David Chang<\/a>\u2019s memoir \u201cEat a Peach\u201d should be a straightforward affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIf you work hard enough, you can achieve the American Dream,\u201d it should imply. Chang will describe how he pulled himself up from his bootstraps, a rags-to-riches victory lap to cash in on his massive cult of food culture navel-gazers. The critics will fawn (as they seem to do with virtually anything Chang does these days). It will invoke standard-issue memoir adjectives like \u201cinspiring,\u201d and \u201ccourageous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Except the memoir doesn\u2019t do any of this. There isn\u2019t much to celebrate in the fast-turning pages of \u201cEat a Peach\u201d. It is a recounting of Chang\u2019s countless personal failures with just enough detail so that the \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d can be conjured up just this side of corporeal \u2014 only for that Dream to be crushed into oblivion by a hurricane of rage, abuse and self-loathing. Chang treats his success as not something achieved, but rather something that somehow managed to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The memoir limps to a start with the image of an eight-year-old Chang crying as he attempts to walk with a fractured femur to live up to his father\u2019s expectations. Without explicitly stating it, Chang reveals that as a child he is taught love is conditional \u2014 something meted out commensurate with accomplishments, which in turn is just meeting expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The memoir stews in this stifling haze of childhood abuse and conditional love from his parents, and explores how his childhood has led to analogous behavior on Chang\u2019s part in his journey to the top of one of the world\u2019s most demanding professions. The inference drawn from childhood abuse to Chang\u2019s vignettes of personal failures is one of \u201cEat a Peach\u2019s\u201d more focused (and convincing) themes. And that list of personal failures is a long one \u2014 from coping with the death of a worker under his employ, to struggling with mental illness, to extremely detailed accounts of his infamous tirades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The self-flagellating tone dampens even Chang\u2019s greatest triumphs. The chef downplays critical moments that formed the fulcrums of the Momofuku machine \u2014 including one stunning instance involving a building permit \u2014 as dumb luck. The ever-cerebral chef presents his accomplishments not in relief of sweat-soaked toques and sleepless nights, but as a series of completely irrational statistical aberrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, therein lies the magic of Chang\u2019s charisma \u2014 the suggestion that none of his success is a direct result of his hard work at all, but simply good fortune. At the heart of what makes Chang so likable to the public at large is not his enjoyment of this good fortune, but rather the blank stare he wears in the face of it that seems to say, \u201cListen, I have no idea how this happened, either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A deeper reading reveals Chang grapples with the morality of success in retrospect. Perhaps what\u2019s alluded to in the book\u2019s cover art is that he has discovered something resembling joy in the Sisyphean process of chasing critical acclaim and accomplishments, only to then publicly downplay them or assign due credit to others to diminish the power of accomplishments over him. In essence, devaluing the currency exchanged for the conditional love he experienced in childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking of the cover, not enough is made of the memoir\u2019s title \u2014 an allusion to a line from poet T.S. Eliot\u2019s \u201cThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.\u201d Throughout the poem, Eliot\u2019s titular protagonist is paralyzed by fear and indecision about how to approach a woman, his self-consciousness and fear of rejection leading to an internal inventory of minute decisions (\u201cShall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March 2019, Chang\u2019s wife Grace gave birth to the couple\u2019s son, Hugo. In the memoir\u2019s final pages, Chang describes the moment of his son\u2019s birth as feeling at peace. Chang attempts to reconcile with his father both in his life as David Chang, the son, and in the text as David Chang, the memoir\u2019s protagonist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And perhaps the truest resolution of the memoir\u2019s tension comes in the act of publishing the memoir itself, and its implications for David Chang, the person. Chang confronts his demons of abuse and owns vulnerability in a way few public figures have ever thought to do. In an effort to understand unconditional love for the sake of his son, David Chang eats the peach. The effort is inspiring and courageous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4368,"template":"","filed_under":[],"class_list":["post-4366","journal","type-journal","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
The Love Story of David Chang | Chanintr Living Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A review of David Chang's latest memoir, which follows the story of how the man behind world-renowned Momofuku restaurants rose to fame by putting in the work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Love Story of David Chang | Chanintr Living Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A review of David Chang's latest memoir, which follows the story of how the man behind world-renowned Momofuku restaurants rose to fame by putting in the work.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CHANINTR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-04T07:20:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumb_Eat-A-Peach-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/\",\"name\":\"The Love Story of David Chang | Chanintr Living Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumb_Eat-A-Peach-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-08T17:55:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-04T07:20:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"A review of David Chang's latest memoir, which follows the story of how the man behind world-renowned Momofuku restaurants rose to fame by putting in the work.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumb_Eat-A-Peach-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumb_Eat-A-Peach-1.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"thumb Eat A Peach 1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Journal\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The Love Story of David Chang\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/\",\"name\":\"CHANINTR\",\"description\":\"CHANINTR pursues the art of "Living Well" through our curation of quality products and services for the home from furniture, accessories, lighting, kitchens, to bathrooms.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Love Story of David Chang | Chanintr Living Journal","description":"A review of David Chang's latest memoir, which follows the story of how the man behind world-renowned Momofuku restaurants rose to fame by putting in the work.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Love Story of David Chang | Chanintr Living Journal","og_description":"A review of David Chang's latest memoir, which follows the story of how the man behind world-renowned Momofuku restaurants rose to fame by putting in the work.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/","og_site_name":"CHANINTR","article_modified_time":"2022-01-04T07:20:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumb_Eat-A-Peach-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/","url":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/","name":"The Love Story of David Chang | Chanintr Living Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumb_Eat-A-Peach-1.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-08T17:55:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-04T07:20:50+00:00","description":"A review of David Chang's latest memoir, which follows the story of how the man behind world-renowned Momofuku restaurants rose to fame by putting in the work.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumb_Eat-A-Peach-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/thumb_Eat-A-Peach-1.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"thumb Eat A Peach 1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/the-love-story-of-david-chang\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Journal","item":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/journal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Love Story of David Chang"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/#website","url":"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/","name":"CHANINTR","description":"CHANINTR pursues the art of "Living Well" through our curation of quality products and services for the home from furniture, accessories, lighting, kitchens, to bathrooms.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/34.124.208.30\/pages\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"excerpt":"A review of David Chang's latest memoir, which follows the story of how the man behind world-renowned Momofuku restaurants rose to fame by putting in the work.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/journal\/4366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/journal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/journal"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"filed_under","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chanintr.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filed_under?post=4366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}