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| ▲ These photos, provided by JTBC and tvN, show the cast members of 'Korea's Meal Tray' and the poster for 'Jnny's Kitchen,' respectively. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by tvN, shows scenes from the teaser video of 'Jnny's Kitchen.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) |
SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- A series of variety shows promoting Korean culture overseas with Korean food that readily captivates people’s taste worldwide at the forefront is soon to be aired.
JTBC will soon air “Korea’s Meal Tray (translated),” where a renowned South Korean chef Lee Yeon-bok will be serving Korean dishes in various parts of the world; in the meantime, tvN’s variety show “Jnny’s Kitchen,” where V of BTS will be joining as a snack bar employee, will hit the small screens on Feb. 24.
The upcoming show “Korea’s Meal Tray” is a program where the cast members will cook meals consisting of Korean dishes from various places around the world, including prestigious overseas schools, global companies, and professional sports clubs.
Television presenter Hong Jin-kyung who is well-known for her kimchi-making business, nutritionist Kim Min-ji, comedians Huh Kyung-hwan and Nam Chang-hee, and MONSTA X’s Joohoney will appear along with the South Korean chef Lee Yeon-bok taking the lead.
The program is based on the ideas of CP Son Chang-woo, who is known to have planned tvN’s variety show “Salty Tour” which garnered the viewers’ attention for its unique format of celebrities going on overseas travels with a limited budget. The meal prep club for the upcoming show will also be making meals that would captivate the tastes of locals within a fixed budget.
“The pictures of meals served at Korean high schools that were posted online recently were what inspired me; people in the States or the U.K. call them the ‘K-school meal,’ and they seemed to be wishing to have one too,” CP Son explained. “So I got this idea of making those K-school meals that people abroad want to try, and that is what will happen in our show.”
“What makes our show original is that we make a group meal for at least 100 people and at most 300 abroad,” he added. “We will demonstrate what genuine K-meals taste like.”
Meanwhile, tvN will showcase “Jnny’s Kitchen” as a spin-off of the hit show “Youn’s Kitchen.”
South Korean actor Lee Seo-jin will run a snack bar with his colleagues Jung Yu-mi and Park Seo-joon, with whom he formerly opened a restaurant in Spain. Instead of Yoon Yeo-jung, the head chef of “Youn’s Kitchen,” multihyphenate star V from BTS will be joining the group along with actor Choi Woo-sik, who is best known overseas for his role in director Bong Joon-ho’s sensational film “Parasite.”
In the teaser video that tvN dropped recently, the prep crew of Jnny’s Kitchen is expected to sell kimbap, ramen, tteok-bokki, and hot dogs -- the representative South Korean street food menus. The crew appeared to have captivated the tastes of locals with lighter menus than the traditional Korean foods served in “Youn’s Kitchen,” such as bulgogi and bibimbap. The teaser video did not fail to raise the hype as hawk-eyed fans were delighted to spot V in them.
The production crew of “Jnny’s Kitchen” said, “We intended to introduce Korean culture rather than the food,” adding, “We wanted to demonstrate how much international attention South Korea has been gathering recently with the Korean wave blazing a trail around the world. The comments that the customers who visited our snack bar, who expressed their impressions of Korea or thoughts on Korean food, have testified this global phenomenon.”
“Meanwhile, ‘Jnny’s Kitchen’ is certainly profit-oriented, and the change in the management policies from those of Youn’s Kitchen will be something fun to watch,” the crew added. “By watching those mega-hit stars working as employees of a snack bar, the viewers of our show may observe some humanistic sides of them.”
A variety show that showcases Korean food overseas is not something new; however, such shows could not be produced for a while due to the global pandemic that closed the borderlines for several years.
In addition to “Youn’s Kitchen” seasons 1 and 2 (2017 and 2018), “4 Wheeled Restaurant” in China and the U.S. (2018 and 2019) and “Pocha Beyond Borders” (2018 - 2019) did gather attention and raised overseas interest in Korean food while bringing out the fun sides of variety shows.
Hwang Jin-mi, a South Korean pop critic, said, “If one is to be interested in a country’s culture, it is food that naturally becomes the core aspect of the cultural experience. In that sense, Korean food is the content that will continue to gather international attention along with the power of the Korean Wave continuing to grow. This implies that there will be more shows introducing Korean food in the future.”
She then analyzed, “Such variety shows with celebrities running restaurants can also go viral as viewers can watch the unexpected scenes, such as the stars cooking or walking around in pajamas.”
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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