Aucklander Albert Cho posts hilarious and extremely honest food reviews – with beautiful photos – on the Instagram account @eatlitfood.
In the new memoir I Love My Stupid Life he shares his life story through food stories, including recovery from an eating disorder and becoming the target of "bland Kiwi racism" after a bagel shop review.
Photo: Supplied / CLARA-JANE FOLLAS
Cho, now 25, began @eatlitfood in 2018 as a way to reconnect with food after struggling with an eating disorder while modelling in South Korea.
"During my modelling career I had to diet quite viciously… and my relationship with food was kind of nonexistent."
To overcome his fear of eating, Cho made a commitment to "eating lit food" at restaurants and blogging about it.
At first, it was just friends checking out his reviews, but then Auckland chefs started sharing his posts on Instagram.
Albert came to the attention of the greater New Zealand public - and the target of "bland Kiwi racism" - after posting an unfavourable review of a popular Auckland bagel shop.
Newshub picked up the subsequent online feud and Cho felt he was painted as a villain: "People were saying 'stick to reviewing noodles and dumplings' and 'go back to Korea'."
He says the experience taught him how fickle social media can be and confirmed his disbelief in cancel culture.
"When I mess up, no one genuinely cares. They just want something to talk about and in 24 hours they're gonna talk about a new thing.
"Our world is gonna go down under if we don't allow people to make mistakes and learn from them and grow.
"Now I just do me. That's the best way to deal with it."
The Cooney Hooney - aka a peanut slab melted inside a mince pie Photo: Albert Cho / YouTube
In 2019, an @eatlitfood post about a peanut slab-mince pie combo - that "kind of just tasted like a satay pie" - also got Cho some serious attention.
The idea came from his one-time colleague Margie Cooney so he named the creation 'The Cooney Hooney'.
"[Radio host] Mike Hosking almost vomited on-air eating it. That was a real moment when I was like 'I made it. I almost made Mike Hosking vomit."
At the other end of the spectrum, Cho loves "chic food" such as that served at Auckland restaurants Candela and Alpha.
He says a fun atmosphere is also essential.
"I want dinner to lead to something else. I want it to be the starting point for a massive bender… you look at the person you're dining with and connect and go 'you know what, tonight is gonna be huge. And let's call everyone we know to come to this restaurant'."
While he still loves a night out, Cho says he was "going down a really bad spiral" before the Covid-19 lockdowns changed his course.
"Being forced to stay home was the only thing that kept me sane and from doing anything stupid.
"It was a real wake-up call for me of 'I need to do something with my life, my stupid life."
Cho had been estranged from his "very old-fashioned traditional Korean Catholic" parents before Covid-19 arrived – after they'd found out he was gay from an online video.
When the world was thrown into uncertainty, they invited him to move back in with them.
"It was a really telling moment. Even though we weren't on talking terms, when it came to our world going bust… they kind of just swept everything away and said 'you're our son, come live with us'."
After an awkward beginning, the family reconnected through planning and sharing meals together.
"That hour we sat together around the table, that really healed us as a family, every night."
In the book, Cho is quite honest that he hasn't fully 'recovered' from his eating disorder but now has a really good support system to keep him on track.
Since reading I Love My Stupid Life, his close friends and family have been worried about him but he says he's now comfortable with where he's at.
"Even though recovery for me will be a neverending process I am at a point where I can be honest and talk about it freely."
Cho says he's now okay with not being a traditional food writer and not always being 'cool'.
"I've recently come to terms with the fact that Albert, you're not cooler than anybody else, you're a bloody influencer. And you have to be comfortable with that. Stop being elitist. You're a food influencer. And that's fine, that's totally fine."
