David Chang Quotes

• “Recovering alcoholics talk about needing to hit rock bottom before they are able to climb out. The paradox for the workaholic is that rock bottom is the top of whatever profession they're in.”

  David Chang

  4 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I wanted so badly to please him and my mom. I was simply incapable. What happens when you live with a tiger that you can't please is that you're always afraid.”

  David Chang

  4 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “This all raises the question of whether depression is something you can control by simply sucking it up. My answer is no, I don't think you can overcome it with willpower, but I do believe that dealing with depression is a choice that needs to be made. You have to choose to stand up every day and keep going. To reject your default settings.”

  David Chang

  3 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I was going to either fail or thrive, and I was going to do it in full view of everyone I respected and resented.”

  David Chang

  3 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “Rage or fear... It oscillates. Rage I need to motivate me to try things that I can't ordinarily do - as I'm a lazy man. Fear - to keep pushing harder so we don't lose what we've accomplished.”

  David Chang

  2 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “You never know who's going to hold the keys to the castle. It's tempting to think you're too important to speak to the young intern who's been sent to interview you or the blogger who only has fifty followers. But if they approach you respectfully and earnestly, you should never be so stupid and arrogant as to dismiss them. If you brush off one too many smart kids, you're bound to make a lifelong enemy out of a future media mogul.”

  David Chang

  2 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “I've talked a great deal about the importance of failure as a learning tool, but it's really a privilege to expect people to let us fail over and over again. There are too many dudes in my story in general, and you can still sense my bro-ish excitement when I tell old war stories... It's my truth, which is why I'm leaving them in here, but I wish that some of it were different.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “But for years, my best coping strategy has been work. I have assumed so many responsibilities and said yes to so many things. Working hard creates my own gravity. The more I work, the more I am on terra firma.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “Deliciousness is a meme. Its appeal is universal, and it will spread without consideration of borders or prejudice.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “I think the reason why minority chefs in America find cultural appropriation so upsetting is that we feel obliged to uphold these arbitrary proscriptions, while white chefs do whatever they want. We’re following the rules and they’re not. Most of the time, they didn’t even bother to learn the rules. I decided that I should just start playing the same game.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “I began to question the validity of various cultural truths. Who gets to assign value to certain foods? What makes something acceptable or not? Why was MSG villainized in Chinese restaurants but fine when it occurred naturally in Parmesan?”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

• “2½ cups thinly sliced scallions (greens and whites; from 1 to 2 large bunches) ¼ cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger ¼ cup grapeseed or other neutral oil 1½ teaspoons usukuchi (light soy sauce) ¾ teaspoon sherry vinegar ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste Mix together the scallions, ginger, oil, soy, vinegar, and salt in a bowl. Taste and check for salt, adding more if needed. Though it’s best after 15 or 20 minutes of sitting, ginger scallion sauce is good from the minute it’s stirred together up to a day or two in the fridge. Use as directed, or apply as needed.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “At the time, I thought the point was about representation: there should be more women chefs covered by the food media, just as there should be more people of color. But no, we’re talking about something much more vicious. It’s not just about the glass ceiling or equal opportunity. It’s about people being threatened, undermined, abused, and ashamed in the workplace. It’s embarrassing to admit how long it took me to grasp that.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

• “I believe in han. There's no perfect English-language equivalent for this Korean emotion, but it's some combination of strife or unease, sadness, and resentment, born from the many historical injustices and indignities endured by our people. It's a term that came into use in the twentieth century after the Japanese occupation of Korea, and it describes this characteristic sorrow and bitterness that Koreans seem to possess wherever they are in the world. It is transmitted from generation to generation and defines much of the art, literature, and cinema that comes out of Korean culture.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “work is the last socially acceptable addiction.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “The paradox for the workaholic is that rock bottom is the top of whatever profession they’re in.”

  David Chang

  1 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “What happens to a cook’s motivation when the job becomes about maintenance and not improvement?”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “With a third star, you do everything you can to avoid disturbing the delicate balance you’ve created. No grind. No friction. You’re trapped by your own self-confidence, scared to abandon what you know already works.”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “Make it happen" is the standing order, and "Yes, chef" is the only response.”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “A couple more bites, then Barbot unleashed his signature galette de champignons de Paris et foie grad mariné au verjus, huile de noisette, citron confit on us.”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “CONSIDER THE LOBSTER Change is guaranteed, but growth isn’t.”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

• “What leads people to believe this is the fact that lobsters show no signs of getting old. As they age, lobsters don’t stop growing or reproducing. They can grow back limbs. There’s no limit to how big a lobster can get. They don’t slow down until the day they’re cooked and eaten. Lobsters grow by molting. They shed their old shell to reveal a new, soft shell that will eventually grow and harden around them. By the time they’re done, there’s no sign of the lobster they were. It’s an exhausting, dangerous process.”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “the best forms of creativity are born from paradox. Think of M. C. Escher’s paintings of staircases leading nowhere and hands drawing one another.”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote
• “True balance is not an average. It is two forces in equal measure.”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement

Advertisement
• “Cultural conditioning can convince a person to recoil from a dish that’s exactly like one of their own staple foods. Scientifically speaking, sauerkraut and kimchi are basically identical. That conditioning can also force us to cling to notions that prevent the evolution of deliciousness (and society).”

  David Chang

  0 Copy to clipboard Copy quote

Advertisement