I didn’t expect to be so viscerally revolted under two minutes into the second season of Meghan Markle’s banal cooking/hosting show on Netflix. And no, it’s not because she used pre-made puff pastry (who has time for lamination) or under cooked those onions (caramelisation takes at least 20 minutes and no amount of balsamic vinegar can speed that process up).
With Love, Meghan season two starts prosaically enough. Markle is back in her show kitchen with her bestie and makeup artist Daniel Martin. They banter as they prepare mushroom and cheese tarts for the “new friends” who will be arriving to spend the day with them.
New friend number one is David Chang, chef, entrepreneur, and according to Markle an “icon”. This is when I felt immediate disgust rising deep in my gut. Chang, a one-time wannabe bad boy chef, is iconic in the food industry in the way Satan is something of an icon in hell. While he currently cultivates a warmer and fuzzier public image as he presides over a $20 million empire, some of us have longer memories.
Chang founded restaurant group/food brand Momofuku back in 2004. He was celebrated for introducing New Yorkers to duck in bao buns and cereal milk-flavoured ice cream. But what he became most infamous for claims made about abusive behaviour towards employees.
The rumblings had become so loud by the time he published his 2020 memoir, Eat A Peach, he tried to get ahead of the rumours. Chang wrote that “anger has become my calling card” and “my name has become synonymous with rage”, admitting that he would punch walls and countertops. He said he once blacked out with rage and threatened an employee with a knife at his restaurant in a Sydney casino.
Momofuku’s former corporate beverage director bravely came forward to clarify the extent of his behaviour. In a scathing review of Eat A Peach for Eater, Hannah Selinger recalled the shocking abuse that Chang directed at her and other staff members. “In all my years of restaurant work, I had never seen anything like the roiling, red-faced, screaming, pulsing, wrath-filled man that was David Chang,” said Selinger. Once, she aid she witnessed him scream “I will murder your f***ing family!” at a young line cook.
While Chang has apologised and re-branded as a foodie mogul, stocking supermarket shelves with his instant ramen packets and flavoured salts, his former staff remember. “Many of us who worked for him could not [move on],” said Selinger. “The scars we received lasting for years, if not a lifetime.”
Then, in 2024, Momofuku was slammed for sending cease-and-desist letters to small Asian brands making spicy condiments. The company was attempting to trademark the phrase ‘chili crunch’, although chili sauces with crunchy bits are popular in many cuisines. One lawyer described Momofuku as a “trademark bully”. Chang later apologised and promised not to pursue the trademark on his podcast, The Dave Chang Show.
Chang is not someone I would want as a “new friend”, and it feels gross to see him get a star turn on With Love, Meghan. Watching him bumble round the kitchen mansplaining how to fry an egg and bashfully explaining that he might get a teensy bit competitive with the flower arranging made me want to punch a steel countertop. Except, crucially, I have control over my emotions and do not inflict them upon my colleagues.
To be clear, I am not one of those British media types who froths at the mouth at the near mention of Markle. I always thought her heart was in the right place, and she has been treated badly in the press. I do not begrudge her rebrand into girlbossing and fruit spreads.
But this ridiculously obvious attempt at PR synergy is skeevy and grabby in the extreme. Chang has a Netflix show where he cooks for celebrities and sells branded “not-so-spicy noodles” and “tingly seasoned salt”. Meghan has a Netflix show where she cooks for celebrities and sells branded “flower sprinkles” and “crepe mix”. Put them together, do some naff arts and crafts activities, and profit will surely follow.
It's just not good optics to align with someone like Chang. If you’re trying to squash your own bullying allegations, breaking bread with someone accused of being a bully in front of a TV crew seems like an utterly mad idea. Unless you think your audience has the memory of a goldfish cracker and no access to an internet search engine.
Of course, this content was all filmed well before the January Vanity Fair cover story re-ignited the simmering allegations that Meghan is unpleasant to her staff. Season two was clearly filmed alongside season one — Guy the rescue beagle (RIP to a good boy) is still around, for one. With Love, Meghan was probably always going to be renewed if the money had been spent and the footage captured.
Perhaps Chang had some wise words for Meghan on navigating trademark snafus and bad press. We shall have to wait and see if non-trademark-infringing chili crunch is part of the next offering on As Ever. Which will be coming soon, of course, for maximum tie-in purposes. Whether I can stomach reviewing the rest of the season after this slimy first course is another matter.
With Love, Meghan is streaming on Netflix now.
