Eddie Huang | |
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 Huang in 2015 | |
| Born | Edwyn Charles Huang (1982-03-01)March 1, 1982 (age 43) Fairfax, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | University of Pittsburgh Rollins College (BA) Yeshiva University (JD) |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Known for | BaoHaus (Manhattan restaurant) Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir Fresh Off the Boat Huang's World |
| Spouse | Shia Blanca |
| Children | 1 |
| Eddie Huang | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 黃頤銘 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 黄颐铭 | ||||||
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Edwyn Charles Huang (born March 1, 1982)[1] is an American author, chef, restaurateur, food personality, producer, and former attorney.[2][3] He was a co-owner of BaoHaus, agua bao restaurant in theEast Village ofLower Manhattan.[4] Huang previously hostedHuang's World forViceland. His autobiography,Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir, was adapted into theABC sitcomFresh Off the Boat, of which he narrated the first season.
Huang was born inFairfax, Virginia, to Jessica and Louis Huang, who were immigrants fromTaiwan.[5] They were both Taiwanesewaishengren; theancestral homes of his father and mother were in theHunan andShandong provinces ofmainland China, respectively.[6] Huang was raised inSilver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.,[7] then moved toOrlando, Florida, where his father owned a successful group of steak and seafood restaurants, including Atlantic Bay Seafood and Grill and Cattleman's Ranch Steakhouse.[8] He appreciatedAfrican-American culture, especiallyhip-hop, at a young age.[8] He also frequently got into fights, getting arrested at least twice on assault charges while growing up.[9]
Huang attendedDr. Phillips High School in Orlando. He also went on to attend theUniversity of Pittsburgh andRollins College,[10] graduating with a B.A. in English and Film from Rollins in 2004. At Rollins, he also won the Barbara Lawrence Alfond English Award and theZora Neale Hurston Award, and was Sports and Humor editor for the school paper,The Sandspur. In 2008, Huang earned aJ.D. from theBenjamin N. Cardozo School of Law atYeshiva University. At Cardozo, Huang worked at theInnocence Project, served as President of the Minority Law Students Association and as Vice President of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, and also won aNew York City Bar Association Minority Fellowship in 2006.[11][12]
After graduating from law school, Huang worked as a corporate attorney at the law firmChadbourne & Parke inNew York City. He worked as a summer associate in 2006 and 2007, then was hired as an associate in the firm's corporate department in 2008. Within a year, due to thefinancial crisis of 2007–08, Huang was laid off, and began working as astand-up comic andmarijuana dealer.[13]
From 2006 to 2009, Huang ran a streetwear company called "Hoodman Clothing," initially called "Bergdorf Hoodman."[14][15] At Hoodman, Huang co-createdclothing designs with Art Director Ning Juang, agraphic designer whom he had met in Taiwan.[16]
Huang was also interested in food as he had grown up watching his mother cook at home. He also learned cooking techniques from various chefs of different cultural backgrounds and cuisine styles that worked at his father's restaurants. He learned management and how to be a goodexpeditor. Working as an expeditor was a skill he learned from his father.[17] In 2011, Huang was named to the Chow 13, a list of influential people in food presented annually by Chow.com.[18][19]
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In December 2009, Huang opened BaoHaus, aTaiwanesebun (刈包) shop, in theLower East Side section ofLower Manhattan.[20] In July 2011, he relocated his first shop to 238East 14th Street in theEast Village with an expanded menu.[21] In October 2020, Huang announced the permanent closure of BaoHaus.[22] Prior to shutting down, the restaurant had been praised byTimeOut for cheap pricing and unique menu items.[23]
Another restaurant, Xiao Ye, was less successful and closed after poor reviews and controversy over its sales ofFour Loko.[24]Sam Sifton, a reviewer forThe New York Times, awarded the restaurant zero (out of four) stars, and wrote that "if Mr. Huang spent even a third of the time cooking that he does writing funny blog posts and wry Twitter updates, posting hip-hop videos and responding to Internet friends, rivals, critics and customers, Xiao Ye might be one of the more interesting restaurants to open inNew York City in the last few months."[25]
Huang created the blog calledFresh Off the Boat and later publisheda memoir with Random House by the same name.[26]Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir was released in early 2013, receiving favorable reviews fromPublishers Weekly[27] andThe New York Times.[28]
Double Cup Love: On the Trail of Family, Food, and Broken Hearts in China was published in 2016.
