Eat a Peach by David Chang ~ Book Review

Clarkson Potter Publishers
Genre: Memoir
Release Date: September 14, 2020
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

I knew nothing about David Chang before picking up his memoir, besides my love for Milk Bar, which is owned by his Momofuku restaurant group. That, combined with my love for food writing, was enough for me to be intrigued (and yes, these cookies are a Milk Bar recipe). 

Chang chronicles his entire history working in the restaurant industry, starting from the bottom. A lot his success is due to taking big, possibly disastrous chances, and he admits to this. He also warns that the way he’s achieved all he has is not really an advisable plan for others. His honesty throughout the memoir was really commendable. It often doesn’t make him look good.

Chang lays bare his struggles with his explosive temper, manic episodes, and periods of extreme depression. A lot of the stories he tells make it clear that working for him would not be enjoyable. Although there’s no way to know if he will change in the future, it’s obvious that he is trying, and the first step is publicly owning his problematic behaviors in the past.

I found the history of each of the Momofuku restaurants to be really interesting. David Chang paved the way for a lot of different styles of restaurants in Manhattan. His philosophy that good, high quality, interesting food should be accessible to everyone was novel when he started out, and is now ubiquitous. As he began each new venture, he came up with a piecemeal concept, which often changed along the way. I loved getting to see how these came to be. His first restaurant served ramen, which was fairly unheard of in America at the time.

The cultural conversations Chang included in his memoir were really interesting. From general racism and prejudices he’s experienced as an Asian American throughout his life, to food biases and racism towards Asians on a larger scale, the theme was tied in all throughout the narrative. This added a lot to the book, and kept it from feeling really repetitive (although it was at times).

Overall, I enjoyed learning about how David Chang climbed his way up the ladder of the restaurant industry, why he took on certain ventures, and how he’s failed and succeeded along the way. Although he doesn’t seem like someone I’d ever want to work with, he tells his story in a straightforward manner that I appreciated.

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

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