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BOURDAIN
HOMAGE. David Chang, right, and actress Kate McKinnon try fresh
mangosteen from a street vendor in Phnom Penh, Vietnam, in a
scene from the Netflix series, "Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner."
Chang says he understands why critics are comparing his new show
to work done by his late friend and colleague Anthony Bourdain.
Chang’s show fuses food and travel as did Bourdain’s "Parts
Unknown." (Netflix via AP)
From The Asian Reporter, V29, #23 (December 2, 2019),
page 7.
David Chang says his new Netflix show honors
Bourdain
By Michael Cidoni Lennox
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — "Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner" host David Chang
says he understands why critics are comparing his new show to
work done by his late friend and colleague Anthony Bourdain.
Chang’s show fuses food and travel as did Bourdain’s "Parts
Unknown."
"I don’t know how you couldn’t," said Chang. "He was a pretty
significant person in my life. But whether we were successful or
not, the last thing we would ever want to do is to not be
respectful and pay homage. ... The whole thing was hard to do,
for obvious reasons. But we tried very hard and we were very
aware of trying to make it a different show."
Bourdain, a chef and author, was known for using culinary
traditions as a storytelling tool to explore cultures around the
globe in his CNN series, "Parts Unknown." He killed himself in
2018.
Perhaps what’s most different about Chang’s new Netflix
series is the sweet and occasionally salty chef himself. His
empire includes restaurants, cookbooks, and now two Netflix
shows. The first, "Ugly Delicious," debuted in 2018.
The first four episodes of "Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner" pair
Chang with celebrities as they explore a city — Chrissy Teigen
in Marrakesh, Kate McKinnon in Phnom Penh, Seth Rogen in
Vancouver, and Lena Waithe in Los Angeles.
It’s with the history-making Waithe — the first black woman
to win an Emmy for comedy screenwriting — where things get most
interesting. Their conversation in a no-frills, suburban Los
Angeles diner turns to lack of representation of minority groups
in mainstream America. Waithe is gay. Chang’s parents immigrated
from Korea in the ’60s.
Representation is an important subject for Chang. In
September, he told a Washington Post interviewer that the
ethnic food aisles in grocery stores are "the last bastion of
racism" in retail America.
In talking to The Associated Press, Chang presented an
example. "Why should my hot sauce be in an ethnic food aisle,
but Tabasco is in a main aisle?"
In terms of availability and information, however, this is a
golden age of food, Chang said. Consumers, manufacturers, and
the culinary industry are better informed than ever.
But the ripples from climate change could lead to a
"different kind of food system," he said.
"We may eat things differently," he said. "My dad used to
tell me, man, ‘When I got an orange once a year, that was the
greatest day of my life.’... And we may have to go back to that.
And I don’t know what that looks like. But we can’t get whatever
we want anymore."
There’s also been personal change for Chang as he and his
wife, Grace, became parents with the birth of their son, Hugo.
"Everyone says, ‘it changes your life,’ and I’m trying to
find how to find a better balance," Chang said. "I’m a work in
progress, man. And working a lot is what I know how to do. And I
do know that soon I’m going to have to learn how not to work so
hard." |
