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Chef David Chang says it's "foolish to want to be remembered when you die"

David Chang talks "Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner"
David Chang on new show, and why it's "foolish" to want to be remembered when you die 05:53

Award-winning chef David Chang doesn't want to be remembered when he dies. The founder of the acclaimed Momofuku restaurant group told "CBS This Morning" Tuesday if he's successful, people won't remember him.

"I think it's incredibly foolish to want to be remembered when you die," said Chang, who hosts a new Netflix series "Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner." 

"If I do my job, however it may be, if it's good enough, then it becomes commonplace. It's not remembered anymore. And that is through food, I think, and being a creative man, an Asian-American in this country. I think if I can help open doors in a way where other people can do it, like, it's a good thing. My job is successful if people don't remember me."

In his new show, Chang eats his way through different cities with celebrities including actor Seth Rogen, model Chrissy Teigen and actress Kate McKinnon. Each guest picks the city they will eat in and they try to shoot each episode, including three meals, in one day, Chang said.

"We just have good conversation and explore the city. And it's a sense of discovery about the guest or myself or the foods that we're eating," Chang said.

In the episode with McKinnon, which takes place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Chang shares that cooking didn't come naturally to him and says he doesn't believe he is talented at anything.

"I think I'm a really good cook, but there are other people that started out who are better than I am," Chang said. "Cooking is the one thing that I know that a lack of natural talent doesn't have anything to do with where you're going to wind up, if you just work very hard at it and are committed to it. I think I'm a result of that."

Even a food empire as successful as Momofuku came with failures, Chang said.

"I think you can't learn anything truly without messing things up," he said. "And experiencing some pain and suffering and trying not to make that same mistake twice. And to really push yourself, at least for myself, to -- to get to another level, I have to experience something that is sometimes scary and frightening, and to work through that."

Chang also wasn't fazed by someone calling him Jackie Chan while he was in Morocco with Teigen.

"Maybe they haven't seen an Asian man before, you know," he said.

The first season of "Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner" is streaming on Netflix.

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