When we saw this image, we did a double take. What the what? Nope, our eyes aren't deceiving us. That is, in fact, Bart chillin' with some faux Sriracha and kimchi.
It's from the next Simpsons episode, which, as Grub Street reveals, will be devoted to foodie culture. Marge becomes a food blogger in a storyline that features “shout-outs to Wylie Dufresne, Frank Bruni, and Ruth Reichl; sriracha and sous-vide jokes; and, of course, an Anthony Bourdain cameo.” There's also an “awesome twist” involving a molecular gastronomy restaurant. But will there be any reference to the episode when Homer became a food critic and introduced the adjective “groin-grabbingly good” to food literature?
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Matt Selman, the writer of the episode, tells Grub Street:
The story of “Marge becomes a food blogger” does not sound inherently exciting, but the episode itself is actually very exciting, and I'm super thrilled with the way it's turned out.One of the things I also think is strong about this is that you might think, “Oh, a Simpsons foodie episode? Well, of course it's gonna be Homer the foodie.” Right? Homer loves to eat, Homer loves food. But I think the core of Homer is that he's kind of a blue-collar kind of guy who doesn't like foreign food, weird food, savoring food, intellectualizing food, blogging about it, photographing it — he just wants to be stuffed all the time.
Selman admitted that he had a “small heart attack” when South Park's (awesome) foodie episode aired, as he was already working on the Simpsons episode, but after watching it, “felt it was different enough that I didn't have to kill myself.”
P.S. The Korean writing on the green-capped Sriracha-like bottle in the image reads “bibimbap gochujang spicy flavor,” which is, well, not Sriracha. Why? Trademark issues? Stupidity? We have no idea. Perhaps it will be explained in the episode.
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