Dingding Hu Transcript
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Hi, everyone. You're listening to The Future Of Food Is You, a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host, Abena Anim-Somuah, and each week I talk to emerging talents in the food world and they share what they're up to as well as their dreams and predictions for what's ahead. As for me, I'm the founder of The Eden Place, a community that's all about gathering people intentionally around food. I love this new generation of chefs, bakers, and creatives making their way in the worlds of food, drink, media, and tech.
Today's guest is Dingding Hu. Dingding is a writer, comedian, and an artist known for her bright, beautiful, and sometimes subversive illustrations, many of which feature food. Dingding is also about to be a debut author as her new book, Delicious Daydreams: A Seek-and-Find for Foodies is coming out later this month. I'm excited to chat with Dingding about how drawing is a source of peace, finding joy in food, why she's trying her hand at standup comedy, and more.
The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network has another show I'd love to tell you about, it's called She's My Cherry Pie, and it's all about baking. Each Saturday, host Jessie Sheehan chats with world-class bakers and does a deep dive into their signature baked goods. If you love baking, this is definitely the show for you. It's also a relaxing listen and pairs perfectly with your morning coffee. Listen to She's My Cherry Pie wherever you get your favorite podcasts. One other thing, I would love a rating and a review for The Future Of Food Is You. Tell me what you think so far since we're a new podcast, and let me know of any suggestions for future guests. I'd love to know your thoughts, and thank you in advance.
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Now, let's check in with today's guest. Dingding, welcome to The Future Of Food Is You Podcast.
Dingding Hu:
I'm so glad to be here.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So you grew up in Sichuan, China.
Dingding Hu:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
What were some of the vivid food memories you had from growing up there?
Dingding Hu:
Oh my God, it will be a crime if I don't mention hot pot, but I'm so glad to see hot pot is picking up in the New York City food scene. So, hot pot was the thing that I grew up with.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
So, that's the biggest thing. And all kinds of spicy food. I think I really want to highlight that where I grew up, it's the level… The variety of spicy is wild.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's where the Sichuan peppercorns comes from, I'm assuming.
Dingding Hu:
Yes, yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, that's awesome. And how about cooking with your family? What were some of those memories like?
Dingding Hu:
In my household, it's a little bit different, my parents does not cook as much. My grandma passed away around 1997, so I actually moved in to live with my grandpa since, so I lived with my grandpa for a really long time, probably over 10 years, and my grandpa does most of the cooking. My grandpa's signature dish is this dish called double-cooked pork. You actually have to boil the pork first and then you fry them, so that's why it's called double-cooked pork, and it's a signature dish and my grandpa does it really well.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so beautiful.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You mentioned in your biography that you moved to the United States with what you described as two suitcases and a dream.
Dingding Hu:
Mm-hmm.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Tell me a little bit about the motivation to come to the U.S.
Dingding Hu:
I actually got an opportunity back when I was in high school to visit Phoenix, Arizona, it was a high school exchange program. I don't even know how I just got in, and I came to America with five other girls for a month, I lived in Phoenix. And some part of me during that trip just came alive, I had so much fun, everyone lost weight, I gained so much weight. I was eating all the food, I first time had a taco during that trip.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah my-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Your first taco?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, my host mother was Mexican and she made taco for me, I was like, "What is that?" I was looking everywhere, trying to get some taco skin on my way home, I didn't know what that was.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, the taco shells. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah. And after that, I think I just had this dream, I want to go to America, but I didn't go here earlier enough because it's expensive. And also my parents have this plan for me to go to a really standard university track, they want me to go there, they don't want to take too much risk, but literally when I was in freshman year in college, I was like, "This is a mistake, I want to go back to America." So I ended up eventually came to America for a master degree. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And what did you study for your master's?
