The king of the Momofuku empire teams up with Netflix for a docu-series on the food that bonds us – looks be damned.
David Chang returns to our screens this month with a new eight-part series, Ugly Delicious, which explores the dishes that people identify with – most of them outside the fine-dining world. From Mum’s spicy tofu jjigae to cultural mash-ups born out of migration, like a Vietnamese spin on Cajun crawfish, nothing is off-limits for Chang.
The trailer shows the James Beard-award winning chef eating at Taco Bell, joining Fuchsia Dunlop for an elaborate Chinese banquet and trying Tokyo’s famed Neapolitan pizza. Viewers are taken to the favourite dining spots of comedians Ali Wong and Nick Kroll and chefs including Sean Brock, Roy Choi, Massimo Bottura, René Redzepi and Nadine Levy Redzepi. Chang’s long-time collaborator Peter Meehan also makes an appearance.
Chang has celebrated the concept of “ugly delicious” through a hashtag on his Instagram – one that’s been embraced by others in more than 5,300 posts. Chang uses the tag, a riposte to images of manicured plates and food that people struggle to understand, on photos of mid-ferment kimchi, for instance, close-ups of oily noodles and plates piled high with roast chicken and barbecued pork.
“I’ve just reached a point where I’m okay making really ugly food,” he says.
Expect lots of mess, oozing and F-bombs.
Ugly Delicious streams worldwide on Netflix from 23 February.
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