AngularJS: A select form field basic with ng-options and ng-init

var app = angular.module('app', []);
app.controller('MainCtrl', function($scope, $filter) {
  this.categories = [{
    "_id": "0",
    "val": "American"
  }, {
    "_id": "2",
    "val": "Spanish"
  }, {
    "_id": "3",
    "val": "Japanese"
  }, {
    "_id": "4",
    "val": "Italian"
  }, {
    "_id": "5",
    "val": "French"
  }];
  this.catSelected = {};
});

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html ng-app="app">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8" />
  <title>AngularJS: A select form field basic with ng-options and ng-model</title>
  <script>
    document.write('<base href="' + document.location + '" />');
  </script>
  <script data-require="angular.js@1.4.x" src="https://code.angularjs.org/1.4.1/angular.js" data-semver="1.4.1"></script>
  <script src="app.js"></script>
</head>

<body ng-controller="MainCtrl as mCtrl">
  <p>Basic select form setup with Angular ng-options and ng-model.</p><br>
  <select ng-model="mCtrl.catSelected" 
  ng-options="cat.val for cat in mCtrl.categories track by cat._id">
    <option value="">-- Choose type of cuisine --</option>
  </select>
  <p>I want to eat {{mCtrl.catSelected.val}} food for dinner!</p>
</body>
</html>