Top Chef: I was really uncomfortable with Colicchio's "we need to see more of you; we need to see you cook Vietnamese" comment to Hung. I don't see the other contestants getting asked to cook to their ethnic heritage. And further, as people pointed out in Bourdain's blog, cooking French is cooking to his heritage.

I'm fourth generation, and Hung is first, so I'm much further away from my country of ethnic background than he is. But if I turned up on a cooking show and you expected me to cook traditional Japanese food, you'd be sorely disappointed. I cook a couple of Japanese dishes, and there's generally a preponderance of sticky rice in my cooking. But even those dishes are filtered through Hawaii. A Japanese from Japan person wouldn't like them.

I guess I'm saying, I just don't see the relevance, and I'm pretty comfortable in saying the comment seems racist to me.

Has anyone seen this yet?

[link]

Yay! About time. I hope it starts soon.

And WTF on Ms. Jay's hair? I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Ack! I completely forgot about that!!! So funny!!! And he was totally dude-ing it up outfit wise as well.

And (Liese) I don't recall him saying anything of the sort to LeeAnn so I don't get where the remark came from.

Sumi and Liese, I think it came from how Hung has been talking about his background more (or they have been editing it that way), so Colicchio was calling him out on it. At least, that is how I took it.

Well, it kind of struck a nerve after a week of the whole Asian as technician discussion (not here) and then to have Ripert and others come out with the same thing. It's not that I like Hung - becuase he's not really my horse in this race but I don't want him to not win because of something so nebulous.

Sumi and Liese, I think it came from how Hung has been talking about his background more (or they have been editing it that way), so Colicchio was calling him out on it. At least, that is how I took it.

I don't recall anyone saying that he needed to cook more Vietnamese, but that they needed to see Hung in the dish. I think that the idea is that Hung makes very good classic dishes, but doesn't put his own spin or special touch on them.

I don't recall anyone saying that he needed to cook more Vietnamese,

I don't remember this either. Was it not aired but in a blog maybe?

Top Chef: I was really uncomfortable with Colicchio's "we need to see more of you; we need to see you cook Vietnamese" comment to Hung.

Wasn't that in response to Hung's "I learned to cook in my Vietnamese mother's kitchen" speech, though? If Hung is trying to prove to the judges that he's passionate about cooking by talking about his ethnic heritage, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask why that doesn't come through in his food.

[eta:

It's not that I like Hung - becuase he's not really my horse in this race but I don't want him to not win because of something so nebulous.

And see, I don't think it's nebulous at all. The reaction to Hung's food from almost all the guest judges has been that it's technically well prepared but there's no there there, which translates to a less enjoyable meal than something prepared with less precision but more attention to flavor. If Hung paid more attention to flavor and less attention to showing off his knife skills (and don't even get me started on the utter bullshit that is sous vide), I think he could win. But he's not cooking food he wants to eat, he's cooking food he thinks will score points.]

It was the juxtaposition of Tom saying that he doesn't see Hung in his food right after Hung tells his immigrant story.