Podcast Summary: "The Food Expert: This Diet Slowly Kills You - Avoid These Meals! | Sonny Food Review"

The Iced Coffee Hour with Graham Stephan & Jack Selby
Guest: Sonny Side (Best Ever Food Review Show)
Air Date: November 30, 2025

Episode Overview

In this exhilarating and wide-ranging conversation, Graham and Jack welcome Sonny Side, the daring creator of the Best Ever Food Review Show, whose YouTube travels have taken him across 60+ countries — tasting everything from rare delicacies to the truly bizarre (and sometimes dangerous). The episode delves into Sonny’s wildest food adventures, ethical dilemmas around what and how we eat, the economics of producing viral travel/food content, cross-cultural food taboos, health and hygiene on the road, the business side of YouTube, and practical global living advice.

Sonny provides honest insight into his process as both a traveler and storyteller, revealing the line he walks between risk, integrity, entertainment, and empathy. The conversation explores not only the world’s strangest foods, but also what our culinary preferences reveal about culture, connection, and privilege.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Risky Foods & Dangerous Tasting

• On eating pufferfish with the Bajau people in Borneo

  • Sonny recounts almost eating a potentially lethal meal prepared by a villager without formal certification, feeling mouth numbness and later discovering the most poisonous part (the liver) was in the dish.
  • Notable Quote:
    • “The scary part of about all this is I ate the food. ... After about four bites, I felt my mouth going a little bit numb, and I was tingling, and I felt like, this isn’t good…” — Sonny [04:14]
  • On Risk: He justifies pushing boundaries to document unique food cultures but tries to avoid recklessness:
    • “We try to find that edge. We try to find the line and push it a little bit.” — Sonny [06:59]

• Foods he’d never try again:

  • "Pog pog," pre-eaten chicken scavenged from garbage in the Philippines.
    • Sonny: “Pog pog has a much more tragic story. ... People go through the trash and they sort out the chicken ... and then they wash it, ... refry it, and serve it.” [31:24]

2. Cultural Relativity of Taste and Food

• On why taste is cultural:

  • Kids in Korea eat pungent things like kimchi and dried sardines; in Tanzania, a kid spits out Twizzlers but loves raw liver dipped in gastric acid.
    • “I think it’s almost 90% cultural.” — Sonny [10:11]

• What happens when Western candy is shared with remote tribes:

  • Responses are mixed; often, locals compare new flavors to what they know (e.g., a cookie compared to Ugali, sweetness to honey for African tribes) [11:35].

• Taboos and Eating Endangered or Illegal Foods:

  • The show’s rule: don’t promote eating endangered species, and try to reflect real practices—not sensationalism [09:29].

3. Extreme and Unusual Foods

• Strangest textures:
  • Sea cucumber (“hard and soft at the same time … slimy coat … like chewing on rubber bands.”) [30:12]
• Bat meat:
  • Consumed in Malaysia, but not for the first time.
    • “It was pretty good.” — Sonny [17:59]
• Cobra heart shot in Vietnam:
  • “They slit it down the middle ... grab out its still-beating heart, put it into a shot glass, fill that with vodka ... while it’s still beating, you need to take the shot.” [55:06]
• On eating insects:
  • “Fried crickets, it’s kind of like eating peanuts at a bar. ... As you try more and more, you go, oh, that’s not that big of a deal, actually.” [16:04]

4. Food as Social Glue & Philosophy

• The importance of sharing food:
  • “To eat together is human. ... Everywhere you go, food is either the center of a family or a community.” [22:59]
• The “joy” hierarchy:
  • “Most of the joy in my life comes from food, then alcohol, then my wife is on that list somewhere. And then somewhere after that, my child.” — Sonny, poking fun at his priorities [64:38]

5. Ethical Dilemmas, Animal Welfare & Food Practices

• On whether he’d eat human:
  • “...I would be more fascinated by documenting it... Would I really do it myself? Probably not.” [15:27]
• Dog and cat meat:
  • Discusses cultural relativity and ethics; emphasizes outrage is often hypocritical when comparing to factory farming in the U.S. [62:55]
• Factory farming vs. traditional foodways:
  • “I mainly want to present the information, present their stories, and then people can decide for themselves.” [71:36]
• Treatment of animals:
  • Advocates for humane treatment of mammals, but is less sensitive about fish/insects [64:14]

6. Health, Hygiene, and Food Safety

• On getting sick abroad & travel hygiene tips:
  • Brush teeth with tap water, but always be careful of drinking water and ice (“Juicy, slushy drinks — avoid.”) [82:29]
  • “Fried food is good. Oil, everything. I would say most — I mean, I eat most street food. I think it’s the liquids that get people in trouble.” [83:31]
• Food causing most aftereffects:
  • “Hot wing challenge in New Orleans...instantly, it made my throat swell up ... my stomach was just boiling with acid … it was worse coming back up. Awful experience.” [27:43]

