The creator and host reflects on walking away from traditional TV pilots and building a 22-person production studio in Vietnam.
Oct 28, 2026 [[read-time]] minute read
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“I come from a small town in Central Minnesota, and it's kind of big news to a lot of people,” explains Sonny Side, smiling.
To his neighbors and childhood friends living outside the entertainment industry, an Emmy nomination is historic. To tens of millions of fans who watch Best Ever Food Review Show, it’s recognition for a creator who has spent over a decade documenting international cultures and cuisines with incredible care.
The show is set apart by its bold ambition of documenting food in every recognized country on Earth—a feat virtually unheard of in a studio-driven industry that often dictates which cultures are shared and stories told.
Ahead of the 2026 Daytime Emmy Awards, we spoke with Sonny about this major recognition and the career that brought him to this point.
Looking back, what first made you pack your bags and move abroad?
Sonny: When I was 24, I left for South Korea and thought I would live there for a year or two teaching English. I had been living in Minnesota my whole life. My career aspirations were somewhat limited. I tried to get into radio but failed to take over any large markets, and I thought, 'Before I get a career really cooking over here, how about I travel the world a bit?' And I never went back.
I lived in Korea for eight years, and now I've been in Vietnam for about ten. I’d been learning more and more about video, and that eventually blossomed into the career I have now.
Where did the decision come from to launch Best Ever Food Review Show on YouTube rather than pursuing traditional media deals?
Sonny: What's interesting is that I had started Best Ever Food Review Show on YouTube, but shortly after I'd gotten an opportunity to shoot a TV pilot for Food Network and the Travel Channel. I went there, I had that experience, I shot the pilots and the best thing that ever happened was those pilots failed. They were canceled. They didn't get picked up. From there I was able to apply everything I learned from doing TV to my own channel. And I really improved the quality of the way we operated.
But look, as a YouTuber, I love the freedom that I have to go wherever I want. There's no one looking over me saying, 'That country is too dangerous or controversial; this topic is too crazy.' It's up to me to go wherever I want and tell the stories that I want.
How did you build your local crew in Vietnam? How did that shape the perspective of the show?
Sonny: I moved to Vietnam from Korea in about 2017 to really go all-in on this YouTube channel. I never really imagined building out an entire team here. I didn't even know how I was gonna make money to begin with, 'cause I didn't make any profit for the first couple of years. The growth of my crew was very incremental. In the beginning, we were hiring about one person every three months as needed. We started with an editor, a producer, and a camera operator, eventually fleshing the team out to about 22 people today.
I'm not sure that I could say the Vietnamese perspective had an influence on the show, but what I can say is that it was hugely beneficial for me to have lived in Korea and Vietnam for my own perspective. I think if I had just gone from Minnesota to some of the places I’ve been around the world, I would be much more judgmental. Having time to live in these different countries gave me a different perspective of how people live around the world. It helped me to approach topics not just sensitively, but also tactfully.
How has the way you make the show changed from the earliest uploads to what you're producing today?
Sonny: So many YouTubers start out wanting to be an entertainer and then try to figure out the rest later. My strength was always that I understood production, so I was overcompensating a lot with technology, editing, camera angles, anything I could do to make the video more entertaining while I was getting better as a host.
Today, the quality of the show has increased dramatically. We started small, really just focusing on foods but not going too deep. These days, the quality of the production, the number of cameras, the size of the team, and the magnitude and depth of the stories we're trying to tell are all bigger and better than ever before.
What do you feel the show is documenting about the places you visit?
Sonny: The show has never been about only food. It's always been about the culture and the people behind the food. Around the world every plate tells you something about that place. It tells you about the geography, the ingredients that are available. It tells you about colonization over time, and foods that have been influenced by or borrowed from other countries. It tells you about religion, about the creativity and innovation of that country.
It's always about everything that goes into getting that food on the plate, and that has to do with the story of the people.
What do independent creators bring to the table that's different from a traditional network or streaming show?
Sonny: Point of view. It's all about point of view. It's not creativity by consensus. It's not a load of executive producers telling you how the show should be or feel. You get one person's or a small team's point of view on a story or on a topic. That makes for really exciting content that feels like it has a purpose, that’s distinct and different from everything else.
What do you feel the industry at large still misunderstands about running a production like yours?
Sonny: Early on when I was starting, there were a lot of TV production companies that wanted to recruit me for TV shows. I would say that I was interested, but only if I could direct. For them, that was a no-go, no-deal. They wanted me as talent and that's it. But what they couldn't see was not just that I've been in hundreds of videos, but that I directed all of those videos. As a director, I know how to put myself into the situations that are gonna get a good reaction out of me.
When it comes to traditional television, there's often these strict divides between roles. A lot of those roles can merge these days with YouTube, and I think that's a good thing.
At this point in your career, what does the Emmy nomination signify for you?
Sonny: When I first found out I got nominated for an Emmy, I was in my cabin in Minnesota and my immediate reaction was disbelief. I couldn't believe it had actually happened, because we had just made this a goal this year with my team saying, 'We're gonna strive, we're gonna apply, we're gonna see if we can get an Emmy.' And we got nominated. Immediately, I felt a bit of disbelief, but over time I've gotten more and more excited.
I think for almost anybody at any point in their career, an Emmy signifies credibility. At Best Ever Food Review Show, our goal is to be the best in the world at what we do. We're already the most viewed, the most followed travel food show on YouTube. That's one metric—viewership—but there are others. It could be technical quality, but a lot of it is: what do people think? What is the consensus? How do the people who critique these sorts of things evaluate your work?
And so it's nice to get some official recognition for the work we've put in. It means a lot, and I can't wait to see the results.
