Momofuku responds to backlash over David Chang's chili crisp trademark battle

Asian creators and chefs say there's plenty of room at the chili crunch table.A top celebrity chef is in the middle of a food fight over who owns the name of a popular Asian condiment known as chili crunch

Momofuku first launched its popular chili crisp, called Chili Crunch, in 2018 and began selling jars of it in 2020. Momofuku more recently filed a trademark for chili crunch, spelled with an "i," on March 29, 2024, according to legal documents obtained by ABC News. Michelle Tew, founder and CEO of Homiah, first took to LinkedIn last week after the now-viral Guardian report was published, accusing Chang of being a "trademark bully" and turning up the heat on others selling "chili crunch."

"When we created our product, we wanted a name we could own and intentionally picked 'Chili Crunch' to further differentiate it from the broader chili crisp category, reflecting the uniqueness of Chili Crunch, which blends flavors from multiple culinary traditions," the spokesperson said. "We worked with a family-owned company called Chile Colonial to purchase the trademark from them.

Jing Gao, founder and CEO of Fly by Jing, which sells an all-natural, small batch Sichuan chili crisp sauce crafted in Chengdu, Sichuan, reposted Tew's LinkedIn remarks last week, adding that she was "disheartened" by the cease and desist demand. Neither Fly By Jing Sichuan Chili Crisp, launched in 2018, nor the widely popular Lao Gan Ma Spicy Chili Crisp -- which has been around since the late 1980s, according to the Lao Gan Ma website -- are being targeted by the letters, according to The Guardian, which noted that both products use the term "chili crisp" rather than "chile crunch," which Momofuku has trademarked.

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