Uncle Roger, the character played by Malaysian comedian, Nigel Ng, has risen in popularity over the last few years and it speaks to the power of what it means to be an outsider. Uncle Roger critiques chefs who make traditional Asian dishes and in turn, shows how these mostly White chefs have used an Asian cuisine they are not familiar with to fuel their stardom. He points out their missteps and inaccuracies as they show their mostly white audiences food they may not have seen before. Some chefs, Asian and White, have now given short remonstrances at the start of their videos about fearing what Uncle Roger will say about their videos. They now know they will be viewed carefully under the eye of Uncle Roger and are a little more careful to tread in an area that they are unfamiliar with. What this does is it gives back power to Asian creators the ability to critique an artform that they curated. Of course, Asian food should not be relegated only to Asian cooks as food is to be shared, but it seems some of these cooks do not give credit where credit is due, and Uncle Roger gives it back.

Nigel Ng is not without controversy in his career as he was denounced for not siding with another Asian creator, Mike Chen, who criticized the Chinese government for their human rights violations. Some saw this as a way for him to maintain revenue in a country that he was trying to gain more favor in. Recently, he made disparaging comments about China in a special that got him banned from Chinese social media. These moves have caused some to question his intentions, but they have not blunted his reach on the chefs who make Asian cuisine. Even Gordon Ramsey is not safe from commentary from Uncle Roger, showing he can be an equal-opportunity reviewer. The fear he strikes into those who make Asian cuisine is fun to watch as those who were formerly very confident in their skills now don’t feel as safe in asserting their knowledge of the dishes they are making. This has allowed for a dialogue on what is proper Asian food and how much it can deviate from the source. Uncle Roger is not the final decision-maker for all Asian food, but he is a good start in reclaiming authority on food that has been used to further careers without any real knowledge of it.

Food is for everyone, but Uncle Roger reminds us that we must pay homage to the source. His ability to draw comedy from a situation where there could be appropriation allows for all to laugh, but also lets creators know that they are on watch. As immigrants who came to another country, we have little left of our culture and identity that was left behind and food is one of our last lifelines to a land we came from. Because of that, food and the preparation of it remains important to Asians and those who have immigrated. Uncle Roger is then informing us that this simply is not a food to be made, but a tradition to be honored.