Dingding Hu:
It was called Master of Fine Arts in Illustration Practice at Maryland Institute College of Art. When I first went to Arizona, my impression of America was just giant cactus, I was like, "That's America."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, just cactuses and flags everywhere you go. So, when you came to America, how did you deal with the home sickness? How did you find replacements or things similar to the cooking that your grandfather did from Sichuan?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, oh my God, it was interesting. I think the first thing… I landed obviously seeking all the Sichuan food possible in Baltimore. And there was not a lot, but funny how my taste bud is really open-minded, I don't know if that's a thing, so I ended up trying a lot of new food. I got into Korean food because there was a lot of Korean food in Baltimore, and I joined a wine tasting group by some students from John Hopkins. And so for the food homesick, it was not as bad as I thought, but I obviously always want to go back to H Mart every time, I get to go to H Mart because as a student we don't have a car, so every time somebody have a car, take us to H Mart, I always liked buying way too many groceries.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. What were your H Mart staples that you liked to get?
Dingding Hu:
I liked to get a hot pot supply.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And make it at home?
Dingding Hu:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh wow, that's awesome.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, the sliced beef, meatballs, and all that kind of stuff. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, that's really exciting. And how'd you end up in New York?
Dingding Hu:
I've always wanted to come to New York, I don't know why, I think maybe it's in my program subconsciously.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, so after I graduated from my master degree, I literally just came with no idea what I was getting into.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
I find an apartment, sub-leasing apartment in Brooklyn. It was a basement, I was like, "Great, it's all worked out." And I just moved in.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's talk a little bit more about your relationship to drawing and food.
Dingding Hu:
Mm-hmm.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So what inspired you to start drawing food after you got your MFA (Master’s of Fine Arts)?
Dingding Hu:
So I did a thesis project in my MFA after a bunch of exercise of soul-searching, and my MFA was actually all about food character. I made a story about this kiwi character and he was trying to find friends and navigating relationship.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so adorable.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, it was dumb in regards of finding a job after you graduate, but it was really my soul. So I need to learn how to draw people but I just always have a connection to food, I was like, "That's the first thing I want to draw." I learned about this kind of exercise called a 100 Day Project, I was just basically advised that you should just find a topic that you can always do and then do it a hundred days. I was like, "Food, that's the easiest choice." Because I want to keep my creative juice flow while I was looking for jobs and all that kind of stuff. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. What were some of the things that you drew in these hundred days.
Dingding Hu:
Full disclosure, I did not finish the 100 Day, for anyone who's trying it, it's hard. I remember I was actually starting to putting a lot of creativity in it, I didn't even realize, I thought I was just going to draw dishes, but then I was drawing a pizza and put Monday on the pizza, and then I was drawing a pan and there was a number in it. I was just unconsciously just putting a lot of play of design into those food.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mm.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, so that's where I've come from originally.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
When did you know that drawing food specifically could become a profession? Was there a moment that you had?
Dingding Hu:
I still don't know, I hope so, yeah. I was just always on the side, I was developing this world of mine because at the very beginning, I think a lot of the job I got was not directly related to food because there's only so many food media. I developed my own brand called Hu Is Hungry, it was a stationary brand, it still is, but it was a long journey of figuring out. So I think I always have this creative outlet from that 100 Day Project, later on I just launched this Hu Is Hungry stationary gift line, I also had no idea what I was doing, but just excuse for creating a body of work of my own that's all focused on food. So, I had that always going on while doing other jobs and drawing normal things. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's really exciting. So what are your favorite food things to draw?
Dingding Hu:
I think at this point I'm really into pastry. Yeah, because I think, is there a show called Cake Boss?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, there is a show called Cake Boss.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, any of the baking show, because I feel like that's something so close to art and every time I get to draw a cake, I feel like I'm analysizing the structure. I'm building something, so that's really exciting for me.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Is there a particular cake that you like drawing? Are you more of a tiered cake person? Flower cakes? What's your-
Dingding Hu:
Mm-hmm. In the book that I made in the past two years, Delicious Daydreams, I focused on all different theme and there was one page that was based on Alice In Wonderland.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes.
Dingding Hu:
So it was a tea party, I had this giant Pinterest board of all kinds of tea, dessert that you can put together, and that was a really exciting moment for me. I guess it's more about finding what are all the category out there? And actually drawing them, because one thing about actually drawing food, especially when they're all in the same category, is that you really get to understand the structure. Where does the flower go? And where is the dough? And where is the bottom? And where is the cheese? Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. How would you describe your illustration style?
