Clement Leung: Why Document a Bowl of Noodles? | The Other Stuff #37

internetVin (0:06)

What I'm going to show you is this is a structure. So we're starting with Instant Noodles.

Clement Leung (0:12)

Let's go.

internetVin (0:12)

Then we're going to talk about One Meal in the GTA.

Clement Leung (0:15)

Wow.

internetVin (0:16)

Then we're going to explore the GTA.

Clement Leung (0:18)

Yeah.

internetVin (0:19)

Then we're going to talk about Mark Wiens.

Clement Leung (0:21)

Oh, shoot. Yeah.

internetVin (0:22)

Then we're going to talk about Beyond the GTA, probably China. And then we're going to talk about what have we learned.

Clement Leung (0:29)

You've done your research. Yeah.

internetVin (0:31)

So do you want to add a card in here? Anything you want.

Clement Leung (0:36)

Good question.

internetVin (0:37)

You don't have to. You can roll with it.

Clement Leung (0:40)

Let's roll with it. Okay, cool.

internetVin (0:43)

And through the process, we can talk about whatever. Doesn't matter. We have this structure to come back to.

So we're at Instant Noodles.

Clement Leung (0:51)

Yeah.

internetVin (0:52)

Okay, you, your channel, I guess you kind of started posting videos online. Like you, it started with just you were eating random food.

Clement Leung (1:05)

Yeah. Right.

internetVin (1:06)

But then I guess you were also into Instant Noodles and then that's it. Like why?

Clement Leung (1:12)

Actually, the story starts before 2021 So 2021 was when I posted my first video ever. And that was of me eating pie, pie Toronto, the Thai food. And it's just because I've always wanted to do YouTube or something. Like I've always wanted to do something like this. I, if you look at my YouTube, it's Mark Wiens. Like I watch best food review show ever. I watch Anthony Bourdain, Mind of a Chef. These were like all my heroes or what I was obsessed with. So, I've been for years, I've wanted to do YouTube and I just never had the time. At least that was my excuse. But when TikTok came around, all you had to do was post a five second video online. And I was like, you know what? I'm so bored during the pandemic at home. I'm just going to point the camera at myself and film myself eating whatever. First, the first meal was pie. I ordered Uber Eats, ordered pie, Pak Krapow, one of my favorite dishes.

Didn't even edit it, just pushed it up. It's kind of like your story of just putting these mics on the table. That's why I was so happy about that. It was just post something.

It was like probably one of the happiest moments because...

internetVin (2:26)

Like posting that video?

Clement Leung (2:27)

Yeah, it was amazing. Like really?

internetVin (2:29)

Just posting the video of you eating the thing?

Clement Leung (2:30)

It was, yeah, because I was just, I don't know, maybe because I was just doing what my heroes were doing on YouTube. But my social media journey with InstaNoodle started before then, when I need to learn how to use Instagram. It sounds kind of silly, but working at Shopify, I was part of the Facebook team back then before meta was a thing. Then Instagram became a thing. Then I'm like, well, I should learn how to use Instagram.

So I just created an account for myself and I was like, well, I need to find something I have a passion for, and noodles was the thing. I'm just like...

internetVin (3:09)

You really like noodles?

Clement Leung (3:10)

I love noodles.

internetVin (3:12)

Like a lot?

Clement Leung (3:13)

So obsessed.

internetVin (3:15)

Seriously?

Clement Leung (3:16)

Yeah, yeah.

internetVin (3:16)

Have you tried a lot of different noodles?

Clement Leung (3:19)

Oh yeah, for sure. I've tried a lot of instant noodles. I've tried a lot of ramen. I've tried a lot of noodles from different cultures.

I think probably need to talk to a therapist about it, but probably it's because growing up, my parents would always make me noodles, noodles and soups. So there's a nostalgic element to it. So that's how the name Instant Noodles came about. And also because I can't afford to eat out all the time, I ate noodles a lot at home during a pandemic. And that's how the video started coming about. I just like ate instant noodles for breakfast. And yeah, then people started commenting saying, hey, you should try doing it like this. Like add an egg, add like peanut butter, add crazy things. And I said, peanut butter's crazy. Yeah. And then I just, they'll start going viral because I didn't know it, but there was like a huge ramen culture out there. And I guess everyone's trying to figure out how to level out the ramen. So that's how I kind of like gained traction was being the ramen guy.