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January 24, 2025

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Credits: Patricia Ratulangi Vice President, Global Communications Nielsen

In recent years, food shows featuring Asian chefs and cuisines have seen a surge in popularity, capturing the attention of diverse audiences around the globe. This trend highlights the growing appetite for cultural representation and inclusivity in entertainment. As we celebrate Lunar New Year—a holiday deeply rooted in food traditions—it’s the perfect time to reflect on how Asian representation in food media resonates with viewers and drives mass viewership.

Food shows featuring Asian chefs and cuisines highlight cultural diversity, resonating with audiences and driving viewership, especially during Lunar New Year celebrations.
Food shows featuring Asian chefs and cuisines highlight cultural diversity, resonating with audiences and driving viewership, especially during Lunar New Year celebrations.

Food shows stand out as a medium where culture, tradition, and storytelling intersect seamlessly. Programs like Top Chef, which has featured contestants such as Melissa King and Hung Huynh, and The Great American Recipe, where home cooks celebrate diverse culinary heritages, showcase the rich variety of Asian cuisines and the personal narratives behind them. These stories invite viewers to connect with the cultural roots and contemporary adaptations of dishes they may have never experienced before.

2024 Viewing MinutesAsianTotal U.S.
Top Chef‎‎  ‎ 458.0 million5.7 billion
The Great American Recipe‎ ‎ ‎ 9.8 million84.5 million
Chrissy & Dave Dine Out‎‎  ‎ 9.2 million61.4 million
Dinner Time Live with David Chang‎ ‎ ‎ 67.4 million430.1 million
Source: Nielsen audience measurement: Jan 1 – Nov 30, 2024

Lunar New Year exemplifies the central role food plays in cultural celebration. From dumplings symbolizing wealth to fish representing prosperity, the holiday is a sensory feast steeped in meaning. By spotlighting Asian chefs and their innovative approaches to dishes that represent their heritage, food shows bridge the gap between cultural nuance and modern audiences. 

A Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) tray filled with traditional Vietnamese dishes for Lunar New Year, symbolizing happiness and peace.
A Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) tray filled with traditional Vietnamese dishes for Lunar New Year, symbolizing happiness and peace.

The success of Asian-centered food programming aligns with broader audience preferences for authenticity. Nielsen data reveals that 63% of viewers are more likely to support brands and content creators that authentically represent diverse communities. For mass audiences, this means a greater willingness to engage with shows that go beyond superficial portrayals and offer genuine insights into Asian culinary arts.

The viewership data highlights the significant appeal of food shows among both Asian audiences and the broader U.S. audience, underscroring the growing đemand for authentic, inclusive food shows that celebrate diverse cultures.

Nielsen Chart A
Nielsen Chart B

As Lunar New Year festivities fill homes with the aroma of traditional dishes, the increasing visibility of Asian representation in food shows reminds us of the universal power of food to connect people across cultures—one dish, one story at a time.

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Nanxi and Tina

News

Blaze.tech Launches and Raises $3.5 Million Pre-Seed Round for AI-Powered No-Code Software Development

LOS ANGELES, January 11, 2023 — Blaze.tech, the smarter no-code platform that’s revolutionizing the way teams build web apps and tools, announced its official launch and has raised a $3.5 million pre-seed round led by Flybridge Capital and MaC Venture Capital. The round also included participation from investors and unicorn founders in enterprise SaaS including Vlad Magdalin (CEO, Webflow), Mada Seghete (Co-founder, Branch), Mark Schopmeyer (Co-CEO, CaptivateIQ), ACTAI Ventures, Sangha Capital, and Bill Tai. This funding round will accelerate Blaze’s growing customer base, increase the platforms’ integrations, and expand its AI capabilities. 

Today’s public launch follows a successful beta phase in which Fortune 500 companies and startups used Blaze to build dashboards, HIPAA compliant apps, complex workflows, automated invoice generators, and inventory management systems all without writing any code. Because of Blaze’s emphasis on security and its robust suite of enterprise security features, the company has found popularity with organizations in highly regulated industries like healthcare, legal, construction, transportation and logistics, and finance.

With Blaze’s AI-powered no-code platform, teams are able to create and launch highly custom and secure applications and internal tools in minutes. Blaze gives non-technical people the superpower to be entrepreneurial product builders with an intuitive all-in-one drag-and-drop interface and AI system. Blaze AI is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3 model, the same one used by ChatGPT. App creators can tell Blaze AI to create complex workflows, automatic triggers, custom filters, advanced calculations, and more.

Blaze improves operations and productivity, and with pre-built integrations into Airtable, DocuSign, Freshdesk, Google Sheets, Salesforce, Stripe, Shopify, and many more tools, users can build multiple apps on top of their existing tech stack.

The no-code/low-code market is one of the fastest growing markets (from $25 Billion to $187 Billion in 2030), and Blaze’s unique positioning is enabling teams to build software with complexity, customizability, and security that otherwise would require writing code.

“We’re so excited to maximize the talents of people inside organizations by giving them the ability to solve business problems with software,” said Nanxi Liu, Co-CEO of Blaze. “We’re seeing individuals supercharge and significantly increase the efficiency of their team’s operations with Blaze.”

“Our users can implement their app’s business logic in just a few clicks because Blaze has done all the difficult work on the technical side to provide a platform that generates intuitive front-ends and secure, scalable back-ends,” said Tina Denuit-Wojcik, Co-CEO of Blaze.

“We are thrilled to support the Blaze team in their mission to create powerful tools and dashboards without the need for expensive engineering resources,” said Adrian Fenty, General Partner and Co-Founder of MaC Venture Capital. “Nanxi and Tina have the business acumen to be huge disruptors in the industry, and because they’ve experienced these challenges first-hand, we know Blaze is building a top-tier product.”