Dingding Hu:
I think it's very free, it's very busy and it's very loud and vibrant and bubbly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Which artist do you think help inspire your illustration style?
Dingding Hu:
There's a few and they're not necessarily a illustrator. So the first one is this lady, she lives in New Mexico and she draws this giant flower-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
... that mimic lady parts.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I think that's Georgia O'Keeffe.
Dingding Hu:
Yes. Yes, I got a postcard from her at MoMA [Museum of Modern Art] and I was like, "What is this? This is fascinating."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah. And another one is this guy, you always see his giant painting of cakes in museums. Do you know that one?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, I think that's Wayne Thiebaud.
Dingding Hu:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Thank you, thank you so much.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No, yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, I'm a visual person, so I don't write down names, I'm just like, "Cake guy, flower lady." Wayne, he does all the cakes, and I know he also does landscapes. It's you look at cake and you also see landscape, and you look at flower, you also see women, and that kind of stuff is just fascinating to me.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, so there's a metaphor in the work that they're doing.
Dingding Hu:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, that's so exciting. I'm sure being an artist is an incredibly lonely role, you are mostly focused on creating your own unique element, but how have you found community with other artists?
Dingding Hu:
It is definitely a lonely journey, and I actually find podcast is a really good way for artists who... we just work at home alone, that's a norm. But our mind is free while our hands are busy, so I listen to a lot of different podcasts over the years, and I think one of them is On Being, there's always really interesting... I like to listen to things that are relatively deep and out of this world. And I also listen to a lot of audiobooks, there's this book, Big Magic, I'm sure a lot of people like it. I just listen to that kind of stuff and while I'm working and it just bring me to this dreamland, it just took me a little bit out of this mundane world and I just got into my zone.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Can you tell us a little bit about Big Magic?
Dingding Hu:
Yes, Big Magic is a book by Elizabeth Gilbert, she's also the author of Eat, Pray, Love. And in that book, she basically describes a idea as this forms of almost like little spirit in my perspective, and they will visit you and when you receive them, you're supposed to really create a space to welcome them in. And it's like being friends with them and then they will help you to further develop, it's like you're guided while you're creating. And she even give this crazy amazing example where she had this idea and then she couldn't handle it at that time because a lot of life was happening, and in this interaction between she and another author and the idea actually jumped to the other author.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's really exciting.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, so I was like, "Yeah, ideas are alive."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, and there's a little bit of a magical inspiration or magical realism associated with them.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's really cool. So you've done some incredible work for clients like Google, Instagram, and Department of Transportation. Can you tell us about a favorite project that you've worked on?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, so the Google project was literally shortly after I got out of school, it was a sticker series for an app back then, it's called Google Allo, it's a chatting app, and I was assigned to draw this thing called Drama Llama. And my assignment, I think the art director saw the kiwi that I drew, that I talked to you earlier. I'm always really emotional, I'm all about the feels, so the Drama Llama was just a llama who is in lavender color, I guess that it's a little bit magical, they picked that color eventually among all other options. And I kind of documented a lot of the emotion I was going through during that life period.
That project meant so much to me because there was this literally one Llama, she was crying in a tear. I was like, "Yep, I remember that time when I was in my early twenties, and I actually got people from Google engineer actually emailed me." I really liked that, I used that when I was at work, I used your stickers-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
... yeah, that means a lot. And for the project for Instagram happened back in 2021, and I guess it's a highlight of my career because Instagram, it's-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Everyone's on it.
Dingding Hu:
... the place.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, it's the place to be for artists, for anyone, any creative really. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, but that was also such an emotional project for me because that was a weird time when there was a lot of hate crime going on. In a weird way I think through that project I find a little bit of my voice because my job was to highlight the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I was just really ask my... so I was like, "What should I do? I feel like I don't know if I'm good enough to represent everyone." But I ended up just decided to draw this big thing of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Hawaiian, this whole big group of people and all the cuisine. My husband was helping me research all the cuisine of all the different region, and we find a lot of relationship between-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, it was really interesting. So that was a big moment where I realized, "Wow, there's something about food that I was not even paying attention." It's about food is connecting all those people together, and it's also, we should be so proud being Asian American and Pacific Islander because the food culture in this region is so rich.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. What were commonalities that you knew about? And then what were commonalities that you were surprised by?
