episode 27: chili crisp conflicts and cheese extinction

this week we are talking about David Chang’s chili crisp trademark war, cheese going extinct, and more!

David Chang’s nail in the coffin ⚰️

chile crisp? chili crisp? chili crunch? making a product with one of these names may get you in trouble, because of a recent lawsuit from David Chang. the celebrity chef and head of food empire Momofuku has (rightfully so) come under some hot water for issuing cease and desist letters towards multiple small asian-owned businesses who are making condiments using the English title “chili crunch.” Chang’s suit claims that use of this term could cause confusion with their own Momofuku Chili crunch product. the company did acquire the trademark for “chile crunch” and is enforcing it, and is also applying for a trademark for “chili crunch” as well.

to be so clear - David Chang did not invent this product. the condiment has roots in China, and many parts of the country have their own styles and recipes of this chili topping. the product for many years was only available at Asian stores, if you are familiar with Lao Gan Ma. “It should never have been trademarked,” said Jing Gao, the owner of Fly By Jing - who (by my view) popularized the condiment into the mainstream alongside Momofuku. “It’s a descriptive, generic, cultural term, but in Chinese, there are numerous ways of referring to sauces like these with tons of variations, regional styles and techniques.”

Momofuku is basically taking a “trademark bully” approach by forcing financial pressure on these smaller businesses, hoping they’ll cave and drop out of the market, leaving Chang’s chili crunch to appear more distinct. there’s some good content here from a trademark attorney explaining how Chang can even trademark something like “chili crunch” a very descriptive and arguably not unique term as mentioned before.

this is yet another bad mark against Chang after many reports of his abusive behavior in the kitchen. he has become one of the premier Asian American food celebrities, but to turn around and stab other AAPI businesses in the back is very icky, especially with his reputation and for something he didn’t even remotely invent! while the legal challenge may have some legs, the AAPI community is not standing for this behavior. statements from market leaders like Fly By Jing, have shown how similar businesses have uplifted other chili crisp companies, posing as a foil to Chang’s greedy approach. the founder of Homiah’s Malaysian sambal chili crunch is one of the recipients of these cease and desist letters, and is planning on resisting, and has expressed disappointment in Momofuku amongst many other similar companies.

April Fools recap🃏

ah, my favorite Instagram day of the year, April Fools! the day when every food brand I follow posts some bizarre collab that lands somewhere on the range of half-believable to totally disgusting. some of my favorites this year, the Grillo’s Pickles x Califia Farms pickle creamer, Liquid Life! canned water, Spicewalla’s “Dryer Lint” tins and the Graza olive oil “Grazushers.” here’s another good TikTok roundup of ads too!

Spy Chef 👨‍🍳

the former chef at now-shuttered D.C. restaurant Mari Vanna was (an alleged) Russian spy. this news was uncovered from an investigation-ception: an investigation led by 60 Minutes and The Insider on reports of national security officials experiencing memory and health issues called “Havana Syndrome” featured an agent who says she was investigating Vitalii Kovalev, the chef, at the time she started experiencing Havana Syndrome. Kovalev had studied radio electronics at a military institute in Russia before coming to the US to become a chef, suggesting he may not have abandoned that training during his time here. he was the executive chef at Mari Vanna when it opened in DC for about a year, then went on to a variety of other gigs, including a Noma pop-up in NYC. he was then arrested in 2020, and served jail time for evading the police and reckless driving, returning to Russia in 2022. the was since killed fighting in Ukraine.

another article about Trader Joe’s

and the Trader Joe’s slander keeps piling on. Adam Reiner for Taste just came out with this article called We Need to Talk About Trader Joe’s, which outlines the skeevy process under which the grocery store chain gets ideas for new products. according to multiple small brands, the company solicits product samples and recipe details under the pretense of a private labeling agreement - in which a food brand makes exlusive products for another retailer in exchange for compensation - but instead TJ’s abandons negotiations and sells knockoffs of said product under its own label. even more concerning, they have been doing this bait-and-switch to a lot of “ethnic brands.”

this concept of private labeling is key to TJ’s success, as 85% of their inventory is just that. this process though, is understandably frustrating to smaller brands like Brooklyn Delhi’s Indian sauce products, alongside other brands outlined in the article. Jing Gao of Fly By Jing (again!) had a very good analogy, “Trader Joe’s is like the food version of Zara or Shein. The way that these big houses keep up with so much innovation so quickly is by copying independent designers.”

this creates a tough problem for many consumers, as Trader Joe’s is an affordable store in many parts of the country, and appeals to those of us who want basic groceries, and “gourmet-leaning” treats. however, this process of stealing formulas for cool new products from independent brands definitely doesn’t sit right. read more in the article here.

