Television series
Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook
Awkwafina travels America discovering Asian American food culture while confronting her own culinary incompetence—a deeply personal journey rooted in her family's legendary Flushing restaurant. It's intimate, funny, and genuinely curious about identity, inheritance, and what we owe the places we come from. For anyone who loves food as biography.
If you liked this
Chef's Table2015
Each episode is a portrait of a visionary chef and their philosophy. Like Awkwafina's show, it treats food as a language for understanding who we are and where we belong.
But It's reverential and slow. If you want quick hits rather than contemplation, the pace might feel indulgent.
Somebody Feed Phil2018
Phil Rosenthal eats his way through cities with genuine warmth and curiosity, meeting locals and learning their stories through food. The same spirit of connection, less family baggage, more pure joy.
But It can feel a bit gentle and safe. There's less emotional stakes than Awkwafina's reckoning with legacy.
High Score2020
A series about video game history that's really about creativity, ambition, and the people behind the innovation. Food shows and this share the DNA: niche passion told as human history.
But You need some interest in gaming to care. If food is your only entry point, you might feel lost.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Columbo1968
Both protagonists disarm through perceived inadequacy while conducting deep, personal investigations into human nature.
Hear me out: both shows are about someone who seems unlikely or incompetent but is actually asking brilliant questions. Columbo bumbles; Awkwafina can't cook. Both use apparent weakness to get at truth.
But It's a 1970s detective show. The connection is structural, not tonal—if you hate procedurals, this won't work.
More like this (4)
Street Food: Latin America2020
Documentary series capturing street vendors across Asia and their relationship to family, survival, and pride. Emotionally complex portraits of food as necessity and art.
But Some episodes are heavy. It doesn't shy from poverty and struggle, which can feel heavy after lighter fare.
Ugly Delicious2018
David Chang explores global food culture with genuine intellectual curiosity and irreverence. Bounces between countries and conversations in ways that feel organic and surprising.
But Chang's voice and sensibility dominates everything. If you don't vibe with his energy, the show won't win you over.
Salt Fat Acid Heat2018
Samin Nosrat makes cooking approachable by teaching principles, not rules. Warm, encouraging, visually beautiful. Food as something joyful rather than intimidating.
But It's instructional. If you want narrative and emotion over learning, you might find it too pedagogical.
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories2016
Japanese series about a small diner and the people who gather there. Food as the thread connecting strangers and regulars. Intimate, melancholic, deeply human.
But Slow-paced and subtitled. Requires patience and comfort with quiet observation over plot.
People
Cast
AwkwafinaHost