KOREA FOUNDATION

 

1. Please briefly introduce yourself.

I began my career as a program director at MBC Production in 1993 and am now the representative of ELtv that produces various cultural documentaries and infotainment programs. In 2002, I started to make short food documentaries such as Discover Food, Discover the World at MBC and later produced similar food programs like Spot! Tasty Food, Korean Cold Noodle Rhapsody, Ark of Taste and Mad for Coffee for over 20 years. During the course of such productions, I was awakened to the history and culture embodied in food, and to this day, I still have lots of messages that I would like to convey through food.

2. What led you to the production of food-related programs?

An experience I had in Mongolia back in 2001 made me keenly aware of food’s role as a universal language. I was on a business trip to the country then, and people there were just like us Koreans: preparing and serving food to guests with utmost sincerity. An elderly woman prepared various traditional dishes for our team. We found the rice with mutton particularly hard to eat but managed to clear all the dishes. When we were about to leave after completing the shoot, she thanked us smiling tearfully for eating everything that she had prepared. The memory of her smile remained with me for a long time. From then on, I came to think about food, culture, and human affection and warmth, and developed a love for food and a desire to produce documentaries reflecting it.

3. You have shown the appeal of Korean food to the world by releasing the “Rhapsody” series, starting with Korean Pork Belly Rhapsody and followed by Korean Cold Noodle Rhapsody and Hanwoo Rhapsody. What motivated you to produce this series?

While watching shows on Netflix, I found that the shows and documentaries from many countries around the world were funnier and of a higher quality than I had expected. Being able to enjoy media from so many different countries was simultaneously wonderful and surprising, but almost none of them featured Korea. From then on, I wished to create shows dealing with Korean food culture that would entertain global viewers.

The first subject was samgyeopsal, grilled pork belly. Despite this cut of meat being one that almost every Korean loves, some critics tried to belittle samgyeopsal culture and accuse pork belly of being harmful to one’s health. I refused to agree with them. If there was a misunderstanding, I wanted to clear it up. Grilled samgyeopsal always ranks high among foreigners’ choices of Korean food, too. At first, they are amazed at the idea of grilling the sliced meat by themselves at the table, and then again after tasting it. I was confident that samgyeopsal would be a hit.

4. The “Rhapsody” series is praised as having brought Korean food culture into the global spotlight. Which part of the series do you care about most?

My personal pick is Korean Cold Noodle Rhapsody. In it, I tried to explore the essence of naengmyeon (cold noodles), one of Korea’s most indigenous dishes, and to interpret the social and historical significance of its ingredients. The segment showed the efforts and skills that multiple master chef’s use when putting out a bowl of naengmyeon, and it was acclaimed for presenting their dexterity in the most beautiful and artistic way. It was also hailed as one of the best food documentaries for sharing the historical background and social connotations of each noodle dish, re-interpreted through the modern story-telling medium of video.

I had planned several projects related to the theme of naengmyeon since 2009. In 2013, I produced an MBC special documentary about it, and I am thinking of creating a variety of additional noodle-related content, including entertainment programs, TV shows, and films. The Korean Cold Noodle Rhapsody has great expandability.

5. How does the “Rhapsody” series differ from other food documentaries?

When I began to produce shows for a global audience, I had a few ideas in mind. The most important aspect was the quality of the video. I therefore devoted myself to shooting with 4K cameras and lighting. Next, in order to properly deliver Korean food culture to global viewers in a fun and exciting way, I made enormous efforts to do historical research and select the right items for the show. Finally, I wanted to create a completely new style of Korean food documentary. To realize each of these three goals, I needed more time and devotion than for any of the previous productions. It took more than eight months to produce a couple of hour-long episodes.

6. What do you think is the most appealing aspect of Korean food?

Korean food, or hansik, embodies the intense passion of Koreans. They explore all edible ingredients, uncovering the inherent value and significance, and then go on to create a taste of unique dimensions. That is the reason why hansik is so rich in interesting stories. We make food with seaweed such as gim (laver), miyeok (sea mustard), and dasima (kelp) which is not usually eaten by people in the West. We also use plants foraged from nature for healthy dishes like namul (seasoned vegetables) and ssam (greens for wrapping rice), and have a long list of fermented food that creates entirely new flavors. Korea may be the only country in the world that has divided a cow into 130-odd parts and worked out recipes for each part of them. It would be no exaggeration to say that Koreans have the most sensitive palate in the world. Hansik is more enchanting because its story has unmeasurable depth and breadth.

7. Please tell us if you are planning more “Rhapsody” episodes or other food shows.

Since 2020, the “Rhapsody” Korean food series has been released on public TV networks, the domestic streaming platform Wavve, and the global streaming platform Netflix in over 160 countries. It has also been translated into 15 languages. I feel proud that with this series, I have taken the lead in disseminating the information and interesting stories embodied in Korean food. I have heard that some foreigners who come to Korea visit the restaurants featured in the series to order what they’ve seen on the show. I plan to continue the series with increasingly fresh and diverse content on chicken, tteokbokki (a rice cake dish simmered in various sauces), jjajangmyeon (noodles in black bean sauce), other noodles, as well as seafood.

Another hansik project is the “K-Food Show: A Nation of Taste” series. Last year, the first season, K-Food Show: A Nation of Broth was launched on Netflix, with season 2, A Nation of Kimchi and season 3, A Nation of the Table, scheduled to be released on Netflix and KBS this year.

8. What is your future goal as a documentary director disseminating the merits of Korean food worldwide?

Korean documentaries are not well-known outside the country but Korean food documentaries may change the scene as they continue to grow in popularity around the world. The “Rhapsody” series targeted a global audience from the planning stage. By showing the entire cooking process of roasting, steaming, and boiling, using mouth-watering colors and sounds, it dramatically presented Korean food culture in high-quality video. To fulfill the rising expectations for Korean shows, we need to make greater efforts than we have so far. My imminent goal is to create a Netflix original show. If and when I succeed in doing so, you may say that I have reached my goal on a level one step higher than now.