Dingding Hu:
Definitely, there's always a fried rice.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Amen to that. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah. And definitely the more we went to Hawaiian, you see more fish and the fried rice include pineapple or it might be put inside of pineapple. And I think there was something about shaved ice, and that one thing was present across different Asian culture-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Really?
Dingding Hu:
... which was yeah, really interesting to me. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, I always thought shaved ice was a exclusively Hawaiian thing, but I guess it's in Japanese culture as well, or-
Dingding Hu:
It's very Chinese.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, okay.
Dingding Hu:
I would just go to malls and there's always this shaved ice and we put a lot of beans and-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, the red beans.
Dingding Hu:
... ice creams.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mm-hmm.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Do you have any advice for any beginners who are passionate about food and want to use drawing as a medium to be able to express that passion or that creativity?
Dingding Hu:
I think when I was just start drawing food, I definitely felt a little bit superficial. I don't know what I was doing, I was like, "Why am I just drawing what I ate every day?" I don't know what's the point, but I just kept going. I want to emphasize that your artistic language has power and give it time, be patient, it will come out. I think everyone, especially artists, creative people, we have our unique point of view. I think drawing is very similar to writing, and I think we have the superpower to show a perspective of food that people would not recognize otherwise by just eating them every day.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mm.
Dingding Hu:
And I think really diving to that area of your brain, other than just trying to think about getting into a magazine, get a job, or just give it time to grow, to blossom. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. That's really beautiful. I feel like AI [artificial intelligence] is something that we hear about every day in the news.
Dingding Hu:
Oh my God.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And as an artist and as an illustrator I'm sure it's probably come top of mind recently just because of Midjourney, Lensa, and all these apps that have given people a chance to express their creativity or their artistic needs through technology when maybe drawing isn't something that they typically do.
Dingding Hu:
Mm-hmm.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How are you feeling right now about illustration as it's intersecting with AI and how society is responding to it?
Dingding Hu:
I'm excited.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Really? Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah. Because I feel like, personally, I think we all have a skill and I feel what AI have just AI mastered the technique, but the technique is just something on the surface. And I think it's great somebody gets to do it because I was trying something myself, there is this app called Notion, I was trying to write an article in Notion the other day, I was just typing, I was like, "How to cook tomato?" And it was showing me how to do that, I was like-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Notion did that?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Notion has an AI feature?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, it's new, it's brand new.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, whoa, that's really exciting, I didn't know that.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, go try it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Sure.
Dingding Hu:
So, I thought it was so interesting. I would say let's not freak out about AI because AI just at the end of the day master a technique.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mm.
Dingding Hu:
And I think technique is something we can all master and it's always going to be fun, but somehow every individual person, I think the biggest difference between us and AI is that we have a soul.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Amen.
Dingding Hu:
We are a person and we have our point of view. I like the concept of making a cocktail, you're the only one who can make your unique cocktail, your own mixology. Yeah, there's all kinds of things. Maybe in the future AI can do part of the rendering for you, but you're the only one who can say, "Okay, I'm going to put food and people together, I'm going to draw a cake and it's going to turn into a landscape, flower is going to represent women." AI have no idea about that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Wow, that's really powerful, but are you worried about AI? Because I know recently a lot of artists have been complaining that a lot of these platforms have been taking their work and not necessarily giving them credit. So let's say it's a particular style that they have or a distinct style they have.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Do you worry that AI won't allow artists to feel like the work is truly credited for? Because I also feel like that's something that we struggle a lot with in our societies. We love creativity, but oftentimes when it comes to celebrating it and giving it its due, we sometimes tend struggle. And you see that a lot with artists feeling like people are stealing their ideas or people are copying them.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, that's an interesting question, I definitely have thought about it. I have this unique style where I draw people in the environment of food, and ironically I see them pop up on Pinterest, I don't even know why, but I was like, "Hey, maybe I was on the right track when I saw the repeating." But I don't have in-person experience where somebody literally copied something of mine. I bet that's painful, but my point of view when I see more people are doing a similar style, I was identify as my own is ironically, I made this book Delicious Daydreams, it's 18 pages completely filled up with me and I was like, "You can't copy this." I was like, "There's too much, I spent two years on this." I guess maybe the answer is just if something you really identify as yourself, just do a lot of them, no one can copy completely, you just put all of you out there and they can't copy everything, at one point they're going to give up.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
They can copy one piece. Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, that's true.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, they say what? Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so maybe that's the way to go.