“Nanxi and Tina are exceptionally talented founders with deep insights into the needs of Blaze’s customer base. Having watched how well they led and capital efficiently managed their prior company to significant success, we were delighted to invest in this dynamic duo,” said Chip Hazard, General Partner and Co-Founder of Flybridge Capital.

Additional investors in the round include Dean Schnider (Partner, Najafi Companies), Felicia Curcuru (CEO of Binti), Holly Liu (Co-Founder, Kabam), Lin Capital, Michael Einziger (co-founder of the band Incubus), Mike Lu (co-founder of Triller), Root and Shoot Ventures, Socially Financed, and The K Fund.

About Blaze.tech

Blaze.tech is the smarter no-code platform that’s revolutionizing the way teams build web apps and tools. Blaze’s AI-powered platform improves operations and productivity by enabling non-technical people to build and launch custom software in minutes, without writing any code! From dashboards and workflows to portals and more, Blaze’s all-in-one-builder has pre-built integrations, security and reliability. 

Blaze is headquartered in Los Angeles and was founded in 2022. The founders, Nanxi Liu and Tina Denuit-Wojcik, previously founded Enplug, a leading digital signage software, which was acquired in 2021.

For more information, visit Blaze.tech.

Press Contact:

press@blaze.tech 

Press release documents here.

Image Source: Mila Supinskaya Glashchenko / Shutterstock

News

Indian-American’s Thriving Community Create A Positive Impact In North Texas

The rising population of Indian-Americans in North Texas is proving to be a strong force. Indian-Americans like Singh have permanently shaped North Texas’ cultural landscape in a variety of fields, including technology, education, and politics.

Tony Singh grew up with a father in the Indian Navy and moved every couple of years. Today, he’s settled in Little Elm, and even elected as councilman to serve his new neighborhood. Singh established initiatives to benefit Little Elm residents, while actively and regularly volunteering himself.

Most Indian-American employees work in only three industries: computer science and mathematics, management, and health care. Among all immigrants, Indian-Americans are the highest earners in the state. For this reason, Dinesh Hooda came to Texas in 2011 in search of employment.

Dinesh Hooda’s family had trouble adjusting until he attended India Association of North Texas’ Indian Independence Day. Through this, they established friends with Indian-Americans in North Texas who share similar experiences and struggles. Hooda is currently Uber’s senior technical program manager.

The fastest-growing ethnic group in the state is Asian, with Indian-Americans making up the majority of the group. Texas has the second-largest population of Indian Americans in the nation overall. This group will expand even more in the upcoming years, which could have a significant impact in the area. 

And while there are many struggles and difficulties to face as immigrants in the state, there are also lots of groups and communities willing to reach out to help one another and make each other feel welcome and at home.

Image Souce: olliecantos.com

News

Blind Filipino-American Civil Rights Attorney Gets Elected As West Covina City Council Member

Filipino-American Ollie Cantos, who was born with a visual impairment, is now taking his experience and knowledge to West Covina City Hall.

In 1997, he graduated from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles with a law degree. He served as a staff attorney at the Disability Rights Legal Center after graduating. He also held various roles as a civil rights attorney in the Washington, D.C. government before the coronavirus emerged.

Now, he is a sworn-in member of the West Covina city council and is looking forward to contributing back to his community, where he was raised by his Filipino immigrant parents.

“My excitement level is off the charts because this represents the culmination of a lot of hard work of countless people that got us here and when we look at the opportunities that are ahead of us to unite, and to be supportive of making the city better, this day is also historic,” Cantos said in an interview.

Cantos will collaborate with a fellow Filipino on the current city council, as Letty Lopez-Viado, the first Filipino-Mexican mayor of the city, was also elected unopposed in November. She was first elected to the city council in 2018 and served as mayor of the city from 2020 to 2021.

“Though he can’t see with his eyes, he sees with his heart,” Lopez-Viado said of Cantos as she got sworn in. “He’s a very intelligent, well-spoken gentleman, and I’m very excited to work with him.”

Image Source: Considered Objects

Stories

Japanese-American Designer Sara Sakanaka Revamps Vintage Kimonos Into Modern Clothing

Each of us has a unique way of imparting the memories, stories, and mementos we want to pass on to our future generations. As for 39-year-old Japanese-American designer Sara Sakanaka, the way is by incorporating ancient tales into modern clothing.

In her studio in Brooklyn, Sara preserves a little drawstring bag that her grandmother sewed for her decades ago. One of Sakanaka’s oldest mementos, this heirloom represents a long-standing ideology and was made from leftover fabric.

You will also find in her studio, folded stacks of rescued textiles waiting for her to stitch them into something new, exactly like her grandmother used to do as a hobby.

After her grandmother passed away, Sara began studying the kimonos she had inherited from her. She realized that giving these garments a second chance through reconstruction was a means of healing and re-establishing her identity and cultural roots.

Her initial creation was a classic, collared, button-down shirt. She embroidered a tiered patchwork flower fashioned from leftover silk scraps inside each garment she produced.

“There’s this whole idea that objects have lives,” she says in a Vogue interview. “I like to see every piece as a truly considered object in that way,” thus, naming her label as Considered Objects.

Considered Objects offers tapered silk slacks, oversized coats, two-toned vests, draped dresses, and hand-sewn accessories. Each item is made of recyclable materials, and within each garment is a silk scrap flower and a tag. Each shirt comes with a drawstring bag, a keepsake designed to be handed on like the one she inherited from her grandma.