Asian American Yul Kwon has a new television gig. “And this time,” Kwon reports to NPR, “he’ll be wearing clothes.” Kwon, who is best known for his win on the popular reality television show Survivor during the controversial racially-segregated season, is taking a different approach to television in a mini-series by PBS called America Revealed. The mini-series contains four parts, the first of which features food, found on the menu for Dumpling’s new column, Meal Ticket.
But before you pull out your fork, be warned — in episode one, this show goes inside the American food machine, revealing exactly what it is America eats. According to the PBS website, this episode shows “what it takes to keeps the biggest food machine in the world going, the delicate balance that keeps our supermarkets stocked with groceries and fast food restaurants supplied with fries. How we keep America moving with its vast and complex transport systems. How we propel ourselves through energy, what maintains the constant supply of fuel and electricity to our homes and businesses and finally how we keep up with the ever-changing world, the import and export infrastructure that shapes our manufacturing industry.” Quite a mouth full (pun intended).
Kwon says, “I’ve worked in many different fields, from law to government to business. I’ve even won the reality show Survivor. But in every part of my life, I’ve been fascinated by the same things: systems and networks.” In the series, Kwon says he’ll explore the systems of America that feed us, move us and make our economy hum. In other words, the premiere episode, is the system that gets us grub.
In episode one, titled “Food Machine,” we see what Domino’s Pizza’s delivery system looks like aerially from a GPS unit on a pizza delivery man in Manhattan. Kwon next goes to a cattle field by jumping out of an airplane, of course. He visits a farmer in inner-city Detroit in the early hours of the morning, and then shows us the biggest farmers market in the country, which is also located among the urban population of the city. He comments on the “urban farm lifestyle,” that is quite different from the chemical, unnatural food that he’s used to. We then see California, where its food machine is properly described as an “open-air factory” and to Nevada, where a huge tomato fight takes place, with little purpose except using some of Cali’s leftover tomatoes. Kwon also seeks “craveability” with the perfect onion in the “bloomin’ onion” from Outback Steakhouse.
So what do you think? Is America’s “Food Machine” tickling your taste buds? With Kwon as a host, and the beautiful aerial views of the food machine in the factory farm, The Food Machine as part of America Revealed is one to watch.
Follow America Revealed on PBS, or catch its host, Yul Kwon tweeting, too.