Key Messages
The Story Of David Chang: How Mental Illness, Otherness And Inspiration Led To The Rise Of A Culinary Icon
David Chang’s memoir, Eat A Peach, is an intimate chronicle of the life of one of America’s most influential chefs.
It tells the story of how Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York’s East Village made such an unexpected and huge impact on the food world when it opened in 2004, with its young and unknown chef at the helm.
From there, chang has gone on to create a global empire with eateries all over the world, books and cookbooks, a Netflix series, and a podcast – questioning and disrupting preconceptions along the way.
The book also dives deep into Chang’s inner life – struggles he has faced along his journey from battling depression to managing his mental illness.
You’ll learn about how it has affected him; why his “Asian Chipotle” fell flat and the utter success of his fried chicken sandwich chain; as well as why Chang views Sisyphus’ infamous tale as so inspiring.
Eat A Peach you gives you all this knowledge wrapped up neatly in an intimate chronicle, told by none other than one of America’s greatest chefs himself, David Chongo.
It Took An Unconventional Path To Find His Calling: David Chang’S Story
David Chang’s early life can easily be considered an unlikely path to success in the culinary world.
His parents, who were Korean immigrants, had a rocky relationship with their son – his father’s expectations and strict discipline often proved too harsh and hard for Chang to bear.
Though he tried to gain approval from his parents, he felt powerless when it came to academics; however, his talent and his natural drive for golf provided him some reprieve.
At a young age, Chang achieved remarkable success on the golf course, which instilled pride in his father that had not been present until then.
But even as a child prodigy, he had no control over other aspects of his life – such as when at nine years old, his father told him he couldn’t be ambidextrous anymore because it would impede his swing.
When Chang’s growth spurt ruined his accuracy on the course in adolescent years, any hope of ever making his dad proud vanished in an instant – leaving him hopeless and humiliated.
In terms of food experience, Chang’s family cooked traditional Korean food which made him embarrassed and ashamed of the Korean culture.
However, sushi did have a place in this narrative as times shared with his grandfather gave him new outlooks on Japanese culture that connected both on personal level as well as professional journey he took upon later in life.
Though many elements lacked culinary through-line during David Chang’s upbringing period; ultimately each element within shaped up into providing him with distinct perspective about food that was unique and of great value to furthering success within direction chosen by chef himself.
The Power Of Self Reflection: How Chang Used Cooking To Beat Depression
David Chang had already been cooking for a few years when he decided to take things up a notch.
Despite being 22, most of his peers had already been cooking since they were 16, and Chang wanted to catch up.
To do this, he got a job at Mercer Kitchen, and on weekends he answered phones at Craft, Tom Colicchio’s restaurant.
Here, Chang found himself in tune with the modern American culinary sensibilities that Colicchio helped define- something which was much preferred to the Eurocentric fine dining methods of the time.
After about six months of hard work, Chang had earned enough respect from the kitchen staff to be offered a paid position.
However, what wasn’t evidently appearing was how stressed out and depressed Chang began to feel as his cooking career took off.
With his mother suffering from breast cancer and his family under strain due to a business feud between his father and brother, Chang became consumed by thoughts of death and suicidal behaviour.
Substance abuse also began to enter into the equation as Chang reflected on what he was doing with his life and why it seemed so mundane to him.
Eventually, looking for someone who could talk him out of ending things all together led him to consult Dr Eliot on the Upper East Side – where through inner reflection he began opening up about feelings of inadequacy and inferiority; ideals that would later fuel his desire as an chef even more so than before.
It was here that he understood fully that life could still have meaning despite feeling pointless or random in moments – understanding that each day is new start if you make it so.
David Chang Risked It All To Revolutionize American Dining Culture
When David Chang decided to open his very own Momofuku Noodle Bar in 2004, he was taking a huge risk.
He had just quit his job at Cafe Boulud and his idea for an upscale ramen shop in the East Village seemed absurd to everyone.
On top of that, he didn’t have any money or even the perfect location for his dream restaurant – just a tiny former fried chicken spot with foot traffic.
But Chang was determined.
With some help from his dad and a few Korean friends from Virginia, he was able to obtain enough capital to get the ball rolling.
Then he put an ad on Monster.com and found a cook named Joaquin “Quino” Baca, who had also recently moved to New York for work but ended up unsuccessful.
Nobody believed that this ramen shop would succeed, especially considering that Americans were still mostly associating ramen with its cheap microwavable counterpart at the time.
Without anything to stand on, it seemed that opening a new restaurant was an impossible mission — but David Chang did it anyways!
Although they weren’t sure how people would react to the concept of high-end ramen, they went ahead with it and proved their naysayers wrong!
The Story Of Momofuku Noodle Bar: How Taking A Chance On Something New Led To Success, But Also Revealed Its Founder’S Temperament
Momofuku Noodle Bar was a surprise, runaway success in the early 2000s.
It had a menu that people weren’t familiar with, but when Chang and Quino combined their fusion cooking from their Mexican-American and Korean-Japanese backgrounds, plus the addition of a pork bun to their menu, customers just couldn’t get enough!
Word spread quickly about this innovative restaurant and soon there were lines out the door.
However, as the restaurant gained traction it also exposed Chef David Chang’s temperamental side.
Open kitchens allowed customers to witness his tirades against his staff as he pushed them to do their best every night.
Ultimately this put him under public scrutiny because some blogs sites wrote posts condemning his behavior.
