Celebrity foodies give food therapy in 'Food Bless You'

Cast members of Olive TV's new food show “Food Bless You” pose at an event held at Times Square mall in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, last Monday. / Courtesy of Olive TV

By Park Jin-hai

There was a notion that all-female panel talk shows would struggle to succeed. Another was that there were too many food-related television shows. Olive TV's new food show “Food Bless You,” however, is turning these two presumptions on their heads.

“Food Bless You” had been showered with attention from local entertainment circles even prior to its premiere, because of its rare all-female cast amongst the male-dominated local variety shows. Since “Infinite Girls,” a female version of popular format “Infinite Challenges,” aired its last episode in 2013, all-female shows have been absent for a long time.

Four TV personalities Choi Hwa-jung, Lee Young-ja, Song Eun-yi and Kim Sook, who have known each other for over 15 years, mix food and counseling.

The show is garnering more attention because it is the new project of female comedian Song who created “Vivo TV” on YouTube, which she co-hosted with her long time friend and fellow comedian Kim. While female comedians have been struggling with dwindling opportunities to showcase their talents, Song was regarded as creating a playground for her colleagues on the new media platform. Their channel has over 220,000 subscribers now and one of its popular segments was made into a hit TV show “Kim Saeng-min's Receipt.”

Scenes from Olive TV's food talk show “Food Bless You” / Courtesy of Olive TV

In the new show, the quartet, known for being greedy gluttons in the local entertainment scene, console viewers by listening to their concerns and then recommend food that can “heal their souls.” Although the format is rather simple, the food therapies that come from the four, who say they leave the restaurant “only after sampling all the options offered there” and “four hours is the minimum eating time” they spend at buffets, are precise and sometimes go beyond imaginations.

“Once, we went to a buffet restaurant and ate for four hours. After eating, we took a picture together. In the photo, we looked so happy,” Kim said recalling how the October 2017 photo on her social media led to the production of the show.

Show producer Hwang In-young previously said, “Food is more than just nutrition, it has life stories. I wanted to do a food show that can move people. We all have the experience of being tired, but feeling better after eating. That's the kind of energy we want to share.”

Long time radio show host Choi, who says that she has special elastic waist pants for eating at buffets, is known for her elegant eating style. Veteran comedian Lee is a real glutton who needs to visit all the highway service stations in sight for food when she is traveling. The chemistry between them built on the long time friendship gives viewers constant occasions for laughter. To Choi who says the food went bad, Lee quickly responds “Don't cheat,” and Kim spills the beans that “Lee always frowns over her food to prevent others from touching it.”

It helps that the four are veterans in their respective fields. Choi has hosted a radio show for 21 years, while the Song and Kim DJ duo have been running their podcasts since 2016. Lee as a host for KBS's long-running talk show “Hello Counselor” has been helping guests solve their problems in life for eight years now.

In the first episode titled “Cook Bless You Begins,” aired Thursday, they featured various stories of viewers from a serious one shared by a call center employee who suffers from emotional exhaustion to trivial concerns such as one who said she was annoyed by her friend who tries to pay less than others on every occasion.

To the call center agent, asking for a food recipe on days she is tired of dealing with nasty customers, Choi said, “While many emotional laborers tend to turn to quick instant foods to relieve stress, I would like to recommend Mom's home-made foods.” Lee adds that “home-made foods can help raise one's self-esteem.”