‘Hunger’ Ending Explained: Does Aoy Find the Success She Wants?

Welcome to the Ending Explained for Hunger, a new Thai film coming to Netflix this weekend. The film follows in the footsteps of other movies and TV shows like The Menu and The Bear as it tackles the subject of the food industry, how hard it is to run a restaurant, and the toll it takes on the cooks and chefs when cooking for people who don’t really care about what they are eating. It seems that the kitchen has become the perfect place to tell stories about class struggles, as from the kitchen, we get something we all need, a plate of food.

The film is a fascinating exploration of the themes of ambition and how far someone is willing to go to get what they want. It is a powerful sentiment and one with all who can feel identified. The film offers amazing performances, powerful cinematography, and a storyline that might not have something new to say regarding these themes. Still, it is well executed, and that is all that matters. Hungers ends up being one of the best releases from Netflix in 2023, and that is definitely something that puts it way up there as a much-watch.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Hunger. Read at your own risk.

How Does Aoy Starts Working For Chef Paul?

The first thing the movie does is introduce us to our main character, Aoy. She is a young woman working as a cook at a local noodle shop. Aoy is a hard worker, and the restaurant stays, thanks to her abilities in the kitchen afloat. However, this is not the path Aoy thought she would be walking. Aoy wants to be something more. She is the eldest child, so she cares for her siblings and her aging father. One day, while working, Aoy is approached by a man named Tone, who gives her the presentation card with the name Hunger on it.

Aoy goes to the meeting out of curiosity and realizes she is being scouted, and there will be a tryout for the position. Chef Paul appears, and his gaze is stern and vicious. He demands fried rice, which both contestants make. Aoy uses leftover rice, while the other contestant does a very fancy fried rice dish. Paul doesn’t even taste the dishes; he only smells them and agrees that Aoy is the new member of his kitchen crew and that she will handle the frying at an upcoming event.

Aoy takes the opportunity and works hard to meet Paul’s standards. Their relationship became a bit like the one in the film Whiplash when the demanding conductor and the drummers clash heads and ideologies at every moment. Aoy fears Paul but also respects him. The event is a success, and Aoy is approached by a man named Tos, a restaurateur, who also gives her his card. Aoy stays with Hunger and continues to work cooking at private parties and learning from her fellow cooks. However, she still wants more. She wants what Paul has.

Aoy continues to work, and in one of those private events, the Hunger team goes to a small house where a family of three: husband, daughter, and wife, are waiting to be served. Paul detects something wrong with the food and remakes the soup, while Aoy is suspicious about the entire affair. The place looks weird, and the wife cries while serving the food. It is quite unnerving. Back in their HQ, Paul confronts the team and reveals there was shrimp in the soup, and that could have killed the daughter, who was allergic.

Paul confronts the member of his team who made the stock but gets stabbed in return.

Does Aoy Find The Success She Wants?

Paul is taken to the hospital, and Aoy is the only one who visits them. She gives him her famous crybaby noodles, a family recipe, and asks Paul what made him become a chef. Paul tells his story. He explains how her mother was made, and he grew up watching the rich people eating and living, having everything he didn’t. He reveals he wanted to taste caviar, so he took some, and that put her mother in trouble. The worst thing was that while caviar is expensive, it tastes really bad. He became a chef so rich people would bow to him and begins for his food.

On another private event that involves cooking birds in danger of extinction, Aoy leaves. She can no longer work for Paul’s nihilistic behavior. Aoy also has her own health issues, as her father collapsed and is being treated at the hospital. Aoy takes the responsibility of paying the bill and goes with Tos, who proposes to make her the most famous and beautiful chef in all of Thailand. Tos gives Aoy her own restaurant, and she makes it a success thanks to her abilities with the wok. Tos informs Aoy that there will be an important event very soon.

Late at night, Aoy talks with her brother, who misses her as she is very busy with her restaurant. Paul visits Aoy after hours, and she cooks for him. Paul explains that now that she is famous, she will only think about when it is going to end. He also reveals that he will also be part of the special event, a birthday party, along with her. Meanwhile, Aoy talks with Tos to help Tone, the cook who scouted her in the first place. Tos doesn’t believe that Tone can be a good star chef, but he will talk to him.

At the private event, the presence of the two chefs becomes a face-off. They start cooking not for the people at the party but to top each other to see who is the best. In the end, Paul declares himself the winner because he is the most famous one, but Tone and Tos reveal a clip where he is killing the exotic bird and is arrested for that crime, but he swears he will get away with it. Not wanting anything else to do with this fine-cuisine world, Aoy returns to her father’s restaurants and declares that she and her family will make it big on their own.