The Asian American Association of Time Warner discussion panel

On May 13, I was invited by The Asian American Association of Time Warner Inc., to join a roundtable discussion panel moderated by Cheryl Tan.

I was honored to be chosen as one of the 5 panelists. I was wondering when I got the invitation email, “How did they find me?” : )  Later I heard that one of the A3 members recommended inviting me. The other 4 Asian panelists are all successful chefs who have their own restaurants  in New York.

The other 4 panelists:
Simpson Wongs: chef/ owner
Pichet Ong: chef/owner/author
Lee Anne Wong: chef/ producer/culinary consultant
Eddie Huang: chef/owner/writer

We discussed recent trends in Asian dining and the impact of new media on the Asian food business and dining experience.

I said, “My website maangchi.com is totally new media based! When I uploaded my first recipe video spicy stir fried squid 3 years ago on YouTube, nobody knew my existence: My camera was not good quality, my editing skill was a little horrible, no cookbook, no promotion, and no website, but right after posting my video, I got a response immediately. My audience left questions and comments, and they cooked! I listened to them and I reacted to them. Without using new media maangchi.com would never have existed!”

I gave them an example to explain  how the relationship with my audience is direct. (I’d like to share this with all of you because it’s a funny but cool story.)

One day, I read a comment on YouTube on Saturday morning, “Maangchi, I’m going to a Korean grocery store soon by my car that takes about  2 hours! I love to make this dish.  I will let you know how this dish turns out”  The comment was 5 minutes old.

I was supposed to upload a new recipe in a few hours on the day. I replied, “Wait wait, I’m going to upload a new video in a few hours. You might be interested in making the new dish, too.  If so, you may have to get different ingredients.”

Then a few minutes later, the commenter left another message, “Oh, thank you very much, I’ll wait until you post the new video.”

1 day later, he (or she) left another comment, “Maangchi, yes, I got more ingredients for the new recipe after watching your new video! Thank you..”

(btw if you are the commenter, please email me to let me know which recipe video was, then I will update this blog with your name.)

I felt thrilled when I communicated with the commenter. It was so quick and  direct, wasn’t it?

I met some of my readers after the panel discussion. You know how happy I am when I hear that they are my readers? I feel I have known them for a long time! I have some more photos of readers that I met at the event – if you’re reading this, please email me, then I will send the photos to you.

Harry and me