imminent cheese extinction 🧀

camembert is on the verge of extinction oh my! and I thought extinction was just the dinosaurs! the French state-run science agency has warned that the strains of fungi that contribute to cheeses like brie and camembert are in jeopardy. these fungi are added at different part of the cheesemaking process to form milk curds or to promote the ripening and rind-creation process. the fungi used to exist naturally in caves where the cheese was left to age, but as science developed it was primary made in the lab. over time the fungi loses some genetic diversity and in this case, it is losing some of its ability to reproduce naturally. cheesemongers don’t believe the problem is too dire, but nevertheless, scientists have in turn started to work to restore some of this genetic diversity to save the camembert. wooooo save the cheese!!!!

to plastic or not to plastic? 📦

a question of food waste prevention and the environment. reducing the amount of plastic packaging on produce is one of the top concerns of produce professionals, but its a complicated and costly problem to solve. the creation of plastics is clearly bad - its created from fossil fuels and is basically the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases. however, plastic packaging is indeed very effective at preventing food waste.

as we’ve talked about before, plastic packaging helps to extend the shelf life of foods, which means less is thrown away. I was surprised by this - but produce tossed in the garbage amounts to 60% of landfill methane emissions, according to the EPA. for each rotting cucumber thrown away - it has the equivalent environmental impact of 93 plastic cucumber wrappers. crazy! so yes, we both need to reduce plastic packaging, and reduce food waste by preserving packaging technology’s ability to keep food fresh for longer. scientists are looking at a varity of emerging food packaging methods, but we must also look to improving our trash processing methods too. read more in this good NYT article here.

bird flu (not for us tho) 🐦

bird flu is back - but as humans, we have little need to worry about getting sick. bird flu is a strain of influenza that impacts wild and domestic birds, and can cause high mortality in poultry. its very uncommon that avian influenza impacts humans, but it can be contracted from unprotected contact with infected birds or surfaces that have bird flu contamination. it is incredibly rare to be transmitted from human-to-human. those who work closely with poultry should stay safe, but the rest of us have (let’s face it) other transmissible viruses to worry about.

yes, you can safely consume your pasteurized milk and cheese because pasteurization destroys pathogens. while eggs from chickens that tested positive for H1N1 have been destroyed, eggs aren’t pasteurized, so you should cook your eggs thoroughly. read more about how bird flu spreads, food preparation, and risks to your pets here.

my moldy Wednesday 🤢

as I found out the hard way this week, it turns out there are some foods for which you can’t just cut away the moldy part and eat the rest!! for example, don’t do this with a mushy persimmon, you might give yourself mild food poisoning!! ha ha!!

anyways, you can cut away visibly moldy parts of some foods like hard cheeses, firm vegetables like carrots, and hard salami. these can be eaten after the surface mold is cut off, since these low-moisture foods make it very difficult for mold to penetrate through the surface. however, most other foods like cooked grains, soft fruits and veggies, baked goods, and many more that are high-moisture or are porous are conducive to mold growing beneath the surface. the USDA has a great chart here that outlines the types of foods that can have surface mold, what you should do with them: use or discard, and the reasons why. don’t be like me, throw away the food! don’t get sick!!

more on service fees 🤑

welcome back to our evergreen conversation topic, the DC restaurant service fees. Jessica Sidman for Washingtonian wrote an article that is pretty comprehensive about the ongoing debate about service fees at DC restaurants. I won’t get into all the details because we’ve discussed most components of this article in many past newsletters, but if you’re looking for a pretty holistic piece on different approaches to service fees, employee perspectives, and restaurant perspectives, this piece is for you.

f*cked up food

remember last week when we were talking about hot dogs….

restaurant review: La Bonne Vache

French + cute wallpaper + cheese fries = La Bonne Vache! we went to this new French Bistro last week in Georgetown and happy to say, it was fantastic! serving primarily burgers, sandwiches, and appetizers, this no-reservations restaurant is really tasty, pretty affordable for the area, and adorable. its run by the chefs of Chaplin’s and Zeppelin who live just a few blocks away, and there’s been some great write-ups in Eater and WCP too. I particularly loved the cheese gougeres, the chocolate mousse and of course, the gruyere-topped fries. see more below!

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d.c. happenings

• Darvish Kitchen coming to old Mari Vanna space

• new South Block in West End

• Conservatory, rooftop bar above Gravitas in Ivy City now open

• Kramers Bookstore now has New Haven pizza

• Childhood Cafe coming to old Three-Fifty spot

• Tono Sushi closing in Woodley Park

• Hebrivore Indian Cuisine opening in Georgetown

• Masala Art Indian cuisine closing (it was open?) Good Company Donuts opening in Waterfront

• new restaurant called Eunoia coming to Noma

• a very great roundup of all the local restaurants up for DC Rammys awards!

home cooking

have been cooking some reeeeal basic stuff in the last few weeks. returning to a favorite, Priya Krishna’s saag paneer but with feta, a lot of Caesar wraps with the vegan Caesar dressing from TJs and buffalo chicken Daring (fake chicken). another easy meal is chicken sausage with all the veg in my fridge, and I also got some fried tofu from Tanh Son Tofu in Eden Center that i’ve been adding to my meals. my dinners have been kind of boring and i’m now realizing I need to refresh my idea bank - send any spring recipes you have my way!

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thank you all, have a lovely weekend!