I have to say I didn't know Eddie Huang until today and perhaps I should be ashamed or maybe it's just because I'm not so familiar with everything that's going on in the US (after all I have not yet been there). But due to that new thing called the Internets I stumbled upon Eddie's very entertaining videos, that are part of his weekly series Fresh of The Boat. Eddie is a fairly known Taiwanese-American restaurateur, food personality and host of various TV shows. He's known for his restaurant in New York City called Baohaus, that serves Taiwanese bun sandwiches. He's been talked about in various media, the NY Post for example called him the new Anthony Bourdain. In recent months he's been traveling to Taiwan quite a bit, one of the reasons might be, that he's soon about to publish his book named Fresh Off The Boat, that describes growing pains of an American born Taiwanese, who doesn't want to fit into any stereotype and is searching for his identity. He's also writing a blog and he's pretty active on Twitter.
You're probably wondering, why I'm writing such a long intro about him, but after you see the videos, you will understand. Eddie's recent adventures in Taiwan are highly entertaining, because he's so authentic and direct. He says things, which I as a (white) foreigner would not dare to say so out right, but I might have the exactly same thoughts like him. I admit, that I laughed out loud several times during these videos, which are a mix of fun and serious, even deep and touching at times (when he visits the urn of his deceased grandfather). There's also a lot of introduction to Taiwanese culture and street food, something Eddie does brilliantly and in a way, that must appeal to his American audience (he even discusses Taiwan's political status with Chthonic in the 4th video). The first three videos are like a mini series from 2012, the last one was published in 2013 and it's part of the new "Back in Taiwan" series. There is more to come in the next weeks, so subscribe to the related channel.
Here are the videos of Eddie Huang introducing Taiwan:
Part I: Night market betel nut shrimping
Part II: Kenting surf gods
Trip to Kenting, where he's learning to surf and having fun at a concert.
Part III: Huang family edition
Visiting Din Tai Fung with his father and going to Yangmingshan cemetery.
Back in Taiwan I: Heavy fucking metal
Gongguan xiao chi and discussing Taiwan's independence with Chtonic.
I will add his future Taiwan-related videos here, so that the 2nd series will be complete. What's your opinion on Eddie's nonconventional way of introducing Taiwan?
3 COMMENTS:
It's really interesting the way he presents it - recognising Taiwan's very different to the US and but showing that it's fine people are like this, acting natural and not uptight and having a good time too. It's hard for someone born in the US to feel at home in both the US and their parent's country of birth, more hard than we like too admit and the naturalness is really striking.
The only similar thing I've seen before is this programme about Chinese food by Kem Hom and Ching-He Huang where they go to the different regions in China and explore the food and culture there. Ching was born in Taiwan, moved to South Africa and then to the UK when she was 11 and you can really see the difference in her approach to Eddie Huang - much more 'westernised', much more awkward (that might partly be a British thing, we're always awkward to some degree!) and far more equivocal about the merits of other countries. At the same time she shows a lot of emotion. You don't need to be a psychologist to see where her emotion comes from - missing her family and never able to fully reconnect with your roots whilst a TV camera is rolling would do that. Here's the link anyway, they revisit their roots around 30 mins in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bbm9WEkd88
@hello_operator: I have heard of Ching He-huang and she's indeed very British in her ways. Thanks for sharing that video, I haven't seen it before.
Eddie Huang can not say any sentence without using the F words-very very annoying. I grew up in Taiwan and currently making my life in the States. Taiwanese don't talk that way, neither do Americans.
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