Hey Mr. Bourdain, We Can Do Better
Wok with Nana
Last August, Mr. Tse, who began blogging in 2004, paired up with fellow blogger Nana Chan (aka Nanamoose) to create a You Tube TV show. Since then, the duo have created more than 10 episodes of “Wok with Nana,” an online travel and cooking show — the most popular episode, about Taiwanese beef noodles, was watched by thousands in Asia.
“These are not amazing figures yet,” says Mr. Tse, who says they set their goal at 10,000 viewers. “But it is definitely more popular than blogs,” adds Ms. Chan. Her most popular blog entries received page views only in the hundreds.
Food video-loggers, or food vloggers, have been around for years in the U.S. — some of them post their shows directly on their blogs; others use You Tube. One of the first video chefs, Brooklyn-based Heather Johnston started vlogging in 2006. Then there’s Dani Spies, a certified health and nutrition counselor in Los Angeles who posts instructional cooking videos. Last summer, the Food Network, a U.S. channel, even used YouTube entries to cast contestants for its show “The Next Food Network Star.”
But Asian foodies are just entering the vlogging world.
On “Wok with Nana,” Ms. Chan usually starts off with a short interview with food experts or chefs – mostly from Hong Kong, where the two live, but also from around Asia — and ends with a cooking demo that she performs. Mr. Tse stays behind the scenes and mans the camera.
It’s a work in progress, but they’re not total amateurs — both have been guests on food and travel televisions shows before, including the DiscoverY Travel & Living programs, Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” (Mr. Tse) and Kylie Kwong’s “My China” (Ms. Chan). The experiences made them realize they could do their own show.
“Many of the TV celebrity chefs on Chinese cuisine have never lived in Asia and can’t even speak Chinese,” says Ms. Chan. “Hong Kong, for example, is always a popular place to cover in food and travel shows. We live here, so why not cover it ourselves?
They’re not the only ones in Asia with online food shows. Four months ago, Gregory Lok and Eric Pong, friends in Hong Kong, left their respective jobs — in furniture sourcing and wholesale trading and distribution — to start an online food show on You Tube called “Wine vs. Food.” The gimmick for the show is this: two wine experts compete to find the best wine pairing for an Asian dish – the experts and the featured dish will change with every show. Diners in the restaurant where the shooting takes place (the site will vary, too) decide which pairing is best, and the loser has to finish all the leftover wine. The premier episode of “Wine vs. Food” aired last December (the dish was roasted pigeon) and got nearly 2,000 views; the second episode aired in late January (Indian lamb curry).
Mr. Lok hosts the show; Mr. Pong, along with a crew of five, shoots it on a Canon Eos 7D camera. Mr. Pong already owned all of the equipment — camera, lights and microphones — but he estimates that those starting from scratch would have to spend more than 60,000 dollars Hong Kong (about US$7,700) for professional equipment. Of course, there are cheaper alternatives. “With technology these days, you can do a great job even with an iPhone,” says Mr. Pong.
Getting started may be easy, but how will vloggers monetize their work? “It’s a question we’ve been hoping to ask you,” says Mr. Lok of “Wine vs. Food,” who muses that someday they could offer banner advertisements or have a retail component to their website. Currently, they’ve started to charge for tickets (HK$50) to attend the videotaping. Each show has roughly 25 seats available.
Says Mr. Tse of “Wok with Nana.” “Maybe a TV network will pick us up.”
“My ultimate goal is to start a restaurant of my own,” says Ms. Chan. “And this is a platform to start building customers before the restaurant is even opened.”
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