The Next Thing You Eat

Documentary · Hulu

Six episodes about what technology is going to do to dinner: insects, robot chefs, driverless delivery, DNA scans of what’s on your plate. David Chang had seen all of it. The animation had to show it, and what it changes.

Most food technology is a box with a blinking light. David is the opposite: funny, irreverent, and never boring. So we gave the machines a bit of him. The robot chef is curious about everything, the burger machine is bloodthirsty, and even the insects are happy to be eaten.

Not all of it was the future. A lot of it was what the future keeps promising and can't deliver: a cook’s intuition, making something out of what’s there. And some of it was a kid with kimchi fried rice at a lunch table that didn’t get it yet.

6 part series · 10 min of animation · 2023

Poster for The Next Thing You Eat: David Chang grins against a bright blue background as food floats around him, from a burger and sushi to a slice of pizza, a lab beaker and a microscope. The tagline reads “Question everything you know about food”

"I remember talking with one of NASA’s chief engineers.
This asshole tells me I can recreate your intuition."

David Chang, Host

The table
that didn’t get it

Full Sequence

A bit of David,
a few moving parts

Concept

A retro computer screen collage on coral red: an AI "pre-processes" David Chang's intuition, piecing together his face, a recipe list, simple shapes and a progress dial at 83% completion — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
In a black-and-white line drawing, David Chang sits at a round café table holding a dessert cup across from a diner in heavy glasses — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A mint-green interface collage labeled "Method 5" layers an eye, a nose, grains of rice, a fried egg, a dollar sign and a block of recipe text — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
Seen from above against bright blue, a prepackaged meal box opens to reveal compartments of rice, bacon, peas, pork chops and vegetables — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A line-drawn motion test of two test tubes on white — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A line-drawn motion test moving through the steps "sense, plan and cook" — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A line-drawn motion test of large circles rolling in a row — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A line-drawn motion test of converging lines above a ticking counter — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.

Dinner, eventually

Final Frames

David Chang sits across a café table from a NASA engineer who says he can program David's intuition — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
David's face is split into panels as AI pre-programs him — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A food app scans a sick pink fish and flashes a "DANGER!!!!" warning — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
The noodles and kimchi David brought to school for lunch, the only lunch in class that wasn't typical American food — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
Young David peers over the top of his open lunchbox at school — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A robot eye analyzes a steak over open flames to find the perfect way to cook it — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A giant cowboy pushes a burger toward a tiny David — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A giant metal cowboy robot, having ground up a cow, prepares to drink its blood as part of the beef manufacturing process — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A shopper holds a small DNA scanner that reveals a food's ingredients, origins and modifications — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
A ladybug on the ground is about to be picked up and cooked for dinner — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
The DNA scanner samples data from food in a burst of shifting color — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.
Hundreds of prepackaged David Chang meal boxes move down an assembly line, ready for drone delivery — The Next Thing You Eat, Hulu.

Bloodthirsty

Full Sequence

Credits

Created by
David Chang · Morgan Neville

Host
David Chang

Episode Director
Danny Breen

Animation Director
Jason Carpenter

Production Designer
Jason Carpenter

Design & Animation
Jason Carpenter · David Navas

Production
Tremolo Productions · Majordomo Media · Vox Media Studios

Distribution‍ ‍
Hulu


Rotten Tomatoes
100%

Craft Boss Italiano

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