The universal language of tasty food blogger, YouTuber Mark Wiens

Wiens, who is of Thai and Chinese origin, decided one day to leave his former life behind and travel around the world.

By YOSSI YOSEF
FOOD BLOGGER Mark Wiens eats sabich in Tel Aviv. Below, a grandmother in Ashdod prepares huge vats of spicy Moroccan fish. (photo credit: Courtesy)
FOOD BLOGGER Mark Wiens eats sabich in Tel Aviv. Below, a grandmother in Ashdod prepares huge vats of spicy Moroccan fish.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Iran, seven o’clock a.m. A video shows a huge line of customers holding little pots they’ve brought from home so they can purchase a small portion of boiling hot and creamy sabzi, or Persian herb stew.
In the next video, there’s a rack of shwarma in Istanbul with dripping fat that sizzles every time it drops on the charcoals. It is just waiting to be stabbed with a skewer and cut into small precisely even bite-sized pieces.
In a third, a grandmother in Ashdod prepares huge vats of spicy Moroccan fish over a flame she’s kindled in the entrance of her building. You’ll find all of these scenes on food traveler Mark Wiens’s YouTube channel.
Wiens, who is of Thai and Chinese origin, decided one day to leave his former life behind and travel around the world. He’s documented himself tasting different foods in places all around the world on his vlog (video blog), viewed by his many followers. He loves filming himself tasting street food, eating at gourmet restaurants, cafés and ice cream stands. He seeks out places that are interesting and surprisingly different.
Wiens’s distinction among bloggers is his refreshing approach towards food. He has an unmatched ability to understand the elements of a dish after taking just one bite, and succeeds in transmitting this experience brilliantly to his viewers. He combines his reactions to the flavors and textures of the food with the surrounding noises and action at that moment, and presents it all in such a sweet, courteous and animated way that shows his respect and appreciation for the traditions of the person who prepared it.
Wiens started out as an amateur YouTube travel channel vlogger and over the years he’s become a leading food blogger with almost seven million subscribers and 1.5 billion views.
One of the reasons for Wiens’s incredible communicative talent is that he moved around the globe a lot when he was growing up. Wiens’ parents immigrated to the US before he was born. When he was five, his family moved to France and afterwards to the Congo and Kenya. When he was ready to go to college, he decided to return to  the US, to Arizona. After getting his diploma, Wiens set off once again to continue his explorations around the world, with special focus on the local cuisine of each place he visited.
He wasn’t interested in preparing food, but rather in tasting and writing about it. He began his food blog during his time in Thailand. From that point on, Wiens soon began traveling, writing and making videos of cuisines he would discover.
At the beginning of each of Wiens’s videos, he explains which city he’s in and what foods he will be tasting. Usually he travels to several different locations within a specific country.
He likes to focus on the large cities or areas that boast a special cuisine or particular dishes. Sometimes, you can watch as Wiens spontaneously approaches a street vendor and tastes foods he didn’t even know existed. Wiens’s most well-known trademarks are his animated and emotive facial expressions as well as his expressive body language that combine to illustrate his reaction and enjoyment of how the dish tastes. There’s no doubt that this guy is passionate.
One of the most interesting things about his approach is that Wiens tracks cuisine according to geographic location and notes how a dish subtly changes from one region to another. He talks about the consistency of ingredients and cooking traditions between nearby cities and discusses the differing flavors and colors. For example, he compares Pakistani and Indian cuisine, and also discusses the differences between Israeli and Palestinian dishes.
The most interesting video I saw was one Wiens made in Iran. The Persian dishes with which we are familiar here in Israel are really just one tiny niche within the range of Iranian cuisine.
In the chapter on his visit to Israel, Wiens interacts with food guide David Califa (The Hungry Tourist). He tasted sticky ice cream, delicious meat dishes and lots of other foods that left Wiens speechless. While in Iran he teams up with Mister Taster in order to uncover authentic Iranian cuisine.
Precisely due to the differences between the two countries, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the episodes he made in Israel and in Iran. In both, the people he filmed exuded great pride in their national cuisine and hospitality, and made no mention of politics. It really aroused my curiosity and I ended up watching many episodes of Wiens at exotic destinations.
Although many of the places that he recommended here in Israel are well-known to foodies, some of them were welcome surprises. Wiens’s YouTube channel does not have Hebrew subtitles, but watching his videos is a great way for Israelis to improve their English comprehension, especially when it comes to the universal language of food.
Translated by Hannah Hochner.


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