The Integral Practice of Pizza - Authenticity and creativity meld in Ugly Delicious from Netflix

Celebrity chef David Chang’s irreverent new series on Netflix, Ugly Delicious, illuminates the developmental arc of some of the world’s favorite foods. Each of eight episodes highlights one dish or concept, such as BBQ, fried rice or home cooking, and explores its roots in different regions and how it has evolved. Today I’m reviewing the first episode, which follows Chang and his gang as they seek the soul of pizza, from the 300-year-old classic Neopolitan Margherita, to a sushi and ginger pizza in Tokyo, to Wolfgang Puck’s California reinventions, to a Dominos delivery shop in New Jersey. Ugly Delicious imparts a distinct integral flavor as Chang concludes his exploration by legitimizing all claims of pizza purity. As he puts it, “authenticity is something that has been overvalued, but which really has not been scrutinized enough.”