Sun Ke-fang
林春
Overview
Based on the life of TV chef Fu Pei-mei, this drama follows two women -- one rich, the other poor -- who fortuitously cross paths in 1950s Taiwan.
Seasons
- Status
- Ended
- Seasons
- 1 season
- Episodes
- 6 episodes
- First aired
- Jul 14, 2017
Cast
Reviews
4 min readThe Maid and the Myth
I kept waiting for the moment when What She Put on the Table would stop being a period drama about Taiwan’s most famous TV chef and start being a story about the women who actually fed the country. It never quite arrives—but in the space between what the show thinks it’s about and what it accidentally reveals, there’s something far more interesting than a neatly plated biopic.
The premise is simple: two women, one rich, one poor, cross paths in 1950s Taiwan. The rich one is Fu Pei-mei (Amber An), the future queen of home cooking, already carrying the weight of her own legend before she’s even earned it. The poor one is Ah Chun (Sun Ke-fang), a maid with calloused hands and a quiet, stubborn dignity.
On paper, this should be a classic upstairs-downstairs dynamic, a tale of class and ambition with a side of culinary history. But the show keeps tripping over its own feet, as if it can’t decide whether it’s a tribute to Fu Pei-mei’s legacy or an excavation of the lives that made that legacy possible.
What saves it from being just another forgettable historical drama is Sun Ke-fang’s performance. Ah Chun isn’t just a supporting character; she’s the emotional core of the series, the one who makes you lean forward when she’s on screen. There’s a scene in the third episode where she’s scrubbing the floor, her back bent, her movements efficient but weary.
The camera lingers on her hands—rough, reddened, the knuckles slightly swollen. It’s a small moment, barely a beat in the episode, but it’s the kind of detail that makes you realize how rarely you see working-class women’s bodies taken seriously in period dramas. Not as decoration, not as symbols of suffering, but as something real, something that carries the weight of its own history.
Audience Opinions
Audience 7.5/10
"A heartfelt tribute to Taiwanese culinary icon Fu Pei-Mei, blending nostalgia with emotional family drama."
Viewers appreciate the series' warm portrayal of Fu Pei-Mei’s legacy, praising its authentic depiction of Taiwanese cuisine and the emotional depth of its dual-timeline storytelling. However, some find the pacing uneven, with the present-day storyline occasionally feeling less engaging than the historical flashbacks. latestnetflix.com's view is that the cast’s performances, particularly Sun Ke-fang’s portrayal of the younger Fu Pei-Mei, are widely praised for their sincerity and charm.
What viewers praise
- Authentic culinary tribute The series faithfully captures the spirit of Fu Pei-Mei’s cooking and her influence on Taiwanese culture.
- Strong lead performances Sun Ke-fang and Amber An deliver compelling portrayals, bringing emotional weight to their roles.
- Nostalgic and heartfelt The dual-timeline structure effectively blends personal family drama with broader cultural nostalgia.
- Visually appealing The production design and food cinematography enhance the series’ warm, inviting tone.
Common complaints
- Uneven pacing The present-day storyline sometimes drags compared to the more engaging historical flashbacks.
- Predictable family drama Some viewers find the emotional conflicts and resolutions too familiar and formulaic.
- Limited depth in side characters Supporting characters, particularly in the modern timeline, lack development and feel underutilized.
Recommended for
Fans of Taiwanese culinary history Lovers of nostalgic family dramas Foodie drama enthusiasts Those who enjoy dual-timeline storytelling
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsThe president walked through the kitchen set in Tainan.
Tsai Ing-wen and Culture Minister Cheng Li-chiun visited the What She Put on the Table shoot. Chinese Wikipedia records Tsai asking Sun Ke-fang if she still wanted to act after the hard days. Sun said the path was beautiful. TMDB logs a 2017 Taiwanese miniseries, six episodes from July 14 to August 18. latestnetflix.com's view is that Netflix's English card is the life of TV chef Fu Pei-mei, two women crossing in 1950s Taiwan, with Amber An and Sun Ke-fang up front.
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She copied a dead chef's mouth from cassette tapes.
GQ Taiwan said Amber An listened to Fu's recordings, wrote the sounds down character by character, and then leaked a Dalian accent at home with her mother. She had never cooked. On set she practiced Fu's cuttlefish dish and her mother liked it. She told the magazine a kitchen felt like a command post where she decided the seasoning. Liberty Times said newcomer Chang Yao-jen spent more than three months learning Fu recipes with Fu's daughter Cheng An-chi, then posted the plates. Cheng is credited as a cooking advisor. , ,
The Q Series slot followed A Boy Named Flora A on Taiwan Television, Fridays at 10 p.m., with GTV on Saturdays and iQIYI at midnight. Wikipedia says each episode runs about 86 minutes. Director Hsu Fu-chun opened cameras on February 20, 2017, at Toucheng Farm in Yilan. Taiwan Today later told overseas readers the literary adaptations would reach Netflix on November 20. , ,
Production gossip stayed kitchen-scale. Amber An gained about two kilograms from eating the food she was supposed to perform. Sun Ke-fang said she gained three. Hans Chung spent two weeks off after glue for a war-wound scar inflamed his eyelid. Chris Lee, playing Fu's husband Cheng Shao-ching, copied more than 10,000 characters of the real love letters and invited An over for dinner so the courtship would not look fake. One night An heard pot lids and thought Fu's ghost was scolding her for laziness. It was her agent's computer in the next room.
Fu herself is the Julia Child comparison the New York Times printed in 1971. English Wikipedia says she hosted cooking television in Taiwan from 1962 to 2002, wrote more than 30 cookbooks, and died in 2004. The miniseries is adapted from her own book of the same Chinese title, with a 2017 grandson-in-debt frame around the 1950s kitchen. Netflix still files it as a limited cooking drama if you want the two timelines. ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.