{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Paul Carmichael \u2013\u00a0Momofuku Seiobo","description":" \u201cI literally got here and the first two weeks, everybody quit." Despite this challenging start to becoming Momofuku Seiobo's executive chef, Paul Carmichael has since scored many awards (both Gourmet Traveller and Time Out named him Chef of the Year) and he's been called one of the world's greatest chefs by his boss, David Chang. The restaurant has received two glowing reviews in The New York Times and been ranked as one of the best places to eat in the world by Besha Rodell in Food & Wine. Paul isn't about basking in the acclaim, though. "You\u2019ve got to become comfortable with failing,\u201d Paul says. "We\u2019d make something, it\u2019d be shit." Then, after a lot of work, it becomes great. At Momofuku Seiobo, he's created a one-of-a-kind menu that reflects his upbringing in Barbados. The food is also a way to represent the Caribbean, which people often reduce to holiday-spot stereotypes. \u201cI feel like the way they talk about it, they talk about it like a club,\u201d he says. For Paul, it's his life \u2013 not a gimmicky theme \u2013 so throughout the podcast, we talk about dishes from the region: like coucou, which his mother makes with a special stick that's older than Paul; and roti that originated in India and ended up in Trinidad \u2013 which he grew up eating as a kid. A lot of these dishes have travelled. \u201cIt had an origin somewhere, but this is where it ended up being," he says, "The Caribbean is 500 years of fusion. Maybe that should be the name of my book.\u201d Migration and colonisation also shaped the cuisine \u2013 as did slavery, which isn't as far into the past as we'd like to think. The chef doesn't want to \u201celevate\u201d dishes that have generations of history, but also show that you can present a dish that's rice and vegetables and prove how it can belong in one of the city's top restaurants. \u201cIt looks like a pile of goop - but there\u2019s so much that goes into it,\u201d he says. Paul also talks about how people still turn up to Seiobo thinking it's a Japanese restaurant (five years after Paul introduced his Caribbean menu), how he lived off supermarket specials while Seiobo was closed during the lockdown, using "mum tricks" to stretch Seiobo's budget in its current COVID-adapted incarnation (where staff also wear face masks in the colours of the Barbados flag). We also talk about his favourite budget meal, what to order at his favourite Chinese restaurant \u2013 as well as tougher topics: like having to deal with blatant racism and the cops pulling a gun on him just for asking for directions. We also cover the media pressure of taking over a highly acclaimed restaurant, too. This podcast was recorded last year, but is especially relevant now with Momofuku Seiobo announcing its last service for late June. I loved talking to Paul on this episode, I hope you enjoy this podcast, too. Support me on Patreon (from $1.50 a week) and you'll get a bonus member-only Crunch Time podcast - where I round up the latest food news and also talk about what I'm eating, reading and writing (with bonus details on projects I've worked on \u2013 from podcast interviews to food stories): https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/leetranlam. ","author_name":"The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry","author_url":"http:\/\/www.theunbearablelightnessofbeinghungry.com\/","html":"