O Sabor do Destino

Disney should be ashamed of putting this rip off show on Disney Plus. They copied Kdrama Dae Jang Geum- word for word. Even down to Korean cultural clothes. China took advantage of how popular Kdramas are getting and made another fake imitation.

Why else would this air in EVERY Country EXCEPT South Korea? They knew exactly what they were doing when they produced this show. They did not even credit the original Korean show. Mainland Chinese people will argue that hanfu looks exactly like hanbok but that is not true if you do your own research.

On another note, Chinese actors are not as convincing as Korean actors.

This is a review with a personal background information. I hardly watched korean dramas and movies up until pandemic, but started watching them from Squid Game, Train to Busan and other kdramas and kmovies since the pandemic. Yes, I'm one of those people who started following korean entertainment media simply because there was nothing you could do during the pandemic. My wife on the other hand, is totally different case. She's from Turkey, and she has watched many kdramas and kdrama remakes from Turkey. According to her, Turkey has made a lot of remakes of kdramas, and also has aired many original kdramas. She said kdramas were and still are popular in Turkey, and there's a particularly popular kdrama, Dae Jang Geum aka Jewel in the Palace which is the original version of this show.

After watching Snowdrop on Disney+, and this was suggested to us, so we started watching it by thinking it as one of those kdramas. In my case, I didn't notice anything in the beginning of the show, however, my wife said this isn't a kdrama, and they are speaking chinese. Which was totally fine so far, but then my wife continued saying that those costumes and food are awfully close to the ones in Dae Jang Geum, She said even the characters are similar to Dae Jang Geum along with typical character dynamics in kdramas. The only difference is that people in this show are chinese and speaking chinese. It's hard to understand what was going on with this show but I wasn't totally ignorant of this "fad" from china since I've read a news article saying china is making a copy of Squid Game. My wife simply said why can't "they" just make a legitimate remake of a korean show like Turkey does? But in my case, the bigger problem is that it's Disney that is promoting this show. I mean Disney is an organization showing no tolerance for copyright infringement whether the case is small or not. However, they are promoting a show that is infringing the copyright of the korean show. It really breaks Disney's integrity.

I recently saw the news that this drama is streaming in other countries except South Korea. Do you know why China do that? Because they show the cultural things in this drama as if the foods and clothing were their own culture. For example, There is Korean BBQ among the foods that come out in the drama and the costumes worn by some characters are Hanbok,Korean traditional clothing, not traditional Chinese costumes. As i'm a South Korean, I'm very angry and speechless with rage. I don't know why China do this, although they have their own good cultural things. I hope people who watch this series don't think the foods and clothing in this drama are Chinese.

There are a lot of things that one can find fault with regarding this series. The focus is supposedly Chinese but even the dress is Korean. That's a bit interesting...??! But with that said - this show is charming. Keep in mind American audiences have eating habits are very different Stateside. No slurping, lip smacking, teeth chomping, gurgling. In Asia enjoying your food is more polite than so called table manners. I discovered this rudely when I watched a man hock a loogie into a napkin at dinner in my first dining experience in Guangzhou. I did find this a bit annoying, and I found the same to be true as I watched this series, but table manners are also one of my pet peeves. I'm a bit neurotic about table manners and having been to China it was a good lesson in getting over myself. Nevertheless, this could be a trigger for those as fastidious as I am. But oh, my goodness...watching the cooking, the gorgeous sets, the gorgeous food, the gorgeous (Nationally and Historically incorrect) clothing, the gorgeous hair and costumes and a playful storyline with wonderful, fun, engaging actors and this little series is magic. We Americans do not have millenniums of history of cooking and recipes. Our cooking technique is born of a three-hundred-year history that has been honored by various worldwide cooking traditions. But the cooking traditions of China and Asia in general are thousands of years old and it is fun to catch a peek into this ancient tradition. I once was privileged enough to visit China and one of the high points of the visit was the truly exquisite food. This series though extremely historically inaccurate does bring some of those wonderful memories back. I remember getting Stateside and spending years trying to figure out the ingredients to a single cucumber salad I had been served. Our actors are charming and convincing. The storyline is something we all love - Food and Competition and Love of course!! A cute little series I plan on re-watching!

I started watching this series because of visuals. Set design, costumes, actors... everything looks great! The story might not be shakespearean standard - but it doesn't matter! It's cute and light-hearted, lovely, pretty, entertaining! Exactly what I was looking for.

You can even learn about Chinese food culture. Although I'm a vegetarian I took some ideas and influences from this series. Camera work was very good! The dishes looked delicious.

The forbidden love story was so cute! I really enjoyed to see the Prince fall more and more in love with the pretty cook. Truly entertaining. All in all it was worth watching!