Drag Queen Kim Chi’s Upcoming Cookbook Takes Readers On a World Tour

She’s always had an appetite, but ever since she was introduced to the world on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Kim Chi has truly been eating. The drag artist has partnered with Chipotle and Trejo’s Donuts, and made Korean-inspired edibles. She’s launched a podcast about food and so much more with chef Jon Kung. She’s shown us what to eat around the world while on her many drag tours, and how to enjoy it without ruining your makeup.

But when the COVID pandemic struck, like the rest of us, she found herself stuck in her kitchen — which is how she found herself writing a cookbook. “It was the first time in years that I actually had time to cook, and, as dramatic as it sounds, it was life-changing,” she writes in Kim Chi Eats The World, set to be published on October 7 from Union Square & Co. “I started writing down my ideas, inspirations, and recipes so I would be able to take myself everywhere without going anywhere whenever I felt like it. I didn’t know it then, but those notes were the beginning of this book.”

Kim Chi Eats The World is an international tour of flavor. Broken down by region, Kim Chi includes recipes for humble chicken soup made from Costco rotisserie chicken, Canadian ketchup chips, Spanish paella pulled off in a rice cooker, Thai moo ping, and her mom’s bibim-guksu.

As she explains it, her love of both food and drag revolve around taking inspiration from here and there and making it into your own thing. “When I’m in the kitchen, I like my cooking the way I like my drag: bold, colorful, and always with a touch of humor, because whether I’m serving up a lqqk or a whole meal, I always want it to be full of flavor, personality, and heart,” she writes. We talked to Kim Chi about her journey into cookbook writing, getting people to cook the world, and why every girlie needs a nonstick pan.

Jaya Saxena: As you write, food has been a huge part of your career. What made you want to add cookbook author to the resume?

Kim Chi: Obviously, food is one of my biggest passions, the love of my life. It’s a really easy way to share your culture and your experiences with other people. I’ve always been curious about new flavors, and when I travel, I like going to as many different places as possible to try out new dishes. So, I got the idea to write about all these global cuisines that people might not be familiar with, and how to easily recreate those in an American kitchen.

I do love how much of this book really feels like a travel memoir. I’m curious how you kept track of everything you ate, on top of having to perform and hop on planes every other day.

Not to be so Asian about it, but I take photos of everything I eat. Even when I make something really simple at home with just rice and eggs, I’ll take a photo of it. While writing the book, I had all these records, and I broke them down from region to region, with the dishes that were memorable from those places.

You have a lot of recipes in here for things I’d never think to make myself, like Canadian Ketchup Chips. Especially considering your goal of keeping American kitchens in mind, how did you decide what you wanted to include?

I wanted to pay tribute to the dishes and the recipes that I fell in love with. This book was a way to say, “If you’ve never had them, try this recipe, and maybe you’ll love it too.” With ketchup chips, I always bring those back for my friends here in the States. And everybody is weird about at first, which I think it’s crazy, because potatoes and ketchup is not a crazy concept, right? America’s like, we put ketchup on everything. But everybody eats it and thinks they’re the best chips ever. So then it got to a point where my friends from Canada will visit and bring back suitcases of ketchup chips, and I don’t need this many chips! So I tried to make it at home, so then I can just sprinkle it on something whenever I crave it.

What are some cookbooks or creators that inspired you while writing?

Obviously, Jon Kung; all his content is amazing. My friend Khushbu (Shah). We went to high school together, and when she was developing her cookbook, she’d bring me some of her recipes to taste. Chef Ronnie Woo and Pete Duong. I also love this one food content creator, Saeng. He does Lao cuisine, and that’s something I didn’t know too much about. I love to see people talk about food from their cultures. Or, just moms making food for their children. There’s this account, Cooking with Shereen. She’s just this fabulous mom with the craziest kitchen that I’ve seen. There’s a flour drawer.

Union Square & Co.

You’re cooking from all these countries and cuisines. How do you feel you got your own point of view across?

Growing up, I mostly ate Korean food in my household. Whenever I went to school, I had American school lunch, basically pizza or a Styrofoam-like burger, which was such a culture shock to me because Korean cuisine had all these vegetables, and American food was super processed. I just thought, There’s got to be something else out there in the world.

And then, my friend was like, “Let’s go to the Indian buffet.” I’d never had Indian food. But we went, and I tasted flavors and textures that I didn’t know existed. I wanted to see what else was out there. So, I saved my allowance to go to different “ethnic” restaurants in my small hometown in Lansing, Michigan. Next was Ethiopian food, and then after that, Vietnamese and Thai. So, it’s really about my love for global cuisine.

You write about the intersection of drag and food, and what bringing a drag sensibility to the cookbook and these recipes means. Why do you think they go together?

Food is very personal to everybody. Everybody has an opinion on food. It’s nourishing, it’s health, but it can also be harmful. It’s the same with drag. Drag is an art form that feels personal to a lot of people. Especially for performers, it’s how we choose to nourish ourselves and present ourselves to the world. So, it really feels like it goes hand in hand.

Is there a part of the book or a recipe that was particularly difficult for you to write or develop?

The hardest part was trying not to dumb down any recipes. A lot of the recipes were made to be easily recreated in an American kitchen. But sometimes, when the ingredients were too specific, like a fish paste from a specific country that most Americans might not have access to, I had to find a way to recreate those flavors without feeling like I’m dumbing it down. But I think it came together beautifully.

Union Square Co.

Are there any recipes you’re particularly excited to have in there?

It’s very simple, but I think Anchovy Spaghetti, because I feel like a lot of Americans are still very scared of canned fish. When used correctly, it can add so much flavor, and it’s a pretty cheap ingredient. I’m always excited to showcase canned fish.

What are the pantry staples or kitchen appliances you can’t live without?

I have my stainless steel pan and my enamel pots. I feel like, just to make your life easier, you should have a nonstick pan for frying eggs. Of course, you can cook eggs in a cast iron skillet, but preheating and then making sure it’s the right temperature — just cook the eggs in a nonstick, it’ll make your life so much easier. Especially for the girls on the go.

I also love vinegar. I feel like vinegar is just an easy way to add flavor to things. If my soup is a little boring? Just a little splash of vinegar. Or, my stir fry is missing that little je ne sais quoi? A little vinegar, you know? I like rice wine vinegar, or black vinegar for stir fries.

Given your love of different cuisines, are there any new-to-you things you’ve had recently?

I just tried Uyghur cuisine for the first time, which is very delicious. A lot of lamb, and so juicy. One of my favorite cuisines is Szechuan cuisine. I love the numbing spices, and even though it’s spicy, it feels like a very nuanced type of spicy. Because nowadays, the trend is just like the spicy noodle challenge, or something. So many things feel chemically spicy, and there’s not enough flavor behind it.

You need to restart the Kim Chi Eats account!

I should revive it. I loved posting everything I ordered. But then, I was getting, like [rolls eyes] fat-shamed. I’m very excited for people just to see the book. I think all the recipes are phenomenal, and I think all the photos look so good. I’m nervous as someone in the LGBTQIA+ community during this political regime, releasing anything like LGBT-related. But this is a fun cookbook, I just want people to see it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.