There's always something about cooking-related movies that make us crave for the dishes we see on our screens. Netflix's newest Thai movie, Hunger, is no exemption to that.
The movie introduces us to a young woman named Aoy (played by Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying), who struggles to find her place in the world. In one of her meet-ups with her friends, Aoy reveals that she had no choice but to take over the family business so she can provide for her family.
Meanwhile, her friends show their envy for Aoy, as they talk about their dilemmas in their workplace.
So when Aoy gets an opportunity to cook for a bigger restaurant, she grabs the chance. Aoy wants to prove herself and be special to the world.
More importantly, she wants to be able to make a choice for herself instead of just doing something that isn't necessarily her passion.
What Is Aoy’s Family Business?
In the first few minutes of the Thai movie, we get introduced to Aoy as she uses a wok to cook in their family's small restaurant.
The family has been selling Pad See Ew (or Thai Stir Fried Noodles) for years, possibly from her grandmother. Apart from Pad See Ew, they offer other traditional Thai dishes. The restaurant was passed on to Aoy by her father, who had to retire for unknown reasons.
Aoy's brother in the movie says that she cooks better than their father, which is what caused Aoy to get invited by Tones (played by Gunn Svasti) to try cooking for his boss, Chef Paul (played by Nopachai Chaiyanam) at Hunger. Aoy heads to the restaurant and has to try out against a culinary school-graduate and make Chef Paul's request: fried rice.
Her opponent scoffs at her for choosing a wok as her weapon of trade. But ultimately, he loses to Aoy, who chose to use leftover rice instead of fresh ones. Chef Paul hires her on the spot and presents her next challenge: frying A5 Wagyu Beef for an upcoming party.
Why Does A5 Wagyu Beef Cost So Much?
In the movie, Aoy struggles to cook A5 Wagyu beef as Chef Paul watches from her shoulder. He keeps scrutinizing her every move and throws away the slices of beef that she practices on.
After several tries, Chef Paul tells her to practice cooking the meat until she does it correctly. Otherwise, she doesn't belong in his kitchen. This doesn't stop Aoy, who spends overnight in the Hunger kitchen, trying to perfect the dish.
When her colleagues and mentor step in the kitchen the next day, they find Aoy sleeping on the floor and her arm full of bruises from the oil splatters. Chef Paul steps in and Aoy shows him that she now knows how to cook A5 Wagyu beef properly.
As we all know, A5 Wagyu beef costs a lot of money. And this is because Wagyu is a highly-prized and highly-priced type of beef because of its breeding.
The meat comes from Japanese wagyu cattle, which have been raised in a meticulous lifestyle. The cows have also been given a strict diet so that its meat produces the highest muscle quality instead of fat.
Not to mention, Wagyu is considered as the highest caliber of artisan beef. It is produced in small quantities and is being closely governed in accordance to Japanese guidelines.
Is Crybaby Noodles From Hunger Movie Real?
There are three instances where we learn about Crybaby Noodles in Hunger movie. The first is when Aoy's father prepares the dish for his children, the next is when Aoy decides to bring a meal to Chef Paul as he recovers from a stab wound in the hospital. And lastly, Aoy creates the dish as her final entry against her cookoff with Chef Paul at Madam Milky's party.
In these three instances, we can't help but crave for a serving of the noodle dish too. But the question is, is Crybaby Noodles a real dish from Thailand?
Unfortunately, Crybaby Noodles is not a real dish. There is no recipe for the dish available online. Aoy says that Crybaby Noodles is her grandma's dish, who created it for her father who used to cry a lot as a child.
He was also a fussy eater. To get him to stop crying and start eating, Aoy's grandmother tried everything until she created Crybaby Noodles.
And as we learn in the movie, the dish is prepared with a sauce made from miso paste mixed with XO sauce.
Our rough guess from the cookoff scene is that the other ingredients of Crybaby Noodles include slices of tofu, Spanish chorizo (or chorizo Bilbao), kung haeng (dried shrimp), sen yai (flat rice noodles), and XO sauce with miso paste.
During the cookoff, Aoy prepares the dish and smiles. This is the first we see her smile as she cooks, which reveals that the dish brings a beautiful memory of her childhood. If only there's a way we can savor that dish too!
Hunger Thai movie is now available to stream on Netflix.
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