Anybody watched "Ugly Delicious" with David Chang?

[Recursion]

My wife and I (both foodies) just finally got around to watching it. The crawfish episode is to die for. But the fried chicken episode is really making me think.

Chef Chang seems to have this overriding idea throughout the series about "authenticity" being a dangerous idea, that creates a burden we don't need to carry. But he gives so much airtime to people who push back against that. The fried chicken episode really breaks that down most clearly to me. You have a generation of African American chefs who created the various fried chicken cuisines throughout the country, who are now being commercially overtaken by white chefs with more financial backing. But it's not like the white chefs are just Columbusing; their grandmothers cooked them fried chicken every Sunday too (that was something that surprised me when I finally escaped the South: what I thought of as "food" is, thanks to the Great Migration, "soul food" in most of the country.

Anyways, just curious if anybody had seen the show and, if so, what thoughts y'all had.

[dawg day]

1. Chicken and waffles

That trend started in abandoned gas stations in my city. They were "pop-ups" in that they weren't licensed by the city. The ladies would just cook up a bunch of chicken and waffles and have them ready on Sunday noon when people were coming back from church.

Next thing I know, all the "Comfort food" chefs on the Food Network are doing chicken and waffles....

But oh, well. Can't really blame chefs for going beyond their own culture for inspiration. As long as they give credit and also participate in supporting chefs from minority cultures, especially helping young chefs.

BTW, chicken and waffles are wonderful.

[kwassa]

2. Fried chicken is in cuisines around the world.

This new Asian food court in Rockville has a Taiwanese fried chicken place doing big business. Me, I like the poke bowl place.

There is also Korean fried chicken place down the street that is part of a chain. Bon Chon.