Before Roy Choi was consulting for Hollywood flicks or building his Kogi truck into an empire, Anthony Bourdain had his back. He was an early supporter of the young L.A. chef, who has since become a powerhouse of both cooking and pop culture at large.
Choi is undoubtedly one of the most game-changing chefs of the year, especially in light of his healthy fast-food concept, LocoL. TIME Magazine tapped him for its 2016 "100 Most Influential" list, and got Bourdain to do the honors of singing his praises.
"Roy Choi has put it all on the line to improve the quality of life for people few others seem to care about," writes Bourdain. "It’s not a pose, it’s not a cause: it’s who he is."
To summarize, here is what Bourdain had to say about Choi and his restaurant empire:
- Roy Choi was the man who helped turn bland food truck food into a "highly sought-after, ultra-hot-yet-democratic rolling restaurant."
- His Kogi trucks "pioneered the use of social media as a marketing tool."
- Choi's latest business endeavor, LocoL is "replacing traditional fast food with a more positive, socially responsible institution."
But Roy Choi isn't the trailblazer looking to make the restaurant industry more humane. Watch the video below to see José Andrés and Barton Seaver discuss how the restaurants can change the world.
[via TIME]