Eat a Peach

 Tell me a story… about the life of a chef 

Eat a Peach by David Chang and Gabe Ulla 

Publishing date: September 8, 2020

Date read: August 21, 2021

David Chang started out in Virginia, the son of Korean-immigrant parents. He had trouble figuring out what he wanted to do with his life, and ended up working in a restaurant, which he honestly wasn't very good at. But in 2004, he opened the Manhattan noodle restaurant Momofuku, and has since become one of the most well-known chefs in America. 

I'm so torn on this book. I had to wait a few days after finishing it before writing anything down so that I could think about it. On the one hand, I did find the business aspects interesting. I'm always fascinated to read about jobs that I could never do. (I could never work in a kitchen - I'd be crying in the corner within 20 minutes.) And I expect some amount of bragging about accomplishments in a memoir of this type, and rightfully so, he's earned it.

But at the same time, I found Chang to be almost completely unlikable in this book. The tone he took when discussing his accomplishments and how he ran his businesses seemed a cross between humble brag and cocky. I found myself comparing his storytelling style to Marcus Samuelsson in Yes, Chef. I came out of that book really liking Samuelsson, a lot more than I liked Chang here. I don't doubt that all chef/restaurant owners have at least a bit of dickishness to them, but Chang just didn't sit right with me.

I did like the frankness of his discussion about mental illness. I think it's important to speak open and honestly about these subjects so that they lose their taboo. But I thought that while he seemed to acknowledge that his behavior was often wrong, he didn't seem all that apologetic about it. He wrote in a way that it seemed like he knew that the way he treated employees in his restaurants was wrong, but then would other times go on to brag about the way he acted. I did like the way that he spoke about how women are treated in the kitchen, though, and he really did seem to feel that he needed to do better there - it's probably the apology that felt the most honest from him.

I had listened to a few interviews with him before, and I did not get this same feeling from him, which is why this book threw me off so much. I listened to the audiobook, which he read himself, so I can't even say that the tone of the book was me misunderstanding it. I definitely want to watch an episode or two of Ugly Delicious to see how I feel about him there.

I still found the book interesting overall and I'm glad I read it. I just feel very conflicted with how I feel about Chang after the whole thing.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Trigger warning: mental illness, suicide/suicidal thoughts, chemical use