An interview with food show co-host Harry Yuan
By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly
Harry Yuan and Bruce Aguirre
In an episode of Day of Gluttony, food and travel host Harry Yuan and co-host compadre Bruce Aguirre hit a particular city and dine at 24 restaurants in 24 hours. For our Thanksgiving issue, the Northwest Asian Weekly speaks with Harry about his Day of Gluttony in Seattle and he doles out tips for how we can work some travel and more gluttony into our lives.
How did the bromance between you and Bruce begin?
Yuan: Bruce and I are rock-climbing partners. When you are rock-climbing partners, with any rock-climbing partner, they’re more than just friends. They’re someone that you would trust with your life. We’ve gone through five continents with each other.
So is all the restaurant hopping really all done in 24 hours?
You have a lot of good food and two guys that are really determined to eat a lot of food in 24 hours and you can do it. I don’t recommend that people do the Day of Gluttony challenge at all. It’s not really a huge secret. I have some digestive enzymes that I take so there are some supplementations that we use.
The alcohol at 4 o’clock in the afternoon is really helpful for not realizing that you’re full and we try to pace ourselves. Ultimately, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Have you ever had to eat food that you generally did not prefer?
Bruce and I both have very adventurous palates so we are willing to eat just about anything. I’ve definitely had to eat things that I knew wouldn’t sit well with me. I’m poorly adaptive to chickpeas so if I eat chickpeas, I’m in pain from eating it.
What other challenges do you face having to shoot within a 24-hour cycle?
One of the things we don’t explain to everyone is how difficult it is to hit 24 restaurants in 24 hours. I would argue that it isn’t the feat of eating at 24 places that is difficult, but it’s finding 24 places to eat at that are up to the standards of what you’re trying to represent as a show that are willing to let you shoot there.
What do you feel like were the most memorable stops for you in Seattle?
Seattle was a really fun episode. Bruce was extremely impressed with Seattle. He loves seafood. I do too, but not as much as Bruce. All the seafood in Seattle was so amazing. I can’t really say that I have boatloads of favorites because all of it was awesome.
What are some memorable moments from the show that didn’t make it on camera?
One of the moments I wish we could have captured on camera was right before Bruce and I went to Kedai Makan, we went two doors down to Montana Bar. Our crew didn’t arrive yet. We beat them there because we were on scooters. We ended up bumping into the owner of Barnacle who happened to be there. He was like, “Hey, let’s grab a drink if you’re not doing anything.” Bruce and I were dropping off our scooters at that location and we said, “Okay, screw it, let’s do it.” We actually did a 25th location. We went to Montana and had Kentucky Mules.
Being that this is for our Thanksgiving issue, what will you be eating for Thanksgiving?
I will be meeting Bruce in Thailand. I’ll be in Chiang Mai and we will be eating Thai food for Thanksgiving. (end)
For more information on Day of Gluttony, visit tastemade.lcom/shows/day-of-gluttony.
Tiffany Ran can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.