Diaspora A La Mode: Netflix’s ‘Ugly Delicious’ Season 2 Makes a Meal of Colonization, Food and Family

Ugly Delicious comes for your heart first, taste buds second in the season 2 opener. James Beard Award-Winning Chef David Chang grabs his viewers by the heartstrings with a humble sojourn through anticipated fatherhood. Chef David surrounds himself with the stories and food of loved ones, which is something that Ugly Delicious does best. It is often said that a chef’s restaurant is their baby, but what about when they have an real-life baby? How does one prioritize parenthood without sacrificing their career? Chang shows us the emotional highs and lows of learning to be a parent while attempting to restructure a very high profile, 14+ hour career. It doesn’t take long to figure out that the first episode is less about food and more about the heart. Of Curry and Steak Just as in season 1, the second season of Ugly Delicious masterfully intertwines emotional and technical foodie accounts of other famous chefs like, Tom Colicchio and the incomparable Padma Lakshmi (who is rocking the HELL out of a “Big Uterus Energy” tee). This 4-episode series packs a helluva punch with it’s second episode entitled “Don’t Call It Curry.” The second episode digs into how colonization and trade effected the culinary authenticity and face of Indian food, leading to Chicken Tikki Masala becoming one of Britain’s national dishes. Each subsequent episode visits more diasporic identities of foods.

Chang’s vulnerability in this season doesn’t end with the opener. He owns every single “unknown” through…