Jon Kung, the self-taught chef who went viral

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Among the legion of foodies who have become TikTok stars, the particular appeal and success of jon-kung. For starters, the Detroit-based chef, who currently has 1.7 million followers on the platform, doesn’t fit into the usual age range of an influencer. “I’m close to 40 and I’m on TikTok,” he says. “I feel old every day.”

On the other hand, Kung has a knack for digital storytelling and making a great impression. And yes, occasionally that involves him taking off his top. “I haven’t done that in a while,” he says, laughing. “When I did it a lot, I didn’t have air conditioning in my house.” So it was more of a practical consideration? “Safely.”

A self-taught chef, Kung got his start professionally working in nightclubs and pop-ups around the city, assisting top chefs who had moved to Detroit in the 2010s, before setting out on his own. Before that, he trained to be a lawyer. And before that, he majored in creative writing and theater at Eastern Michigan University, the perfect foundation for creating his own content. “Everyone on TikTok is a theater kid,” he says.

I’m close to 40 and on TikTok. I feel old every day

The son of Hong Kong residents, Kung grew up between Hong Kong, Canada and the United States. His most resonant videos explore his sensitivity toward third culture through his cooking. He thinks of pasta dishes seasoned with traditional Chinese seasonings. “[The huge response to those posts] It showed me that many people can relate to this notion of expressing ourselves through food in a way that not only reflects our complicated identities but also affirms them,” she writes at the beginning of her first cookbook. Kung food: recipes from a third culture Chinese cuisine (Clarkson Potter/Ebury).

The book (due out this month in the US and in November in the UK) is packed with third-culture gems (many of them unabashedly nostalgic). Among them, Thanksgiving turkey soup; broccoli meatloaf (inspired by the microwaveable pies his mother used to bring home); SELT (spam sandwiches, braised egg, lettuce and tomato); and dan dan lasagna (an homage to frozen food brand Stouffer’s version). There are new versions of traditional recipes such as pork chop buns, Hong Kong borscht and bye nian gao (a Shanghainese stir-fry dish). And dishes that borrow from other cultures, such as Persian tahdig clay pots; sweet and sour pork with chipotle mango; Jerk chow mein and mapo paneer.

The most intriguing recipes are those that draw on popular culture, whether inspired by Pokémon or that modern phenomenon, online bickering. “My first truly viral video was a response to a nasty comment someone made about me being a stupid millennial and telling me to go eat toast,” Kung recalls. “In response, I made a video about honey toasted brie on toast and combined the process of making it with the process of calling that person. “It turned out to be a turning point for me in understanding how to create short-form cooking content, combining cooking with narrative or conversational topics.”

A soup bowl from the book was sparked by a “flaming war” on Reddit over the cultural ownership of kimchi; Her mapo tofu kimchi jjigae recipe aimed to reconcile Chinese and Korean netizens by combining two iconic dishes from both sides. Another of my favorites, Asian chicken salad, was inspired by a sketch by comedian Margaret Cho (“This is not my hometown salad…” she sings). Instead of a generic, watered-down “Asian fusion” dish, Kung thought, “Let an Asian try this,” and came up with a ponzu, grapefruit, and Szechuan pepper oil salad.

A large portion of the book is devoted to what might be called the building blocks of Chinese-American cooking: flavored oils, master stocks, and spice blends. Kung is interested in having chefs from other diasporas use them to create their own third-culture dishes. “All cultural exchange in America has generally been distilled through white male chefs,” she says. “I want to expand that conversation to different ethnic groups. I want communication between the rest of us: the Chinese-Americans, the Nigerian-Americans, the Mexican-Americans. What I define as third culture cuisine with respect to Chinese food, I would love to see it with respect to other cuisines as well.”

@ajesh34