World’s Self-Appointed Food God Takes in London’s Restaurant Scene

The man who made gold wings viral doesn’t do things by halves

Jonathan Cheban’s all-platform rebrand campaign from Kim Kardashian’s mate to world-famous food influencer has arrived in London. The self-appointed food god, who will soon be legally called Foodgōd, but is not yet legally called Foodgōd, is embarking on a typically excessive food tour of the city in service of his upcoming TV series. His 3.1 million Instagram followers have been treated to the view from Mezemiso, a Lebanese-Japanese fusion restaurant, and a bizarre encounter at Chopstix U.K. on Oxford Street, in which Cheban rejects small and medium noodles for a ‘Foodgōd’ box that would likely feed 15 people and almost certainly got thrown away afterwards.

Up to now most famous for the gold chicken wings that represent the apex of Instagram’s reclassification of food value, Cheban’s approach to dining revels in the excessive, shocking, expensive, and “amazing” — all the food he eats is amazing, and it’s amazing that he’s eating it, even if the face he’s pulling mid-noodle pull at Chopstix betrays the realisation that this is just too many noodles. He’s also extremely aggressive with any haters in the comments.

Everything is amazing, so nothing is amazing, an Instagram feed chronicling gilded chicken, colossal uneaten desserts, and personal specials none of his followers will ever see. His mission is to be “like a Guy Fieri or Anthony Bourdain for the young and hot,” a modern-day food critic devoted to candy floss burritos and China Tang at the Dorchester and **this** ice cream sundae that is five times bigger than any ice cream sundae anyone has ever seen; to Nobu and to Nobu and to Nobu. His altar is Instagram, and millions of people are worshipping, even if all the content borders on the sacrilegious. [Instagram]

And in other news...

• Nathan Outlaw is one of the U.K.’s most lauded seafood chefs — here’s the news on his new London restaurant.
• TāTā Eatery’s katsu sando was dish of the summer last year — soon it will have its own central London shop.
• Another shining example of Britons getting infernally mad about how their food is made, despite frequently denying that cultural appropriation in food can even be real. A man in Scotland threatened to burn down a Chinese takeaway because there was gravy on his fried rice. [Mirror]
• The manifold ways in which technology will impact traceability for food businesses now and in the future — say hello to blockchain beef. [Food Manufacture]
• Eating food that people throw on the floor because you can to write about it without considering why people might have to eat that food is an angle. [Guardian]
• Contentious tweet:

Good tweet: