KOREA FOUNDATION

Chef Kim Rockhun, also known as Rockchef

1. Please introduce yourself.

My name is Kim Rockhun, also known as Rockchef. I am the world’s first “gimbap chef” and “farm party chef,” as well as the CEO of a social enterprise that explores the abundant yet precious agricultural, livestock, and fishery resources around us to make dishes that not only spotlight Korean cuisine but also help create a global food culture.

2. You have introduced yourself as a “gimbap chef” and “farm party chef.” Would you elaborate on these titles? What is a farm party?

I personally designed Rockchef’s Farm Party to help people enjoy parties in an organic way. This means minimally cooking fish, produce, and processed products, and not using meat in order to reduce carbon emissions. Rockchef’s Farm Party aims to bring total localism (a more inclusive term for “local” than “glocal,” which suggests anticipation for the development of an exclusive, local, food-based eating culture as well as the expansion of local food’s role) to the dinner table by adopting geographical indications (statements of product origin and quality) and encouraging people to enjoy healthy and fun “farm parties,” even in urban areas. Rockchef’s Gimbap is a new food-based marketing platform. Using local produce data we gather through the farm parties, we visit farming families and develop personalized gimbap recipes for them. The One Recipe for One Farming Family campaign is conducted free of charge to help support farming households.

A farm party table setting

Paldo (eight-province) gimbap

3. At university, you majored in electronic engineering. How did you become interested in cooking?

In 1997, when I was in my final year as an electronic engineering major, prospects seemed to be good for students like me as the semiconductor industry was booming. We thought we would be able to easily join large corporations like Samsung, Hyundai Hynix, and LG and earn high salaries. However, I was not really interested in finding a job; instead, I dreamed of traveling the world, seeing New York, London, Sydney, Madrid, and Tokyo from the lobbies of hotels and big buildings. I began a personal world tour in search of new opportunities. Traveling with a tight budget and without a plan, I soon found myself in need of a job. In London, I struggled before finding a position at a Japanese restaurant in Central London. There, I encountered the profession of chef and began my relationship with cooking.

4. You have worked hard to globalize hansik (Korean cuisine), especially gimbap. Why do you love and pay such keen attention to gimbap?

When I was working at the Japanese restaurant in London, Japanese food was already considered gourmet. However, the Korean restaurants in London were shabby, to say the least; few people knew about Korea, let alone Korean food. This came as quite a shock to me and I was even more stunned when I heard Japanese chefs say that futomaki was a kind of sushi, not gimbap. This was like calling gimbap Japanese food. I also saw that sushi restaurants held prized spots in downtown London. Sushi was a wildly successful Japanese dish, one that Japanese people took great pride in. Witnessing this, I made up my mind to return to Korea and do my best to raise gimbap to the global spotlight, alongside sushi. This resolution was the start of my infinite interest in and love of gimbap.

5. Would you share more of your thoughts about gimbap?

I think gimbap is a perfect frame and platform through which we can embrace ingredients and culinary cultures from all countries and regions. I wanted to use gimbap to embody various characters, the lives of farmers in different regions, and agri-food culture, a unique and trendy convergence of culinary worlds. I didn’t want to stop there, either—I also dreamed of an educational system that excels that of sushi and grants certificates of expertise to all people that learn how to make gimbap. I wanted gimbap experts and their creations to become national representatives, share Korea’s agri-food culture with the world, and prove gimbap’s ability to embrace global ingredients. Gimbap is a “hot” item that is not just for Koreans but can harmonize with any food culture of the world, and I wanted to show this to everyone. This year, my dreams seem to be slowly coming true.

Chef Kim Rockhun, far right, and participants at a Korean cooking competition focused on farmers and farm produce.

6. You are well-known for your paldo (eight-province) gimbap, which combines local specialties from across Korea. You are also active in the research, development, and nationwide distribution of gimbap recipes. Please speak about gimbap’s potential for globalization.

I have made jamón gimbap in Spain, foie gras gimbap in France, schweinshaxe gimbap in Germany, fish and chips gimbap in London, stinky tofu gimbap in China, and steak gimbap in the United States. In Japan, I combined gimbap with sushi. In addition to the original gimbap with Korean ingredients, I have created many variations by using popular items from different countries. People around the world like gimbap because it is a “one-bite” dish. While there are always things to consider, such as what new ingredients to choose and how to upgrade gimbap’s value by incorporating different culinary cultures and stories, there is no question about its marketability and global appeal.

7. We sincerely hope that your love of gimbap will contribute to the globalization of hansik and the promotion of Korean farmers. Last but not least, what are your future plans and dreams?

I plan to start Paldo Kimbop, a gimbap franchise, and Rockchef, a commercial platform for a brand of gim, the dried seaweed used in making gimbap, making use of my marketing activities over the past 10 years. To that end, I will organize a global marketing group named ROCKYSM with experts from various fields, including a global sports management expert behind the success of a global football star and similar specialists in packaging design and marketing, K-drama and media content production, industrial design, factory automation, K-pop, and real estate development focused on tourist farms.
To realize smart solutions for a sustainable environment and future, I will also work with regional governments to establish smart farms, following the boom of agro-fishery products that has come with the fourth industrial revolution, and seek ways of combining them with gimbap, the perfect food item for the current era. In order to financially support farming families as well as globalize hansik, I will promote gimbap, farm cooking, and farm parties around the globe, speaking to global citizens about why good ingredients need to exist.

△ Chef Kim Rockhun

ROCKCHEF
ROCKHUN, KIM / CEO
Current member of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ 6th Industry Convergence Committee 現 농림축산식품부 6차산업융복합전문위원 6차산업융복합전문위원
Former representative of the Korean Food Publicity Hall at Cheongwadae Sarangchae
Former publicity ambassador for the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation
Celebrity-invited chef to an Emmy Awards after-party in the US
前 미국에이미시상식 에프터 파티 셀러브리티초청셰프
Presented a global gimbap publicity tour for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics
Korean ambassador for the promotion of gimbap 대한민국김밥홍보대사
Ambassador for the promotion of Goheung, Jeollanam-do 전라남도 고흥홍보대사
President of the World Gimbap Association 세계김밥협회 회장
President of the World Gimbap Forum 세계김밥포럼 회장