Dingding Hu:
Right? Yeah, yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, let's talk about your book, it's called Delicious Daydreams: A Seek-and-Hide Book for Foodies. Can you tell us a little bit about it and the inspiration behind the book?
Dingding Hu:
I think it was literally inspired by the Cherry Bombe community.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so beautiful. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, because it was almost unconscious, when I was pitching the book, it was during the pandemic and an editor called Dana [Valois] from Chronicle Books reached out to me asking me if I have an idea, and I gone through on different iterations and I should share this. So 2020 was a weird time-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
For many of us. Yes.
Dingding Hu:
Yes, but for me, it hit me earlier.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mm.
Dingding Hu:
My grandpa passed away.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah. And he was the biggest inspiration for me as a person, and speaking of emotional rollercoaster, I went all the way down, I went really down, it was really scary. And around the same time, and my birthday was March 2020, it was three years ago, it was so crazy. I cried so much during that time, crying about him not being there anymore, and I cried about what's going on with the world?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah, that's a heavy thing to hold in your heart.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, and my husband works in the food industry, he was laid off. One day I had this dream about my grandpa, I don't understand, but he was just hosting a party for me. It was about food gathering, it was about this long infinite table with me and everyone I know, I still have the memory, it's so vivid. I was just sitting there, I was just look hanging around and I just see everyone I know there, and I just see all the delicious food on the table.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Dingding Hu:
I was like, "Oh my God." I was so excited. And my husband woke me up by accident because he needed to use the bathroom at 7:00 a.m., so I never got to eat, I never got to eat, I still resent him for that.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The dream will come back again soon, yes.
Dingding Hu:
Yep. No, but that dream is a book.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Dingding Hu:
That dream is a book, because I was like, "I got it." I was like, "The book is going to be called ‘Happy Birthday.’ And I'm just going to draw about how I'm going to go all over the place, get dinner gatherings, it's called ‘Happy Birthday.’" But after that, all the restaurants closed up, and the editor was like, "We don't know if the idea of doing a book about go to restaurants is exactly the best idea because we don't know where that's going." And I was so inspired by Cherry Bombe because Cherry Bombe was this community of women and food, I think there's something so unique about women and food.
I'm married to someone who's in the food industry, I'm so familiar with what's going on, and I feel like there's a lot of masculine energy in the industry, but food is supposed to be not the kitchen from how it's about the love from a mother. And so I decided to take a risk, I was like, "This book is all about women." This book is all about women and food, and Cherry Bombe did it, I can do it too. So that was the initial inspiration for the book.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How are you hoping readers will feel after engaging with the book?
Dingding Hu:
Thank you for the question because I've been thinking about it too, my gut feeling, which is very terrifying for myself.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. It's the first book, I'm sure there's a lot of nerves.
Dingding Hu:
This book, it's so funny, it's called Delicious Daydreams, and I always know this notion, it's almost a little bit spiritual, it's you always should honor your daydream, but one thing really important is that you need to turn your daydream into reality. First of all, I want people to look at the book, remember that little child inside of them, because this book is all about imagination and food. Remember that little child inside of them, remember how food made them feel. And I want to bring this book to real life, I wanted to actually host all those parties that I dreamed about. I researched on Alice tea party-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes.