7. The Business of YouTube Food Content

• Production costs:
  • Ranges from <$5,000 in Vietnam to up to $100,000 for an expensive destination (e.g., Greenland). Most cost is travel, visas, crew, logistics. [49:48]
• Team:
  • 20 full-time staff in Vietnam, with a focus on efficient, high-quality production [50:24]
• Revenue:
  • “Most of our revenue comes from YouTube — over 70% ... then sponsors, Facebook, Snapchat ... some in other languages too, maybe 1%.” [93:19]
  • Considers, but is selective about new projects (“return on hassle” is weighed!) [95:52]
• Editing & Workflow:
  • Main channel videos take 2–3 months from shooting to release, second channel (simpler vlogs) can be 8 days [121:02].
• Burnout:
  • Describes near-overwork with up to 150 videos/year and discusses consciously scaling back output and being strategic about scheduling content [86:58].

8. Cross-cultural Living and “Digital Nomad” Advice

• Why live in Vietnam?
  • Cost-effective, community and proximity to stories/production resources for the show [51:58].
• Advice to Americans:
  • Many resist moving abroad, but Southeast Asia (especially Vietnam) offers a high quality of life for much less. South America and Mexico are also popular options for digital nomads or retirees [100:53].
• Living illegally in Korea:
  • Sonny lived on tourist visas for years, teaching under the table and making stressful “visa runs” to Japan every 90 days [104:23].

9. Memorable Stories, Quotes, & Moments

• On American toughness vs. food squeamishness:
  • “We pride ourselves on being so tough … but then if someone has a hair in their soup, like, they freak out… That doesn’t make you tough. That makes you a huge puss.” [54:41]
• On aphrodisiac and “stamina foods”:
  • “The answer to many of those questions is: male stamina.” [56:17]
  • “Does any of that work? ... Of course it doesn’t work. And also Viagra is available in those countries.” [57:57]
• On what Bourdain got right:
  • The power of food to “bring people together” and the importance of context and empathy in food storytelling [22:12].
  • “The mission of our channel is ... to create more empathy and more understanding and more awareness for people around the world.” [66:31]
• On business focus:
  • “I want to just focus on the few things that we can do that are going to get the biggest outcome.” [95:52]

Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• [04:14] “The scary part of about all this is I ate the food. ... After about four bites, I felt my mouth going a little bit numb...” — Sonny
• [10:11] “I think it’s almost 90% cultural.” — Sonny
• [22:59] “To eat together is human. ... Food is either the center of a family or a community.”
• [31:24] “Pog pog is essentially chicken, pre-eaten chicken that's been taken from the garbage and refried.” — Sonny
• [54:41] “[Americans] pride ourselves on being so tough... but then if someone has a hair in their soup, ... they freak out... That doesn’t make you tough. That makes you a huge puss.” — Sonny
• [62:45] “That’s what makes us human, we connect more with certain animals... it's hypocritical to say you shouldn't eat dog.”
• [64:38] “Most of the joy in my life comes from food, then alcohol, then my wife... and then my child.” — Sonny (joking)
• [66:31] “The mission of our channel is to ... create more empathy and more understanding and more awareness for people around the world.” — Sonny
• [83:31] “I would say most — I mean, I eat most street food. I think it’s the liquids that get people in trouble.” — Sonny

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:23 — Sonny’s intro, mission of Best Ever Food Review Show
• 03:01–06:33 — Eating pufferfish in Borneo: risk, aftermath, and reflection
• 09:29–11:11 — Cultural relativity of taste; food and instinct
• 17:06–20:06 — Eating bat in Malaysia; Brunei’s unusual customs
• 25:04–28:30 — On performing for the camera, food challenges, and consequences
• 38:34–43:48 — Why real street food is best in Southeast Asia; U.S. vs. overseas food quality
• 49:45–52:45 — Behind the scenes: production costs, team, and workflow
• 64:38–65:54 — Joy in food vs. “eat to live”
• 75:16–75:56 — Lab-grown meat discussion
• 83:31–86:58 — Health, travel—how to avoid getting sick, burnout as a creator
• 100:53–104:23 — Digital nomad life, best countries for Americans abroad

Final Thoughts & Flow

Sonny’s wide-ranging, humorous, and deeply human stories frame food as an inroad to understanding cultural differences and similarities. He balances curiosity, caution, and genuine respect in his quest to document the world’s most unusual (and sometimes perilous) edibles. The episode is rich in practical advice, entrepreneurial insight, and hilarious anecdotes — ultimately challenging listeners to be more open-minded, empathetic, and adventurous, both in the kitchen and in life.

For the full experience, including some even wilder stories (many too gruesome for public release), consider joining the show’s membership for the extended cut.

Guest:
Best Ever Food Review Show YouTube
Sonny Side on Instagram

Hosts:
Graham Stephan — YouTube
Jack Selby — Instagram

(Summary compiled by Podcast AI Summarizer — episode content only; advertisements/redacted segments skipped.)