TIM CHANTARANGSU - Slurp Worthy Ramen

I think we've all kind of we've all had some version of this, right and um, you know, I feel like a lot of people they're so used to this they don't even know about like the real ass ramen that you get, like the Japanese spot, you know. Really, I feel like now the real ramen has become so popular, true cho, but I still run into people who are like, why would you play fifteen dollars for some something you get for you know that they don't know, they don't

they definitely don't know. So what are the ingredients you have for us today? Okay, so we got some Mama noodles, which are a high version of like rama noodles, okay, and then we got some corn, which I just like to throw and everything. We got some some scallions, greene onions, myt dogs, eggs, and some peanut butter and some so rota of course. All right, So this is how I challenged to know if someone's really broke, because if they just do a straight ramah, I'm like, you haven't eaten

ramen enough until you tweaked it. You gotta tweak and finesse in your own way, I think, especially with the peanut butter. That was my dad's thing. That was something he got me doing when I was a little kids. So okay, all right, I'm excited. Let's do it. Let's do it. When was the last time you ate this, dish man? Probably? Um? I mean I probably just made

this like like a month ago. Um. Just you know, when I'm at the house just like and and and we don't feel like just cooking or ordering food, and you know, you can't you can't go wrong, you know, but do you make it as fancy as this? Because I feel like this is kind of fancy. I mean, I'll throw some hot dogs or something. I mean, now that I got a little you know, I always have some white wife. He doesn't like using the hot dogs, so I tried to throw a little ground chicken in

there for her or something a little little healthier. Um, And just so you know, I've never actually heard of the Mama Mama noodles. Yeah, I've always heard of just one ram like type of noodle. And then all of a sudden, you threw this name at me, and then I was just like, oh, and now I realized there's like a whole bunch of different types of noodles. Mama noodles are the tie equivalent of Rama noodles. And you know, like I said, my mom always likes using the type

products because they're just better than everything else. That's what she said. And um, I wasn't making a joke. That's literally like this what my mom said. So these have like a better flavor you think, Yeah, yeah, different flavor. I like the I like the texture of it. I can handle. We can you know, we're gonna we're gonna try and hang because abtually I've you'd be surprised on that show what I've eaten. I actually had a jail meal a couple last week, which was very interesting. So

so I don't. I'm this is gonna be my official meal of the day. Oh really okay, okay, yeah, I'm excited to make this for you. Okay, did you ever do this? Just eat these raw? I actually did on the last episode. Yeah, it was my first time. I didn't even know that was a possibility. It's a great snap. And also when it mixes with the hot water in your stomach, they expence, you get pulled. Oh you know, I didn't even think of that. I didn't even think

about that. So tell me a little bit about yourself, like your upbringing, because I feel like we see you, you know, as a comedian, as a rapper, and we don't really get to see the other side of like what life was like or you're growing up and how you broke into the industry, because I'm sure you had quite a bit of hurdles. Yeah, definitely. I mean, if we're talking about eating all broke, um, you know, uh my family was deaf the lead broke. We we were just you know, I grew up on like the east

side of Long Beach. We had a little one bedroom apartment and uh my mom was a cook at like a casino just wherever she could get cooking jobs, you know,

because that was she just loved cooking. That was her thing. Um, And my dad was doing like welding jobs in l A and U. And one of my main real like motivators for trying to get on and and and become like successful in the whatever business I was in is because I wanted to, you know, take care of my parents and pay back my parents who all the all the times, like they had to work because my mom was always working like super late nights, and you know, she had like at one point she had like two jobs.

