While watching the Hong Kong episode of Bizarre Foods the other night, we saw a segment where Andrew Zimmern went to shoot a Hong Kong-style Kung Fu fight scene, and the introduction for that segment included a few seconds from a movie called Kung Fu Chefs. We were instantly intrigued and I just had to go look it up, and like everything else that has ever graced a screen somewhere in the world, it was on YouTube.
The movie, made in 2009 and starring famous Kung Fu movie star Sammo Hung, is basically a blend of Iron Chef (which we love), old-school Kung Fu flicks, and The Karate Kid. It comes complete with a cooking competition in a knockoff of Kitchen Stadium, a main character named Ken’ichi (which had us wondering if this should be called The Chen Ken’ichi Story), a culinary version of Mr. Miyagi, and ridiculously elaborate food preparation. It’s an over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek parody of the Kung Fu movie genre and a send-up of how seriously some people take food.
The plot focuses on … well, actually the plot doesn’t matter. What matters is that the first scene of the movie has chef Sammo Hung slicing his way through a whole pig carcass with just one cut using the Dragon’s Head Blade — a family heirloom whose use must be preceded by the offering of incense to the ancestors — and then getting into a scrum with five guys wielding Chinese cleavers when he finds out someone had sabotaged his pork. The movie pretty much leaves all traces of reality behind at that point — and we’re not even at the opening credits yet — so just strap yourself in for some cheesed-out fun, over-the-top acting, and shots of drool-inducing culinary creations.
Here’s the movie on YouTube in 10 parts. It’s in Cantonese with English subtitles. If you have a really fast Internet connection, you can see it as a higher-quality file here, in Mandarin with English subtitles.