun hasn't picked up steam where it should pick up steam is because of... race!"
Change told the magazine,
"And that's fun to me — being able to not think about something and just do it and trying
to be honest about it.
The entire time I see [the camera operator] filming, I'm like, 'What are you doing?' and
he's like, 'This is crazy.'
So, that is like a perfect example of how it doesn't feel like work, because I was literally
just documenting what was happening."
While most of the food on the show is delicious, some of it turned out to be just plain ugly,
at least to Chang's palate.
An episode on Chinese food proved to be a particular challenge for the seasoned chef.
The episode explored the history and influence of Chinese food, complete with a sampling
of some traditional cuisine.
Chang told Entertainment Weekly,
"There's a lot of things I don't want to eat.
But we were eating food that was in vogue 400 years ago.
I understand Chinese food, I'm not an expert, but there are textures in classic imperial
food that are slippery and slimy, that are considered delicacies.
The one that was really hard was dried deer tendon."
Chang encourages people to try new things on the show.
This time, however, he found himself unable to finish the dish, afraid it would make him
vomit, leaving him with "a moral dilemma."
Rather than risking throwing up, Chang chose to spit it out, telling the magazine,
"I felt so remarkably terrible, but it was positive for me to see because it was, like,
this is something that happens for a lot of people — eating something they're not comfortable
with.
It was humiliating and humbling.
I'm glad they captured it."
“He has like, so many strong opinions about everything.
Sometimes he’s right, most of the time he’s not."
It would be natural for a celebrity to want to hide from the negativity that can so often
follow a person in the spotlight, but Chang wants to know what the audience thinks — no
matter how, well, ugly it is.
The chef is a pro at taking constructive criticism.
In 2016, for example, critic Pete Wells gave one of Chang's restaurants a one star review.
Chang rose to the challenge by re-evaluating his brand.
In 2018, Wells responded by writing another article in the Times, this time praising Chang
as an innovator.
Chang said in an interview at Recode's Code Conference that Wells' initial review helped
him figure out where his restaurants "needed to go" and that he is "weirdly thankful" for
the harsh review.
"I've learned so much from it.
And that medicine tasted terrible."
His approach to television is no different.
Ugly Delicious received some backlash over a lack of representation of women and African-Americans,
which Chang addressed at the conference, saying,
"I've read every bit of criticism about that TV show, just like I read every [restaurant]
review, because it just kills me when anyone has a bad time.
So, yes, I've read every criticism — whether it wasn't inclusive enough through African
Americans or through women — I just know that we had one season, and we did our best,
and we had no intention of trying to be exclusive.
Hopefully there's a second season, and we'll be able to do it better."
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