She was working at two different restaurants. And one thing that I will say is that even though we were like broke, um and we didn't necessarily have a lot of money for like fancy ingredients, my mom always made sure that the food was was tasty, you know, like because she was she was like a cook, you know, like so usually ideally she wasn't using hot dogs. She liked to use um, like some ground pork or something like that. That was her thing. The hot dogs are

just I just really like hot dogs. So I think I just kind of asked my parents to make it with hot dogs a lot as a young in and uh yeah, so my goal. I told them growing up that, like, you know, with this entertainment stuff, I know it sounds crazy and I know it seems like it's point with, right, But I told them I was like, watch one day, I'm gonna make it work and I'm gonna pay you guys this house off. I'm gonna like take care of

you guys. And we moved to a house in Paramount when I was ten, and and eventually we got to a point where I was able to pay off the house. Right, And this is after you made it, Yeah, this is after a bunch of stuff. How long would you say your brind was before you were able to buy them the house? So I was originally just trying to be an actor, like doing like TV movies and stuff like that,

like auditioning. But but I felt like back when I first started, there was really no opportunities for Asian dudes specifically, there wasn't a whole lot of um things I could audition for again, especially being like trying to just portray a regular as person and not like a nerd or a kungku dude, you know. So, um I started auditioning for stuff, but it wasn't working out. So then I found YouTube. Back in like oh six, no one was really creating any type of content on youtubee. It was

brand new. So then I thought, I'm sure you can do that, right, So what we do with the ai? So what we do with the egg? Give? All right, So we're just gonna put it in there, and then what happens is you put it on that over the what happens is the boiling water is gonna it's gonna cook that egg up, right, and you don't need do you break the Yeah, I'm gonna break it up in here? Okay. So I've never ever, ever, ever in my life. This is something my mom um and a lot of like

Asian people do, like um, with like rice soup. They're like just bust an egg in there and the heat from the soup will cook the egg and then um, then you break it up and then it adds a nice little like different texture to the flavor and like consistency to the to the broad I think, you know, alright, Alright, So I started making YouTube videos because I thought, Okay, this might be a good way to to get into the to just kind of put my face out there

to see if something could happen through just me trying to you know, um just put myself out there, you know. So I started doing a little stupid videos like freestyling and like just doing impressions just to just to make

my MySpace friends laugh, you know. And then um, yeah, I know it is it is how far back he goes, right, And so um, once I really started to gain an audience on YouTube, I thought, okay, this this might be a thing, because because back then, you know, I feel like there was no place for especially like Asian entertainers to really do our thing, you know what I'm saying.

So there was there was such like an audience online that was like, oh wow, I've never seen an Asian dude like being funny or or or singing or rapping. I started to build like an audience, you know, like there was a lot of kids that were like, Okay, he looks like me, this is crazy. You've never seen this before. And people who have never seen an Asian dude like just being like funny before, We're like, oh

this is this is this is weird. I'm a watch right, And after doing my thing on YouTube for some time, I built like a pretty strong audience and then uh. Um. I was presented with the opportunity to audition for a while and out and I got on that show. And I was on while out for like six years, eight seasons maybe and um and uh and you know, just it's just opened up a lot of opportunities and YouTube

stuff the while and now. Um. So yeah, I got to a point where I was able to pay off my my family's house, um, which was dope for me because uh, like, once I gave my parents the check for for the house, uh, my mom was like, finally I can I can take a break, you know. And I was like, oh, Mom, I know, I know where you like crying or death. I wasn't. I was happy because I feeled the whole thing and I was happy, Like my mom cried. My dad was like, oh I knew you could do it, blah blah blah. But I

didn't get emotional until she said that. You know. That's when I was like, oh, mom, you know, because I mean, that's that's why I did it at the end of the day, you know, because I wanted them to feel like they could take a break, you know. So that must have been crazy. It was crazy, especially you know, after like years of like I'm throwing corner. They're just because I really like, do I want to try your dish? And I love corn, by the way, that's my favorite vegetable.

