NEWPORT, R.I. — Growing up, he watched his parents, both immigrants from China, work grueling hours while running a takeout restaurant in Manchester, N.H. Everything about the business, they told him, was tough: the pay, the work, the competition, the challenges.
Basil Yu is now the owner and chef of Yagi Noodles in Newport (and was named a 2024 James Beard semifinalist for the Best Chef: Northeast award earlier this year). He chuckles when he talks about his parents’ warnings about the food industry. But now he’s witnessing one of those challenges himself.
This month, lawyers for Momofuku, a restaurant and food product empire founded by celebrity chef David Chang, sent sent cease-and-desist letters to small companies, in an attempt to stop them from marketing their jarred chili crisp the same way Momofuku does – as “chili crunch” or “chile crunch.”
“No one should be able to trademark an ancestral food item that is ingrained in a culture,” Yu told the Globe.
Chili crisp is an oil infused with hot peppers, fried garlic, and other ingredients. Each recipe varies, but many include sesame seeds, onions, soybeans, seaweed, peanuts, and shallots. They have a high ratio of solid ingredients to oil, and some say they used the word “crunch” to describe their own chili oil due to its thick texture. Chili crisp can also vary in color from bright orange to deep red, depending on the recipe.
Momofuku started selling jars of its own version, which they called chili crunch, in 2020. Now the company is now trying to trademark the two spellings of the product’s name with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Michelle Tew, the founder and CEO of Malaysian food brand Homiah, received one of those letters. When she opened it, it “felt like a punch in the gut.”
“I’ve always been a Momofuku fan and supporter,” Tew posted on LinkedIn. Her Homiah’s Sambal Chili Crunch was based on a family recipe that dated back generations and is a reflection of Nyonya heritage.
“I was shocked and disappointed that a well-known and respected player in the Asian food industry would legally threaten me – a one-woman show operating on a much smaller scale – from selling a product that is part of my family’s history and culture,” she wrote.
Some business owners and chefs encouraged their social media followers to toss their Momofuku products in the trash. Others urged people to buy the “original” version of commercial chili crisp, made by Lao Gan Ma, which was founded in 1984. Officials behind MìLà, another company that received a cease-and-desist letter from Momofuku, challenged Chang to a blind taste test of their versions of the condiment.
Yu said he has “a lot of appreciation” for Chang and Momofuku. The first cook book he owned was written by Chang, he said, and the restaurant has been influential, particularly in the ramen world.
“It helped bring Asian American cuisine and perspective to a wider audience,” said Yu.
But like Yu, many who once valued how Chang brought Asian American culture into the mainstream, found themselves disappointed in the legal letters.
Jing Gao, the founder and CEO of FLY BY JING (which calls its condiment “chili crisp,” so they did not receive a letter), said brands like hers “exist in a traditionally marginalized space” where investors and retailers are often told that their products are too “niche.”
On April 12, Chang publicly apologized on his podcast, The Dave Chang Show. On that same episode, Momofuku CEO Marguerite Mariscal said they wouldn’t enforce the trademark. Still, for many people, the damage had already been done.
The impact legal letters had “on the AAPI-owned businesses that he supports should have been considered before the public outcry. I hope they don’t forget their values and look deeper at what kind of consequences may result from their actions,” said Yu. “I feel like this will not be the end of the trademark wars.”
If you’re looking for alternatives to the Momofuku chili crunch in your pantry, we recommend trying two that are made right in Rhode Island.
Jayd Bun in South Kingstown makes their own, and you can buy it at their restaurant for less than $14. Joe Parisi, the co-owner of Jayd Bun, said it takes three hours to make their 20-ingredient chili crisp, starting with grinding chili peppers into powder. They often run out, and make a new batch each week.
Yu and his crew at Yagi Noodles spend hours making their chili crisp, and sell jars for $12 each at specialty food stores, including Utility in Middletown and Stock Culinary Goods in Providence. Their recipe includes gochugaru, sesame, ginger, garlic, shiitake mushrooms, and other spices that makes the condiment bomb of umami on your tastebuds.
Yu started selling jars of the condiment simply to meet customer demands. It had “started to have its own cult following,” said Yu’s wife and Yagi’s co-owner, Kodi Keith. “People would order chili crisp at the restaurant and then ask for extra to bring it home. We had to offer something more.”
Anything goes with chili crisp: Add it to a finished dish, or use it as an ingredient while you’re still cooking. Drench your noodles in it, drizzle it over dumplings, toss it with a stir fry, or eat it with some ice cream. A spoonful of it is amazing with scrambled eggs.
This story first appeared in The Globe Rhode Island Food Club, a free weekly email newsletter about Rhode Island food and dining. Already a member of the club? Check your inbox for more news, recipes, and features in the latest newsletter. Not a member yet? If you’d like to receive it via e-mail each Thursday, you can sign up here.
Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.