Creator Stefan Ng explains it all
Andy Crump sits down with the man behind Shaunson Explains to talk about the importance of our relationship with food
Stefan Ng educates his audience about food on Shaunson Explains.
Courtesy of Stefan Ng
Words by Andy Crump
Stefan Ng is a filmmaker at heart. He worked in kitchens while attending Emerson College in Boston, in part to produce his senior thesis. In short, making Instagram videos about food didn’t figure into his original plans. Over time, though, that became his job, centered on his account, Shaunson Explains, on which he breaks down the Michelin Awards’ various tiers, and what distinguishes baby back from St. Louis ribs—among other subjects.
The most compelling material Ng makes tends to feature cousin cuisines: dishes from individual cultures that bear a striking family resemblance to one another. A standout example would be his clip comparing Chinese egg tarts with Portuguese egg tarts; similar, but different, related but unique despite their common traits. Ng’s intention isn’t to hold a contest between the two, but rather to educate his audience on the qualities that separate these dishes and, at the same time, bring them together—at once piquing their fascination, while satisfying his constitutional curiosity.
I spoke with Ng about the foundations of Shaunson Explains, his goals for the page, and the importance of our relationship to the foods we eat.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Andy Crump: I’m interested in how cultures from different parts of the world come up with similar versions of the same dish, so seeing the comparison between Portuguese and Chinese egg tarts struck me. I'm curious if that's the genesis for you making videos like these—to show that world cuisines aren't that different when put side by side.
Stefan Neg: That wasn't the initial reason I started the channel. It was more that I wanted to make educational videos. I had a lot of burning questions, and food wasn't specifically the thing that I wanted to do, but one of the first videos I ever made was about which onions to use when cooking. I went to the grocery store, and I was staring at this giant section of onions, and I thought, “There are so many onions. What’s the difference?” I was genuinely curious. So I made that video, and it did really well.
Throughout the years, I’ve found that comparing things or explaining the differences between certain items resonated with my audience. So I stuck with that, and it eventually evolved from ingredients like onions, potatoes, staples like that, into full-on dishes, like the egg tarts. I also started breaking down mirepoix—how a French mirepoix and an Italian mirepoix are essentially the same, except they switch out butter with olive oil and the herbs are slightly different. I did a series about that, and it evolved from there.
Growing up in California, then visiting other places and finding very similar dishes, I always wondered, what’s the difference? So that’s how (the channel) started and how it evolved into what it is today.
AC: Do you find that there's a specific kind of video that gets more response than others?
SN: The videos you mentioned, where it's a comparison between two different cultures and similar foods, do really well, because you get a lot of people disagreeing, and a lot of people agreeing. It’s become something like, “I'm team this,” “I'm team that,” “this is better,” and “no, this is better.” I find that when I'm comparing cultures from a neutral standpoint, the videos do very well.
AC: Is it a matter of cultural pride? Everybody feels like their background does it better than everybody else's. Or do you notice a level of interest in seeing two cultures doing something so similar?
SN: Cultural pride is one part of it. I would also say that it's genuine curiosity, and people discovering that there is a different version of something they're used to. With egg tarts, I grew up with Chinese egg tarts. I didn't discover pastel de nata until probably four years ago, and I was blown away. I was almost offended in a sense: “Who copied who?” I also think when people see that there is another version of (a dish they grew up with), they wonder, “What does that taste like?” and “How different is it?” So there is a bit of cultural pride, a bit of genuine curiosity that goes along with it, and I would say for me, it's just fascinating.
I've traveled a lot and I've eaten a lot of things. Good food is good food, but I find that when I’m trying to find something that I've never tasted before, I can only go so far. There are only so many types of flavors. So that’s also the reason why I try to figure out the differences. I love history, too. So I also want to learn the historical background of how these things were formed.
AC: I feel the same way. At some point there’s a ceiling for flavor profiles. Appreciating cuisine for similarities and for differences is a great way to approach food. You’ve mentioned curiosity a lot. Where does that trait come from, for you?
SN: I think the main reason for this curiosity is wanting to eat and cook the best food possible, and I think understanding what you're eating, what you're cooking, and what makes it good is fundamental to why I'm so curious. I’ve found that small differences and ingredients do make a big difference, which also drives that curiosity. On a more vain level, it's actually quite frustrating when I go to the grocery store and there's a million of the same item. Why is this so complicated, why are there so many things, is it all the same, why is this one more expensive? I’m overwhelmed by the amount of options we have. If I want to buy a certain vegetable versus three different varieties, I'll grab the one that's the cheapest. But this curiosity has made me discover that small differences matter. Knowing and understanding the whole picture is a big deal to me.
AC: That sounds like you’re performing a service for your viewers. Is that something your audience taps into as well—relief from that overwhelming sense of choice that they get when they go shopping?
SN: I would say yes. I get a lot of comments like, “I've wondered this my whole life, but I've never thought to look it up.” I spend a lot of time at the grocery store, and when I'm there, I'm on my phone researching for 20 minutes, 10 minutes, standing in the aisle, trying to figure out differences. I think people want to do that, but they can't because they're rushing or they don’t want to bother with it. I feel like that's another reason why people relate to the videos, in a sense.
AC: Do you see issues with how people relate to food in general? I wonder if that over time has become a factor for you—helping people gain a better appreciation, and thus through that, a better relationship to the food that they eat?
SN: Yeah. One of the main reasons I like the videos that I make is that when you understand ingredients better, you can make a more conscientious choice about what is worth spending money on, and what's not worth buying. I would like to hope that people have a better relationship with food; I've actually never thought about that. For me it's just curiosity. But I guess I’m in that sphere of education!
For me, I try to do things quickly. I want to get straight to the point: here are the bullet points, this is what you need to know. That's caused a lot of remarks like, “You forgot this, you forgot that,” in the comments. But I try to make it easy for people to understand what they're learning about. So I do hope that people develop a better relationship with food. I'm not trying to tell people what's the healthiest option, in that sense. It depends on the video.
One of the topics I talk about is technique: this is easier, this is harder. Some people aren't as skilled home cooks as others. So that clears things up for people as well. I think there are many facets of how people have a relationship with food—in terms of health, in terms of skill, in terms of cost. It depends on the video and the subject I'm tackling that will resonate with each person the most.
Published on April 21, 2026
Words by Andy Crump
Bostonian culture journalist Andy Crump covers movies, beer, music, fatherhood, and way too many other subjects for way too many outlets, perhaps even yours: Paste Magazine, Inverse, The New York Times, Hop Culture, Polygon, and Men's Health, plus more. You can follow him on Bluesky and find his collected work at his personal blog. He’s composed of roughly 65 percent craft beer.