Dingding Hu:
... I researched on what it is like to be a botanic garden? I dream about all kinds of gatherings and I want to bring them to real life.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Can you tell us about one page in the book that you want to bring to life?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah. The Alice In Wonderland tea party, there was this old Alice In Wonderland and Disney cartoon, and that cartoon is just like my heart. There was this thing of drinking different potion and then just go to different wonderland. So I think directly I was just thinking what if we have a tea party and we all come in and we all dress in costume? I think I actually noted in my book proposal of costume of each chapter. So the tea party we'll all wear a spring skirt, and then we're all going to dressed for tea party and we're going to bring our own home baked goods, maybe it's a pot-luck.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I love that.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, and we're going to make herbal tea because I'm really fascinated by the world of herbal tea, and I was just like, "Let's just gather together, eat all those magical dessert that made by different people, drink tea and talk about ideas."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so beautiful. Well, I hope that dream comes true soon. Is there one person that you admire that you would love to have receive a copy of the book?
Dingding Hu:
There was this comedian, her name is Iliza Shlesinger.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Shlesinger, yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Shlesinger, I apologize if I got it wrong. She got a copy already.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's amazing.
Dingding Hu:
And I'm still trying to feel okay about it, I did an illustration for Eater and it was written by her husband.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Whoa.
Dingding Hu:
It was such a coincidence, and it was on the theme of falling down into a rabbit hole. His name is Noah, he was researching on chicken stock and the editor Rebecca [Flint Marx], she was literally saying, "Hey, do it in the Alice In Wonderland style." I was like, "Perfect, that's right in my alley." And I did it, and he really loved it. And we just got connected, and then he had a book come out. He really wanted a copy of me drawing him, so I sent him a book. I had no expectation, I had no expectation. And then he shared with Iliza and I was like, "Oh my God." I was like, "She is such a creative muse of mine, it just blow my mind." I'm still really nervous.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
For those who are listening, Dingding refers to Noah as in Chef Noah Galuten, who's a James Beard Award-nominated cookbook author and co-host of the popular daily livestream cooking show, Don't Panic Pantry. Who did you want the other person to be?
Dingding Hu:
I'll just say it out, Katy Perry.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Katy Perry, oh my gosh, that would make so much sense.
Dingding Hu:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
I think of her California Gurls music video.
Dingding Hu:
Yes. I wrote California Gurl in my book pitch, I was just imagining California Gurl meet Adventure Time Princess Bubblegum.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That is a very colorful, magical, big splash experience. I still think about that music video when she's the cotton candy and the whipped cream and all that.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah. And do you know, she dressed as a burger at Met Gala?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes, I think I saw that too.
Dingding Hu:
So, I have a page in my book that was about a Met Gala and everyone was in food costume.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Can you tell us some of the costumes that you drew up?
Dingding Hu:
I drew the burger costume, I drew Serena Williams.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes.
Dingding Hu:
Not exactly her, but I drew her wearing Snickers because I was like, "Oh, that's badass." And I drew Lady Gaga, I turned her umbrella into pancake.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so cool.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
And what Met Gala was this? 2019, 2018?
Dingding Hu:
I just researched all the Met Gala throughout history and I was just looking at their outfit because I was like, "What if gowns are all food inspired? That would be amazing."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
And I put a chocolate fountain in the Met Gala because it's-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Dingding Hu:
... make it fancy.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
If any one at the Costume Institute is listening to this, we have a Met Gala theme for you.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Food and fashion.
Dingding Hu:
Right?
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. It could be perfect.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, let's talk a little bit more about your podcast. But, it's a virtual dinner party.
Dingding Hu:
Mm-hmm.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
How did that come about?
Dingding Hu:
So, the podcast name is Honey Gone Nuts, and it was come from a bag of granola, it's literally, I was eating it another day and I was going through, I'm sure anyone can relate, I was going nuts and I was reading the granola, I was like, "Honey Gone Nuts." So it's honey and nuts, and I was like, "That's really funny." And I don't feel as crazy as I used to be. I always have this notion of when you're cooking, you need to break an egg and you need to break some other things, you need to break something in order to cook. I was like, "Oh, maybe when Honey Gone Nuts, it's just you become something else, it's a transformation." That cooking it's a transformation, so that was my ‘aha’ moment. And to make it as a virtual dinner party, obviously the goal is to have real life dinner party, but I had a podcast.