In response, he stated that chefs must take food seriously in order to excel – but thanked them for calling attention to how hard chefs work on something that will eventually be gone after you eat it.
Mental Illness Can Be A Powerful Motivator For Success
David Chang poured all of his energy and resources into the growth of Momofuku.
But as the empire expanded, so did Chang’s mental instability.
He felt stressed and insecure, grappling with feelings of overconfidence one minute, fear and doubt the next.
Chang found that using stress as a motivator for himself and his chefs worked to get results.
He urged them to formulate new dishes within an hour before opening – a seemingly impossible task – in order to push boundaries.
And as he pushed himself to achieve more success, Chang’s emotional state fluctuated even more wildly between bouts of overconfidence and crippling insecurity.
No matter how much success Chang achieved with Momofuku Noodle Bar or Ssäm Bar (his ‘high-end fast food’ concept which was nominated for two James Beard Awards), he continually found room for improvement – hence his philosophy to ‘undersell and overdeliver.
Every restaurant was intentionally kept unfussy: no extra decor, loud volume, stools without backs.
The key message in “Eat a Peach” is clear: As David Chang built up Momofuku’s world famous empire, it took its toll on his mental wellbeing too.
But ultimately it was this intense drive that drove him from success to greater success over time.
The Tragic Consequences Of Ignoring Mental Health: A David Chang Story
David Chang was a success story.
His Momofuku Ssäm restaurant was named as one of the best 50 in the world, and he knew how to run a successful business.
But beneath the surface, he was struggling with his mental health, feeling increasingly depressed, paranoid and angry.
He desperately needed an escape from these demons and so he did what many of us do – he ran away to Sydney, Australia.
Despite knowing this wasn’t a cure, it proved to be a temporary distraction – Momofuku Seiōbo proved just as successful as expected.
But while trying to remain in that blissful state of denial Chang’s life back home took a dramatic turn for the worse – his mother developed a brain tumor, his father had liver cancer; one friend died of an overdose and another friend in childbirth.
With no support system or ability to cope with it all, he chose not to return home but instead sequestered himself in Sydney sinking further into depression, becoming increasingly desperate and intoxicated by alcohol.
On one particularly harrowing night he blacked out after threateningly waving his knife towards a maintenance man – it almost cost him deportation from Australia.
Through all this turmoil though there was one ray of hope for him – during this dark period David found mentorship for a promising 17-year-old cook who joined his team full of potential based on his character and talents shown – sadly it was short lived with the young man found dead in his apartment from an accidental overdose soon afterwards; leaving Chang burdened with guilt over being unable to save him when he needed him most.
Chang Learns To Truly Lead After Death Of His Mentee Causes Reflection On His Life
After the heartbreaking death of his mentee, chef and restaurateur David Chang knew that he had to make a change.
He began actively seeking therapy to tackle the underlying issues of his depression and anger, and started examining more closely the beliefs he had been holding since childhood.
Additionally, Chang made a conscious effort to cut back on drinking in order to get a clearer perspective and better understand why his emotions ran so high.
All throughout this process, Chang was assisted by psychologist Dr.
Eliot who provided understanding as well as important insights into Chang’s egotistical thoughts of blaming himself for the death of his mentee – pointing out that it had certainly been more than just their relationship which resulted in tragedy.
Dr.
Eliot also eventually diagnosed Chang with bipolar disorder and affective dysregulation in an attempt to explain why he used to have rage blackouts.
Finally, Chang decided to take on executive coaching with Marshall Goldsmith who introduced him to the key message: “eating shit” – essentially being open-minded, humble and putting others first instead of forcing them into service for him.
This was symbolic for the overall intention behind hiring Goldsmith – learning how practice selflessness so that he could make improvements in himself from within and therefore turn his life around following such a challenging event.
David Chang’s Legacy: Turning Misfortune Into Motivation For Challenging Cultural Norms
Through his restaurants and food, David Chang is on a mission to question cultural truths.
He made the bold move of starting Fuku, a fried chicken sandwich joint that was named as a “fuck you” to anyone who mocked Asian culture or took it for granted.
On the walls of this restaurant were posters of offensive, stereotypical Asian villains from popular media – such as Oddjob from Goldfinger – that aimed to make people think about why racism and prejudice towards Asians still exists in mainstream culture.
He also wanted to challenge why Italian food is seen as more valuable than Asian food.
He created Nishi, an Italian-Korean restaurant with dishes like cacio e pepe pasta with chickpea hozon, a fermented paste.
With this project he proves that there are just multiple ways of looking at what is considered “valuable” and “not valuable” in society.
Chang has consequently embraced his own Korean heritage in the two new restaurants Majordōmo and Kāwi which feature strong elements of Korean cuisine alongside Japanese – something he initially felt uncomfortable with due to Korea’s warier attitude towards outside interpretation.
Chang has come to accept this part of himself and view it through an inspirational lens; instead of letting fear run his life, he tries to approach every day with purpose.
Wrap Up
In Eat a Peach, David Chang draws on his inspiring rise to success, while reflecting upon the personal traumas that were along the way.
His story begins with him leveraging his insecurities into a productivity powerhouse, building an impressive empire in the food industry.
While it was all accomplished through hard work and passion, personal issues such as mental illness and anger management came crashing down like a weight upon him.
It wasn’t until he started to face up to those feelings of insecurity that he was finally able to re-channel them back into his work, creating valuable statements about cultural identity in America though his cuisine.
The message he ultimately imparts is clear: no matter who you are or where you come from, anything is possible if you have courage and resilience.
