Chef Jon Kung is redefining third culture cooking
He's showing folks how the foods and experiences that once marked them as "other" are actually worth celebrating
Chef Jon Kung.
Courtesy of Jon Kung
Words by Pooja Shah
The first time I encountered chef Jon Kung was while scrolling through TikTok. He was demonstrating how to cook with winter melon, an ingredient I'd only tasted once at a Keralan-inspired restaurant, where it had been prepared with coconut oil and curry leaves. And as I explored his page, a video about "third culture" stopped me mid scroll. It articulated something I'd felt but couldn't quite name: the experience of living between worlds.
@jonkung Third culture food, fashion, and art will be greatest expressions to come out of the younger American generations.
♬ kiss me more (lofi) - luvbyrd
Today, Kung has amassed more than two million followers across social media platforms and is known widely by his debut cookbook, Kung Food: Chinese American Recipes from a Third Culture Kitchen (2023), which showcases how he's using food to articulate a broader cultural truth about identity and belonging. "Third culture is a term that has been used to define anything from a lived experience, to a style of art or fashion," Kung explains. "It means that the culture of the country you live in is different from 'home.' Maybe you grew up in a traditional Chinese household but you went to school in New York. You cross a cultural threshold every time you step out the door."
Born in Los Angeles, Kung never actually lived there. His family moved to Hong Kong when he was young, then they relocated to Toronto before he eventually settled in Detroit. His trajectory is similar to many immigrants and their families who are constantly negotiating between the culture of home and the outside world.
Like many immigrants and children of immigrants, Kung experienced what he calls "lunchbox trauma" and being made fun of for bringing "different" food to school. At home, he ate a typical mix of Hong Kong food and home cooking including oxtail, corn soup, Chinese fried chicken wings, and Spam and fried rice, as well as the newer dishes inspired by the local Chinese American community.
As a chef, Jon Kung uses food to articulate a broader cultural truth about identity and belonging.
Courtesy of Jon Kung
However, rather than viewing this shared experience as purely negative, Kung sees it as a unifier and as evidence of changing American palates that have inspired his work. He credits figures like Anthony Bourdain and David Chang with planting "the seeds of curiosity into the American palate," even as he acknowledges their complicated legacies. The results speak for themselves. For decades, American culinary culture has been dominated by European-trained chefs and French techniques. As an Asian American chef rising through social media rather than traditional restaurant hierarchies, Kung has had a front row seat to the industry's evolution. "When I was coming up as a professional cook, we were just entering the second Millennial-driven American food renaissance," he explains. "American food is based on Western food (besides soul food and Mexican food) and those were the only cuisines that Americans understood."
Third culture cooking is deeply personal. It's about cooking from your actual life and from the intersection of multiple cultural identities, which is exemplified by Kung’s recipes that showcase his multicultural existence. His cookbook includes recipes like jerk chow mein, Buffalo chicken rangoons, Hong Kong fried chicken and waffles, and Faygo orange chicken made with Detroit's iconic orange soda. These recipes are also proof that the American pantry is unique because of its access to global ingredients. "One of the hallmarks of being in an American kitchen is that you can just have everything," Kung says. "When I go back to Hong Kong and I try to cook things over there it's so much more different, because what do you mean I can't get baharat (a Middle Eastern spice blend) or I can't get Tajin?"
This abundance shaped his cookbook and Kung even notes he had to "tone down the internationality" of his recipes because ingredients he takes for granted simply aren't available elsewhere. "I love a spice blend and I love cultural spice blends,” he says. “I use and switch up to five or six countries a day, based on the type of spices I use and how I use them." But pressed for one essential ingredient, he doesn't hesitate: "I love soy sauce."
Kung's social media presence has evolved significantly since the early days when he made hyper-creative recipes and fine dining dishes. After five years of that approach, he pivoted toward teaching people how to cook and, more importantly, how to appreciate simple, seasonal ingredients from a third cultural lens. The change reflects a broader mission: helping others understand that the foods and experiences that once marked them as "other" are worth celebrating.
As for competition in the increasingly crowded food content space? Kung isn't worried. “There's a new food content creator out there who is killing it, but the Internet as a platform is limitless and there is no limit to creativity,” he says.
Kung's work is ultimately about reclamation. Through his recipes, videos, and cookbook, he's showing that the space between cultures isn't a limitation, but a source of creative power. The third culture kitchen isn't about fusion or confusion, but finding home wherever you make it taste like home.
Published on December 4, 2025