Corn is my ship. You know. People always check me like corn isn't healthy, it gives you no nutrients, and I'm like, I don't care corn and I love like all like versions of corn, like I love corn. I love the little thing from man, is that what you call it? Let me tell you. When I see them on the street, I will bust the straight you term because it's like it's almost like you're lucky if you Okay. So,

so here's the thing with the peanut butter. Okay, so Thai people you know on curry, right, A lot of curry is like peanut based. So my dad, whenever he was making these noodles for me, he would throw in some peanut butter because he felt like the peanut butter kind of like, um, you know, add a little something to it, and also was similar to like a curry. Take. Okay, I'm just that too much peanut butter? Is that enough? Okay? Go happened. So I don't know if I've ever added

this much peanut butter figure. You know that's making so you can you can really get this peanut butter. You know exactly it's gonna be. It looks great, all right, it looks delicious. And look you could see the egg turn into egg. Yes, that's amazing. Yes, so this is a whole watch this is you're gonna You're gonna start throwing your eggings some soup after this and telling you I can see that. So did your parents ever have some doubt and say, like you should go to school

or something? Yeah, you know, I mean my whole life when I was like pursuing the whole entertainment stuff, like they always said. They always said like, Okay, yeah, we know, this is what you love, this is what you want

to do. But also, you know, make sure you get your make sure you get your degree, you know, and I'll go yeah, yeah, And that was always the goal that I was going to go back and finish and get my degree, right, But it got to a point where I kind of had to balance both things, you know, and I was having trouble balancing like college and like the different shows that were popping up and the different

shoots I had to do. So I eventually like I took a semester off, and then I took another semester off, and then I took like a year off, and then I eventually just never went back. You know, do they ever mention it well, because well, now you you could have checked for their house. They're like, we don't care what you do, right. I was just gonna say, like, I mean, my mom one time. One time she was like,

you're gonna go back and get your degree? Right? And I was like, I was like, Mom, you really want me to finish my degree or you want to keep paying for your ship? And she was like, okay, okay never. But the thing about it is I knew they kind of I think at the at the end of the day, you know, Asian parents, even though like you know, traditionally they want you to be like a doctor or or or finished school, at least, I think they just really want you to um have security, you know what I'm saying.

They want to make sure I'm taken care of. And I think once they realized that it was it was legit and it was really something I was like making money off of and I could live off of, then then they took it seriously. You know, all parents kind of bragged to their friends about what their kids do, right, and then, um, I remember my dad used to be like, oh, you know my son he made using this and this and that, and he also does these little like videos

of his friends. Right. But then I remember one day he was like, yeah, you know my son's things on YouTube. I'm like, okay, okay, he gets it, he gets it down. He was like, I've got a little a little portionate for you. I got some green onions on there, just just just to have them. I feel like little peanuts should be at the top of this. Yeah, that would be nice. And how you like these? Look at that? This is looking official. I feel like I should just take a couple, take all you a little you know

what I'm saying. I feel like I should have a phone on this set and just be able to take pictures of the dish because some of these are played. And look how nice it's played. Yall can't see this, but it's played it really good. It's played it really great. Guys. This looks delicious And it didn't take long to make, no, not at all, you know, instant, and this this was really affordable to I mean, like a couple of bucks. I mean, you know when you're broke, yea do what

you got? This is good broke eating, though, what did you get the first bite? Everyone's doing that. You take the first bite. It's hot, It's extremely hot. Was there ever a point in your career where you felt like you weren't gonna make it or like, was there like a hurdle that you thought I may have may need to do a U turn you know what? Um? Oh you can, you can. Really. There's a lot of peanut

butter like that not bad, right. The flavoring on this is like restaurant quality, Like I would I would totally pay like twenty dollars for this dish. And that's that's that's what that's what they do, gentrification of some instant noodles. And I was like, so what was that point? Mm hm, um, you know what he's his name right? Um. I've never felt discouraged like that because for me, I always looked

at it as just something I really had to work towards. Um. And if I ever like I'm still not where I want to be, you know, because I still feel like I have a lot of work to do still. Um and UM. I was never at a point where I felt like, Man, I'm not, I'm not. I'm not, I'm not like I'm failing at this right because I felt like as long as I kept making baby steps towards what I was doing, then I was I was going

in the right direction, you know. So I feel like as long as I just keep working and keep running, I was gonna be all right. You know, what would you say, is the hardest milestone you've had to hit in your career so far? Mm hmm. I feel like, you know, I think that, um, a lot of people will get discouraged just when you get like rejected, right when you're going on auditions and you don't get the

