It is doomed from the name that it will not be an ordinary food documentary. "Ugly and delicious" is named after a tag that Chang Wei, a famous Korean-American chef, often uses on social media. Compared with the familiar China on the Tip of the Tongue, this food documentary is not so professional, steady and even indecent.
The reason why this is a food documentary is because compared with those food documentaries that focus on the food itself with a lot of lenses, Ugly Delicious seems to be more like recording the food cultural journey of Chang Wei and his friends, showing their thinking about food and people.
It doesn't use a lot of lenses to show the beauty of food, nor does it make detailed comments on which ingredients and foods are made. More often, it is-Chang Wei, the most photographed person in this documentary, is communicating and expressing their knowledge about food and themselves with his friends and a group of people who deal with food. Sometimes it is just a chat between friends and family, which is casual and true.
In the first episode, pizza, a popular food in the world, appeared. From this, a discussion about authenticity was also launched.
Pizza originated in Italy, and after it was introduced to the United States, it was improved and became one of the favorite takeaway snacks of the American people. According to statistics, Americans eat 100 acres of pizza every day, with an average of 350 slices per second, which is equivalent to the area of one and a half football fields.
For most people who eat pizza, they probably know little about "authentic pizza" except that pizza is delicious.
To make an authentic pizza, you need: Argento oven, tomatoes from San Marzano and mozzarella cheese.
After the pizza is baked, it must pass the visual and olfactory tests:
Only this kind of pizza is authentic Neapolitan pizza with quality certification. Do you feel a little incredible? However, can an authentic pizza made of prescribed ingredients be called a really good pizza only if it meets this series of specifications?
Later, Antonio Pace, the chairman of Naples Orthodox Pizza, also confirmed in an interview that these regulations are actually aimed at selling more local agricultural products, which is a kind of local agricultural protectionism in some aspects.
The transportation process of these local ingredients often takes five or six days, and the freshness of the ingredients itself is inevitably consumed, which in turn affects the taste of the food. Pursue "authentic" blindly, maybe you can't make delicious pizza.
Authentic Napoli pizza is delicious, but for different countries and regions, it is often the most delicious only if it is suitable.
For example, Chang Wei ate the pizza made by the pizza chef at Muhei restaurant in Japan. This pizza does not use any ingredients from Naples, but it allows you to enjoy the local flavor while eating pizza, which is delicious and innovative.
They start by imitating what they like, and then over time, they form their own style, and then they constantly evolve and surpass it.
If we can put down some inherent prejudices and be more patient and tolerant of food, maybe we will find surprises beyond the taste buds.
I hope that by watching this food documentary, more people will have more curiosity and thinking about food.