LOS ANGELES, Jan 20 — Chef David Chang of the Momofuku empire hosts a new Netflix series based on his favourite Instagram hashtag #uglydelicious.
The Korean-American chef and restaurateur announced the news on Facebook, accompanied by a short video teaser starring comedian Ali Wong.
“Excited to have the opportunity with @uglydelicious to talk honestly about food, something we all have in common,” he wrote.
“Lots and lots of great people (like @aliwong here) worked hard on this show. We have strong opinions and we are honest, but really proud to have everyone come together.”
Netflix files the series under food and travel, where Chang and other chefs, activists and artists travel the world using food to break down cultural barriers and uncover shared experiences.
On social media, Chang eschews the general Instagram code of sharing pretty, plated aesthetically-pleasing food photos, in favour of authentic, unphotogenic foods like shredded, seasoned dried pollack, or a pot of red kimchi stew.
“While I have always found kimchi jigae to be delicious it was hard for me to ever see it as aesthetically beautiful compared to western foods. I love being wrong,” he wrote in the July, 2017 post.
Similarly, a plate of shiny, sauce and grease-coated, purple Shanghainese aubergines are filed under the #uglydelicious hall of fame, while a close-up of spicy, fermented raw crab claws has the potential of conjuring up far more menacing ideas to the untrained eye.
Chang is getting lots of screen-time this year.
Ugly Delicious is timed to air following the PyeongChang Olympics, during which the chef will serve as special food and culture correspondent for NBC.
Meanwhile, in the promotional teaser, Wong gets real about the hallmarks of an authentic Vietnamese restaurant.
In sum, if the server is excessively bright and chipper, and the bathrooms are clean, be on your guard, she says.
Because the best pho restaurants feature copy machines, mop and yellow bucket, and plastic, gallon containers carrying pink, opaque soap, she quips.
Ugly Delicious airs Feb 23. — AFP-Relaxnews