part that you wanted. Like I've I literally had like five different movies that were supposed to be like built around me, Like people like all right, we going to India, we shoot this movie. Um, we got this movie. Oh J Cole is gonna be in there. You we wouldn't want to want you, like multiple different projects that have

just feel it away and fell flat. You know, I think, you know, when you're younger, you know, I got a lot of people of course like me, like especially with me doing the wrap stuff as well, like you know, people would start they would they would be be laughing before I even started wrapping, you know, especially like when I was younger, younger, what is this be trying to wrap and then um? But I think it's like you can't let stuff like that keep you from going after

what you want. You know, there's always gonna be somebody like talking ship or or making you feel stupid or make you um, we're telling you that, like you're you. You can't do it, you know what I'm saying. So it's like, what what's the point? I feel like life is too short to worry about what other people think

about you what you want. When I see people like yourself or Cardi B or people that like transcend, like you know, go against the norm or the tradition, there's a certain level of value and appreciation because by you doing that, you just opened a door cracked in a window for someone else to come through. So I do

know what you're talking about. Like when they were like at one point, remember like if you saw an Asian character was just karate or and there were these very small, you know, roles similar to like you know what blacks had to go through too. But when you're able to

break through that bearer. It's like, did you have anybody ever approached you like dude if it wasn't for you, Yeah, I mean I definitely, you know, especially since in the beginning of my YouTube videos, I was giving a lot of relationship advice to like teenagers, and I feel like it was a lot of young Asian dudes who had no type of role model, where didn't really have anybody they could talk to that we're writing me letters and asked me for advice just on how to be confident,

how to approach girls, whatever, whatever. So I get a lot of kids that come up to me like, yo, man, started watching you when I was in junior high I just graduated college. You help me get through high school. So that's that's dope for me because the main reason I got into it was because I didn't see anybody that looked like me that I could look up to,

you know. And and my old stage named Timothy Day I get it was actually from an old episode of The Fresh Prince because I was a big like Fresh Prince fan, and I remember watching The Fresh Prince and and there was an episode where Carlton's tucks like shrank at the cleaners or whatever, so he needed another tuck to go to dance. We had to get a last minute like they do little corny tucks, right, And there was this group of nerds that walked up and one

nerd Asian dude, was like, hey, Carlton, nice tucks. And I remember thinking, damn, this is the first time I've ever seen an Asian dude on The Fresh Prince or even on TV like ever. And I remember thinking like, if this is how the rest of the world, like, if you don't know any Asian people and you just love The Fresh Prince, this is the first time you

see Asian dude. This is your only perception Asian dudes, right, And I just remember thinking like, man, that that's not me and that's not like anybody I know, and I need to get out there and just rep for my people, you know. So yeah, pretty awesome. Why did you decide

to like switch your name back? You know it? It was a combination of things, like the quarantine kind of had me like thinking about life right and thinking about like I was like, yo, if I if I got Corona and died like right now, like I don't know if I want people to remember me, but it's like YouTube name. I can't you know, like and in the in the grand scheme of things, if I see myself like accepting awards and getting like Academy awards and stuff,

I don't want to be like, oh, what's um. You know, this is my my silly name, my internet name. Timilarly they like get know. I was like, let me, let me um. I was thinking about just like my legacy as a person, and if my whole m O also is to make Asian dudes proud, let me fully embrace my long ass tie last name because you know, Originally, like you kind of think I need a Hollywood name because like Hollywood is not gonna be able to pronounce my name right. But then I was like, man, if

Arnold Schwartzenegger can can be very good. Yeah. I'm like, if I actually see myself being at the at the level that I want to be, then people will have to know my name. So I was like, okay, let me, let me, let me change it up, go back to my my government name, and you know, not only like um, just have a more like professional down the name, but also like you know, represent from my people and you know, for my dad and uh, and just kind of like fully be to that. Yeah, yeah, it sounds sounds good.

