Lights, camera, cook!

Actor Lee Seo-jin, left, and 2PM's Ok Taec-yeon prepare meals in backwoods town in tvN's "Three Meals a Day." / Courtesy of tvN

Food becomes main menu for TV shows

By Baek Byung-yeul

Food and dining are increasingly featured on a number of television shows. In particular, viewers have fallen in love with the simple cooking of two actors in a remote mountain village in the show "Three Meals a Day".

Star producer and director Na Young-seok, best known for travel shows like "1 Night, 2 Days" and "Grandpas over Flowers," launched the show last month and has received an explosive response.

In the program, Na forces two city dwellers — actor Lee Seo-jin, who was featured in "Grandpas," and Ok Taec-yeon of boy band 2PM — to stay in the backwoods town of Jeongseon, Gangwon Province for three days a week where they cook three meals a day.

Lee and Ok struggle to cultivate and find ingredients from their vegetable garden and cook without proper recipes to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner in Korean style. They also have to serve celebrity guests such as veteran actors Shin Goo and Baek Il-seob.

Director Na said, "All cooking shows do not have to feature fancy, delicious food. We seek the sincerity that comes from cooking with all their hearts."

The concept might sound basic, but the show quickly went viral and has enjoyed a whopping 8.3 percent viewer rating so far.

An eel dish featured at Olive TV's food survival show "The Battle of Korean Cuisine"

"I don't know why, but it is just fun to watch two men muddling," said Kim Jeong-hwa, a 32-year-old Seoulite who watches the show.

Another top show is cable channel Olive TV's: "The Battle of Korean Cuisine."

The Korean equivalent of "Master Chef" began its first season last year and has had average ratings of 1.7 percent, which is remarkable for a cable network show.

Thanks to its popularity, its second season enhanced competitiveness by inviting Kim Sung-joo, one of the country's top emcees, as the show's host.

In the second season, which began airing last September, competitors from different regions vie to become a top chef with a Korean cuisine theme, ranging from boiled pork with ginseng originated in South Chungcheong Province to "sundae" (Korean version of blood sausage), a popular snack that originated in North Korea.

"I get so hungry whenever I watch this show," Choi Jung-won, an avid fan said. "It is so eye-pleasing. Before watching, I didn't know that Korean cuisine had such variation; it is really hard to predict the winner as every competitor is skilled with decades of experience," she added.

An official of Olive TV, specializing in food shows, said their food-themed shows became popular because they entertained its audiences.

"Our food shows are particularly popular among females in their 20s and 30s," said the official. "We have noticed that making food has become ‘culture' in their lives. They watch our shows as they are entertained with the impeccable and dazzling food."

Stimulated by the success of the cable networks, the country's major broadcasters have also launched food-themed shows.

SBS TV began airing its survival cooking show "Cooking Korea" in late October. The 12-episode show pairs up five celebrities and five star chefs and determines the winning team in each episode. As it doesn't feature ordinary people, no prize money or other benefits will be given to the winner.

KBS TV's upcoming survival cooking show "Miss Korea" will feature seven celebrities including comedians Kim Joon-hyun, Yoo Min-sang, Lee Soo-ji and more. The details of the show are not revealed yet, other than the show will focus on rice- based foods only. It will go on air from the end of this month.

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