It's going to be dinner party because I just love to go out with people over food, I always have a blast. As an immigrant, I don't have too much places to take people, I'm just like, "I know this spot, I know this restaurant. You want to go with me? I know that place." I don't know any other cool places, I just know restaurants, and so I-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Those are very cool places. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Thank you. And I just feel like when we're eating together, we bring out the best of each other. The media has so much misconception about Asian community in a way that I just feel like it's a little bit sad. They make Asian a little bit sad sometimes, not even Asian, I just feel like they make a lot of people a little more sad than they are actually is because while all those hate crime was going on, I know a lot of people in real life, they're very happy. They're so grateful for life, and I'm so grateful, I have a green card now and I'm so happy to be alive living in this country, and I have so much more gratitude instead of hate what's not right. There's things are not right, but I have so much gratitude. I don't know how to bring that out there, I don't know too much about pitching to media and all that game.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So you started your own?
Dingding Hu:
Exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
I was like, "Have my own platform and I just invite people that I know that are artists and I know they love food." And I just talk to them about their favorite childhood dish. I also ask some of them their last meal, and we just talk about what we like to eat, I just enjoy hanging out with people.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Who's your podcast for?
Dingding Hu:
I think it is for people who’s creative spirit burned out, that's feeling like they're going nuts, they're overworked, they're overthinking, or maybe they're procrastinating. Yeah, because I see a lot of that going on in people who are emotional driven. Just know that your emotion is not a bad thing, it's your superpower. You just need to learn how to ride the wave instead of going crazy by ourselves at home. Why don't we just come together and eat and let's talk about what's going on.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah. Let's transition into your standup comedy.
Dingding Hu:
Mm-hmm.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So you perform standup, which is incredible, that exudes so much confidence.
Dingding Hu:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Why did you start doing that?
Dingding Hu:
Thank you for the question, I know I do a lot of different things. I started doing that last year, exactly a year ago. I think I watched this Disney movie, Turning Red.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Loved that movie. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
I cried so much.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yes. I'm Canadian, so I feel like I relate to it not just on the mother daughter relationship, but also on that pretty important point. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah. I feel like I was the main character myself, it was actually really triggering.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
I actually did a art piece for Disney, for Instagram, yeah-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
For Turning Red?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, I made a-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's amazing.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, I made an Instagram poster, but-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Dingding Hu:
... the side effect is that I have to watch that movie before it came out and it was on Chinese New Year, and we just talk about emotion, no eating, and my husband did take me out for Chinese food afterwards, but I was just like, "I need to talk, the emotion is getting so strong, I'm not okay anymore, I can't just suppress this anymore, it's there got to be something." And I always loved comedy, but I actually don't know what's standup comedy. My husband, he's a comedy nerd, he's like, "There's this thing called standup comedy, you should check it out." And I was like, "Whoa." I was like, "People talk for a living." I was like, "That's insane." I was like, "I talk all the time, I can talk."
And I just signed up for a class and I don't know what I was doing. And then the first day in class I remember I was like, "Oh, I know what I'm doing, I'm a badass." But long story short, I did a show because of class, I graduated from the show I did a performance at-
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's exciting.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, at Gotham Comedy Club.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's huge.
Dingding Hu:
Everyone gets to do it.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No, but that's still pretty big to even get to go there. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, but I've never felt so happy in my life.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Dingding Hu:
And I was like, "Oh my God, I didn't know this part of me. I love this so much." And when I performed, there was this other comedian, his name is Jim Gaffigan.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No big deal. Yeah, he's a pretty big deal. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
He wrote a book called Food: A Love Story.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
He's got some good skits on donuts and stuff.
Dingding Hu:
Yes.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
And I have that book in my backpack that day, he showed up. I don't know why, I don't know why, I might be a manifestor.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
You sure are. Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
And then he showed up, and he showed up after my set. I went over time, the producer was so angry at me, I was almost want to throw me off stage because I went over time. And then after I went off stage and they said, “Welcome to stage, Jim Gaffigan.” I was like, "What?"