So I know you're like a foodie just like myself. But you did something that I thought was pretty kind of so it was kind of questionable. I couldn't even watch it fully. But you think I know what I'm don't want to say, all right, you guess it. You're talking about when I when I eat my wife's place. Yes, I was just like a part of me would feel like, man, this man loves me, but another part of me is like, yo, if we were in a desert island, he would maybe

eat what. That's the thing about it is. I didn't do it out of love for her at all. I just wanted to do it. So but it was like, how do you tell the hospital? Hey, by the way, can you put that placenta in a free success? I'd like to take it home and cook it, I asked. Beforehand. I was like, what if I want to take this placenza? How you guys feel about that? Because the placensa just gets thrown away, um if no one wants it. But it looks like a steak like so I thought placensa

was like a liquid in a tube or something. Placensa is and it's in there right now, You've got one in there. It's an organ that develops while you're pregnant, you know, to help be the baby, but also suck out like bad. Uh yeah all right, And it's like it basically looks like a pancake organ situation. And so after you give birth, you're gonna push that out. And the hospital just was like, yeah, you can take it. You gotta bring your own cooler. So I bought a

little Eglu cooler and can I have some ice? So if one of the ladies, the nurse ladies brought me some ice, um putting the cooler, and then they put the placens in a little plastic bag for me not doing the cool So like while she was pushing, you were like, hey, don't waste that. Make sure you don't get the ground. So behind the scenes that have to dig and while out you guys all have to write your own or do you guys? You battle it out

and then you go to the stage. Now know what happens is, Um, what happens is they'll kind of they'll tell you who's done to be on the next the other team and some people, I mean some people definitely go in like you know, like with some jokes. Ready, um, I'll have a couple of jokes in the back of

my mind sometimes. But if anything, you know, right before we shoot the wild style, which is where we actually battle, um, you know, you kind of are just like looking up and down everybody on that team, like, all right, who who? What can I say about this person? And sometimes people mess up and they'll come up to me and be like, hey, I got bars for you I had. I'm like cool. I'm like, all all right, cool, and you might hit him like because then I'm like, all right, I know

what I'm about to say. I'm like, okay, okay, let me look at his fit, let me look at his hair, alright, alright, alright. You know, so if someone was trying to be in your position, you know, going from eating wall broke literally and becoming the best chef eating wall broke, that's main be my favorite dish on the show, ah to getting to your seat and your position and the entertainment business

and breaking tradition. What advice would you give them? I look at it like this, Oh you want to hear something? You want to hear some something cool. Yea. So people all ask me, they're like, yo, how does it feel? How do you feel to be living your dream? Right?

And I always tell them like, because the things that I never looked at what I do as a dream, right because I feel like a dream is something that seems real, like a little far away, like not real, you know what I'm saying, Like a dream is like I'm flying, yeah, And I never looked at it like that. I look at my goals more like a destination, right, because a destination is something you know is there. You just gotta keep on heading towards it, you know what

I'm saying. Like, and you might not you might not go the same way you thought you had to go, like, you might have to pivot and go take different um detours, but if you keep on moving forward towards that destination, you'll get there. So that's how yeah, right, you just come up with that, you know, I've been saying that

for years. So yeah, So I always tell people like, you gotta look at your goals as a destination, not a not a dream, because a dream is like unrealistic, but it's there for as long as you keep working towards it. You'll get there, you know. So how long was your road trip to your destination? Would you say, Man, you don't I feel like I'm still I'm still on

the journey. Yeah, I'm just like still on the road trip, still on the road trip, and I'm enjoying the ride, and it's come with its um fun pit stops, you know what I'm saying, Like, I'm just continuing the road trip and and I'm still I feel like, you know, I still got work to do as far as like where I want to be, but you know you can do it. And thank you so much for feeding me. You're welcome. Glad you like the second is taping stops. I'm gonna be surping this. You should have made more.

Damn we still got more here, well we could anyway. I'm Colleen Wet and this is Tim and you say your last name. I'm not getting made fun of h the wrong sue. You'll get it. I did it perfectly. Um on another episode of Eating Wall Broke, And I don't know what i'd call this dish, but I think the list justus would be it. Yeah, Eating wall Broke on a budget from making Thanks for more Eating Wall

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