Indian American 'Top Chef' dies from the coronavirus

INSTAGRAM / DAVID CHANG

On Instagram, David Chang shared this photo with Floyd Cardoz.

ASAM NEWS & VIEWS FROM THE EDGE

Celebrity chef Floyd Cardoz, credited with revolutionizing Indian American cuisine, died Wednesday (March 25) of coronavirus.

"It is with deep sorrow that we inform you of the passing away of Chef Floyd Cardoz," according to a statement from Hunger Inc. Hospitality, where Cardoz was the culinary director.

Earlier in March, he was in India taping an episode of Netflix's Ugly Delicious with host David Chang and actor Aziz Ansari. On Mar. 17, however, on his Instagram account Cardoz sahared that he had returned to the US on March 8 for medical treatment, writing that he was "feeling feverish."

Cardoz returned from Mumbai via Germany to New Jersey with a fever. He admitted himself to the hospital thinking he had a flu.

The 59-year old gained fame while competing on Top Chef and going on to winning Top Chef Masters, according to CNBC.

SF Gate reports that Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi paid tribute to Cardoz on Instagram.

“I am beyond saddened to wake up today and hear the news of my dear friend @floydcardoz’s passing. Floyd made us all so proud,” she wrote on Instagram. “Nobody who lived in NY in the early aughts could forget how delicious and packed Tabla always was. He had an impish smile, an innate need to make those around him happy, and a delicious touch. This is a huge loss, not only for the professional food world, but for Indians everywhere. My heart goes out to his wife Barkha and their whole family.”

On Twitter she added:

Chang posted about Cardoz's death on Instagram: "Heartbroken over the loss of Floyd Cardoz to COVID-19. Rest in peace Floyd...we will carry on your beautiful legacy." Chang also tweeted:

CNBC reports Cardoz is credited with making the food industry more sustainable. He was a partner in Bombay Sweet Shop, O Pedro and The Bombay Canteen in India when he died. He also opened Tabla in New York City in 1997 with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. Tabla closed in 2010.

“The perception that Indian food is always heavy, over-spiced, greasy or that it will give you an upset stomach … restaurants just don’t cook like Indians cook at home.” Cardoz told Greaves Tours, an Indian travel company.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to honor Cardoz. The money will be donated to the chef’s favorite charities.

Netflix debuts new travel/foodie show with David Chang

NETFLIX

Chrissy Teigen, center, will be a guest eater hosted by David Chang, left.

Netflix announced its second documentary series with James Beard Award-Winning Chef David Chang and Academy Award-Winner Morgan Neville with Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner. The series will launch globally Oct. 27.

“There's something about traveling with someone that opens you up," says host Chang.  "Being away from all the craziness of daily life, you spend long days together in an unfamiliar place with nothing to do but wander the street, share meals, and talk. That's what BLD is all about—learning more about ourselves, our friends, and the people we encounter out in the world. Plus, of course, the ridiculously delicious meals we share.” 

Each episode of Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner will feature Chang, the head of the Momofuku empire, accompanied by a different celebrity guest exploring a single city, its culture and its cuisine. As the pair travels through each city, they will also uncover new and surprising things about themselves. 

IThe trailer gives a taste of what food enthusiasts can look forward to, including a trip to Vancouver, Canada with Rogen and a visit Marrakesh with Teigen. In addition to sharing meals together, Chang and his guests also share experiences during their travels.

In the preview, Waithe is shown bowling and McKinnon is seen enjoying a boat trip. Chang recently teased the show on IGTV stating that on the show he was able to “try more new foods than I ever have before.”

“BLD is a chance to take everything I’ve loved about working on Ugly Delicious--big conversations, great food, world travel--and put it together in one large smorgasbord. It’s been great to take a moment to get deep while breaking bread." 

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David Chang says grocery stores need to eliminate the ethnic food aisle

Segregation at the grocery store? Bias on aisle 4? Discrimination in produce? Celebrity chef David Chang has a beef with the practice of separating Asian foods from the rest of the store.

When I go to my local Island Pacific or Ranch 99 supermarket, there's no aisle reserved for white peoples' food or black or Latino peoples' food. Spices from all over Asia and Europe are on the spice rack; American-grown Cal-Rose rice is stacked next to the Jasmin rice from Thailand and India's basmati grains; and orange juice from Florida shares the cooler with mango juice and coconut water.

Yet in most mainstream American supermarkets, there's the ethnic food aisle or section where you can find soy sauce and Picante sauce; along with ramen and tortillas.

“If you go to the ethnic food aisle, that is sort of the last bastion of racism that you can see in full daylight in retail America,” said Chang, the man at the helm of the Momofuku dining empire, on his podcast this summer. “It is something that’s got to go.”

The underlying message of this grouping of foods is that these are the food of the "others," those who are not true Americans, implies Chang.

Sometimes known as the “international” food aisle, or even “Asian” and “Latino” aisles, these rows can come across to the shoppers they seemingly target as de facto segregation, another kind of “separate but equal” policy that marginalised African-Americans for generations.

“All the foods in the ethnic food aisle are already accepted. So why do we even have them?” Chang asks. The aisles, he adds, are an echo of “1950s America, which was not a particularly good place to be, especially if you were Asian.”