Huang hostedCheap Bites on theCooking Channel at the end of 2011 and also appeared on several episodes ofUnique Eats before leaving the Cooking Channel forViceland, where he hosted a recurring segment, also calledFresh Off the Boat, which was later developed into an hour-long show and renamedHuang's World. In 2014, Huang was the host ofSnack Off onMTV. The show featured Huang, mentoring contestants participating in challenges that determine who can whip up the tastiest treats using random ingredients like fish sticks, canned oysters, chocolate and much more.[8][29]
In 2014, ABC ordered a television series based on his book, also titledFresh Off the Boat, starringRandall Park andConstance Wu, withHudson Yang playing Eddie.[30] The show debuted with two preview episodes on February 4, 2015, and premiered in itsprime time slot on February 10, 2015.[31] Huang narrated every episode of the first season, but left the show prior to the second season.[32]
Huang was outspoken in his criticism of the development process of the show, writing a lengthy essay about his concern that his vision for the show was compromised.[33][34] Huang has said that he doesn’t like the show, because he thinks that the storyline after the pilot episode is not what he wrote in his memoir.[35] He has said that he mostly avoids watching it, though he admits there were two exceptions he tuned into: The episode with a DMX cameo in which he appreciated the interactions between DMX and young Eddie, which he talks about in his book, “Double Cup Love”. He also admits tuning for a few minutes to the episode where the family visits Taiwan, but didn’t like it.[36]
In August 2019, it was announced Huang would direct and writeBoogie, a coming-of-age movie about a young Chinese-American basketball player's rise to prominence, starringTaylor Takahashi,Pamelyn Chee,Jorge Lendeborg Jr.,Mike Moh,Dave East,Pop Smoke, Perry Yung, Alexa Mareka andTaylour Paige, withFocus Features distributing.[37][38][39][40] Huang wrote the screenplay in five days with no plan or outline, incorporating the themes that have defined his life such as basketball, feeling adrift in a country where he has always been in a minority, and domestic abuse.[41]
Huang drew criticism in May 2015 for comments he made about black women during an interview onReal Time With Bill Maher. He said, "I feel like Asian men have been emasculated so much in America that we're basically treated like black women." Later he engaged in aTwitter exchange on his account @MrEddieHuang with @BlackGirlDanger where he defended his comments, which were called "misogynoir". Huang then tweeted "are we dating cause you wildin. lol" and proceeded to make romantic advances towards her.[42][43] The comment is intended to shine light on the racism experienced by both Black women and Asian men in dating, where Huang calls out the similarities in racial experiences between Black women and Asian men, where Black women are often (incorrectly) portrayed as overly masculine and Asian men as (also incorrectly) overly feminine.[citation needed]
Huang has also drawn criticism for his appropriation of African-American culture.[44] Huang has stated: "I’ve devoted myself to speaking about people owning their own cultures that they’ve created, that they came over with, and educating people about the foundational values in culture."[45] InThe New York Times, Joshua David Stein described Huang as "a walking mixtape of postmodern cultural appropriation."[46] InNew Bloom magazine, Brian Hioe wrote that Huang exhibits "misogynistic language and attitudes," non-conventional English speech and dress, and experiences with police that indicate an "adoption of a hip hop influenced persona". In which Asian Americans have been a part of the Hip Hop community sinceFresh Kid Ice of2 Live Crew fame.[47]
In late February 2025, Huang was involved in an incident in his New York City apartment building with Matt Sauerhoff, a celebrity trainer and former actor who is the founder and CEO of the personal training business The LIV Method. The encounter began outside the building when Huang and his dog were allegedly knocked off of a bench by an unleashed dog owned by Sauerhoff. Huang asked Sauerhoff to leash his dog, but Sauerhoff refused, and ended up enraged at Huang. Both men and their dogs then went inside to the lobby of their building, and Huang began filming Sauerhoff as he went on a long tirade. Sauerhoff attempted to have Huang thrown out of the building and yelled “Get the f— off the private property, get the f— out of here!” Sauerhoff also shouted out “This guy’s got a f—ing problem. This guy started with me. F—you! Suck a d—, dude. F— off!” New York City law requires that dogs be leashed in public places and Huang reported Sauerhoff for keeping his dog off of leash. Huang also demanded an apology from Sauerhoff, which Sauerhoff has also refused as of February 27, 2025.[48][49] Following the incident, Sauerhoff made hisInstagram account private, due to major backlash.[citation needed]
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