"Nice to meet you, my name is Mark Wiens"

Nice to meet you, my name is Mark Wiens. I’m a full time travel eater, and along with my wife, I’m based in Bangkok, but we travel frequently.

Along with eating, I also like to blog, make videos about local food, and I earn a living from ads on videos, and selling eBooks and t-shirts.

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My spouse turned me on to this kid and I've watched a number of his videos on YouTube. Just thought I'd ask if anyone on FR has seen them as well and what you might think.

At first I thought some of his schtick was kind of contrived, but then I thought he was trying to ram Far Eastern and Middle Eastern cuisine down our Western throats almost literally, because in some of his videos he shows Christian churches but doesn't go very far into the religion. Just comments on the architecture. But then I've seen others where he showcases Muslim mosques and you get to hear all those muezzins doing their calls to prayer.

I've noticed he never loses an opportunity to praise the Muslim locals for their friendliness and the peacefulness of their villages. Like one video he did from Beirut, Lebanon, against a backdrop of bombed-out buildings which had been restored. The locals seemed to be decent folk.

A lot of the places he visits in Thailand look like they wouldn't survive half a Tsunami. Kind of made me wonder a lot of these local economies have sprung up in the aftermath of the Vietnamese War and how much the ground there has been watered with American blood. But that was almost 60 years ago so maybe they think we have forgotten. The buildings are little more than shacks. And I'd never eat most of that cuisine if you can call it that.

But then Wiens has done specials in Italy, Germany, and Portugal, etc., where he does the excellent local cuisine a great deal of justice. So he seems to be all over the map.

I have watched several of his videos.

He was born in Phoenix and his parents were missionaries. When Mark was 5, his family moved to Albertville, France and stayed for 1 year. Then they lived in the Congo for 3 years followed by Kenya.

Mark’s Mom is Chinese and his Dad is American.

Mark graduated from Arizona State University in 2008 with a degree in Global Studies.

Mark taught English for a year in Thailand. Mark met his wife Ying in Bangkok and they were married in 2013.

I’ve watched him for years on YouTube. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. Very positive in attitude. Pretty much sticks to street food or cafe’s normal people of that region would eat at, no high end stuff.

I just find his personality a little over the top. It’s like he’s jacked up to 11 all the time. But I kind of think he’s just really like that.

As far as his Middle East content, I think he’s pretty even handed about it. It’s not like he’s promoting Islam, just making mostly non-political non-religious observations about it, which is fair. He’s lose viewers if he did. And that’s just maybe 10% of his content, he’s got a pretty wide range.

I don’t think he has much of an agenda outside of being a food and culture channel. It’s a big world out there and he clearly loves exploring.

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