Others argue that its a matter of convenience. Having similar food items clustered together allows the customer to find all the ingredients they need (or, the pre-packaged spices) without going up and down the aisles of the modern supermarket.

NETFLIX

DAVID CHANG

Change comes slowly. plantains, ginger and bok choy are in the produce section, peanut oil is next to the Canola oil and olive oil and recently, I noticed myi groceriy story started selling frozen lumpia, choosing to put the Filipino egg roll among the frozen vegetables.

But I see what Chang is saying. During Filipino American history month in October, what we are really demonstrating is that Filipino American history is really part of the American story and should be taught throughout the year, not just one month of the year.

This Oct. 12, for example, we shouldn't teach that Columbus "discovered" the Americas. People and civilizations were already thriving here. Filipinos stepped on North American shores long before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. 

“All the foods in the ethnic food aisle are already accepted. So why do we even have them?” Chang asks The Washington Post. He recalled shopping in the “ethnic” aisle growing up as the child of immigrants and how it signaled to him that he was viewed as an outsider. “We were always going to be different,” Chang said. “We were never going to be accepted.”

Sunday Read: Chef David Chang on #MeToo, Ugly Delicious and more

RECODE

David Chang was interviewed last week.

CELEBRITY CHEF David Chang had a candid interview in which he talked about his many business ventures.

This week's Sunday Read is actually a Sunday Watch. If you're a foodie and follow David Chang, this is a must watch video.

The conversation took place Wednesday (May 30) at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. He was interviewed by Eater editor-in-chief Amanda Kludt and Recode executive editor Peter Kafka about his many business ventures. This candid conversation covered Momofuku’s expansion plans, his vision for the recently launched company Majordomo Media, the criticism of his hit Netflix show Ugly Delicious, and Chang’s thoughts on how the #MeToo movement has changed the restaurant industry — including his own establishments.

Eater provides some highlights of the 34-minute interview below:

On the impact of Ugly Delicious on his businesses: “It’s a sea change. I didn’t understand how many people were going to watch the show. I won’t say numbers, but whether it’s Chef’s Table or any other culinary programming on Netflix, the story is, among those that have been on these programs, is you can expect to see a dramatic bump, even in restaurants that are already busy.”

On the role that the Majordomo Media plays in relation to the Momofuku group: “You look at someone like Wolfgang Puck, and he’s created a giant business of every kind of thing related to food, from like CPG (consumer packaged goods), to pots and pans, to frozen pizzas, to catering. And there’s a reason why hundreds of people stay with him. He constantly takes care of his employees, and he’s got a great team. And that’s sort of the idea: ‘Hey if the media takes off, that’s more stuff we can bring back to the restaurants.’ Maybe people will never want to pay that much money for food; maybe we can subsidize some of the costs with other stuff that’s elevating our business.

On how the #MeToo movement is changing his restaurant group: “There was just a recent revelation, more on Eater today, about Mario [Batali]. And it’s not just disheartening. You’re like... Jesus Christ, this is so hard to read. Because simultaneously, I don’t know if we would be in business today without Mario’s support. So I feel obligated to recognize that, but also, like, what do I do with the opportunities I have now? And the only thing I think I can do with the platform that we have, is to be the best-in-class business with the most thoughtful, forward-thinking culture, knowing that we’re never going to be perfect. But that’s always been our goal.”

But why settle for thosse teases. Listen and watch the entire conversation, below

'Ugly Delicious' is about the smelly foods many of us grew up with

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Celebrity chef David Chang will host the new food and travel show, 'Ugly Delicious.'

ASAM NEWS

ONE OF THE FIRST EPISODES in Fresh Off the Boat showed 12-year old Eddy being embarrassed by his school friends for bringing smelly Asian food from home to eat at lunch.

It was a scene that resonated with many Asian/Americans who have experienced something similar.

Celebrity chef David Chang’s new show Ugly Delicious now on Netflix is an affirmation of all those tasty treats -- smell be damned.

The man behind the popular Momofuku Restaurant Group told the Daily Beast “Getting made fun of for what you eat is one of the crappiest things you can endure,” he says. “Food is one of the last bastions of half-coded racism. Because it seems so harmless. Because everyone says, ‘Oh, it’s just food.’”

RELATED: Read my restaurant reviews on Yelp!

Chang’s Ugly Delcious goes beyond just Asian foods to explore a cross cultural array of cuisine, and not all of it Chang likes.

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'Ugly Delicious' will have guest celebrities like Steven Yeun, above,
eating and cooking.

One scene shows him spitting out something he could just not stomach.

At first embarrassed, he’s now glad the camera crew caught that bit of reality.

“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,” he said to EW. “It was humiliating and humbling. I’m glad they captured it. I come off as a f—ing idiot, it was super challenging. The last thing I want to do is come across as disrespectful.”

Ugly Delicious will also feature several Hollywood celebrities joining Chang on his foodie adventures. Among the guests are Aziz Ansari and Ali Wong. During the episode, Wong brought up clean bathrooms.

“I think what Ali was saying is you can still have a very clean bathroom and have great pho but the point is, don’t lose sight on the food itself,” said Chang to the f view, it’s going to look “weird.”

Huff Post ““Rude” service at an Asian restaurant might not mean it’s rude service. It might not just be Western service ― it’s about looking at it in a different light. If you’re looking at things from a Eurocentric point of view, it’s going to look “weird.”
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