Abena Anim-Somuah:
So you opened for Jim Gaffigan?
Dingding Hu:
Oh, yeah. Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Wow.
Dingding Hu:
I'm still scared to say that because in the comedy industry, a lot of people did that because Jim Gaffigan works so hard, he's always showing up at comedy clubs, so a lot of people have that opportunity. So when I told that to a comedian, fellow comedian, he's like, "Oh, everyone did that." I was like, "Sure." But I was like, "It's really special for me."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
No, but you can still have that.
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Well, where can we see you perform if we want to?
Dingding Hu:
I'm very beginner, but I will always share on my Instagram if I get to do another show and I get to invite people. I'm currently in the phase of when they have a big group of people, I get to sign up, it's like, "Can I have a set?" That kind of thing, but I will put it on my Instagram whenever I got an opportunity. And I have this wild dream that I wanted to do a little book launch party down the road, to book a little room and just gather my friend to come to listen to my comedy. And I think I might invite other female comic too, speaking of which, I do notice this saying that, "Hey, not only female in food, and female in comedy is a thing, and it's going strong.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Mm-hmm.
Dingding Hu:
Because one thing about doing comedy is you see all those dudes doing comedy, no offense, but they talk a lot about things that they care about, you know what I'm talking about? And sometimes it's boring, but I see a lot of women, they're talking about such interesting topic and they have so much talent. There was this open mic, it's called The Unladylike Comedy, they do this open mic at Stand Up New York every Sunday, and I go there, and it's only women is allowed to go on the stage. And it's always a party, it's always like, "Wow, look at all those womens being up there, share their opinion."
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Yeah.
Dingding Hu:
It's so great, yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's so exciting. Yeah, I feel like both industries are worth disrupting, getting more diverse, and I think there's so much work that's getting done in there.
Dingding Hu:
Exactly.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Dingding, we're going to do something here at The Future Of Food Is You Podcast, we have our Future Flash Five. Are you ready?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Let's do it. The future of restaurants.
Dingding Hu:
Inclusive, homecoming.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of food art.
Dingding Hu:
Expressive, diverse.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of illustrations.
Dingding Hu:
Out of the box.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of comedy.
Dingding Hu:
Women.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
The future of artist communities.
Dingding Hu:
Support over competition.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Dingding, thank you so much for joining us here today. If we want to continue to support you and find out about your work, where can we do that?
Dingding Hu:
Yeah, sure. You can find me on my website, everything is there, it's Hu is Hungry, Hu as H-U, and I'm also on Instagram at HuisHungry.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Amazing. And for your book, when is it coming out? And where can we get details on how to pre-order or buy the copies?
Dingding Hu:
Sure. It is going to come out on March 21st, it's really funny, it's 3, 2, 1, out.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Thanks so much.
Dingding Hu:
Thank you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
Before we go, our guest is going to leave a voicemail at The Future Of Food Is You mailbox, just talking to themselves 10 years from now. You have reached The Future Of Food Is You mailbox, please leave your message after the beep.
Dingding Hu:
Hey girl, you're turning 44, happy early birthday. Do you remember when you were 33 and you were freaking out about everything and you were freaking out about becoming a comedian, finishing a book and start a whole new chapter of your career? Look at you now, everything worked out. Ever since Delicious Daydreams came out, you throw your first dinner party, everything fall into places, and you learned about love, you are truly in love with yourself, you love everyone around you, and you have cultivated a life and community that you have your heart in it. And look at that little garden you have, by the way, congrats on that TV show you wrote all about dinner parties, happy birthday, and know that you've always got it in you, love you.
Abena Anim-Somuah:
That's it for today's show. Do you know someone who you think is The Future Of Food? Tell us about them. Nominate them at the link in our show notes, or leave us a rating and a review and tell me about them in the review. I can't wait to read more about them. Thanks to Kerrygold for sponsoring the show, visit kerrygoldusa.com for more. The Future Of Food Is You is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Thanks to the team at CityVox Studios, executive producers, Kerry Diamond and Catherine Baker and associate producer Jenna Sadhu. Catch you on the future flip.