World-renowned chefs gather in Seoul

By Vivian Han

If you know Pierre Gagnaire, Rene Ledzepi and Joan Roca, you’re probably a gourmet. These three world-renowned chefs were on the same stage in Seoul on Nov. 19. They were invited to speak at TV Chosun’s Global Leaders Forum about their road to their gourmet food careers. It is extremely rare to have all three masters together to talk about food — it is like having Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor and Damien Hirst together to talk about art.

As an owner of a modern Korean restaurant, I was invited as a panelist. I couldn’t sleep for days because I was too excited to meet them. However, I have to confess that meeting three great minds in the culinary world was unexpected, in a good way. I was ready to be swept away by their eloquent descriptions of their splendid techniques.

After all, these chefs are at the top of and significantly influence the global culinary scene. Who am I to ask them about the next directions in gourmet food? However, I realized that I was totally wrong after listening to Chef Gagnaire’s talk.

Gagnaire, who is considered the essence of modern French cuisine owing to his revolutionary approach, began his talk by humbly saying what an honor it is to be with Chefs Ledzepi and Roca.

He confessed that when he started his career, he was so confused, like any young cook. He said he felt powerless about doing the same old French cooking just like the others. I was so surprised to hear this that I abruptly turned my face to look at his, forgetting that I was sitting on a stage.

Hearing about the anxiety he felt in his youth and his humble beginnings as a common cook touched my heart more deeply than a miraculous story from a genius would. Gagnaire said one day, he read a story about bell pepper soup in a newspaper and realized that French food didn’t need to be the same.

His frank anecdote about his inspiration opened my heart for him. He then explained that because his restaurant was in an industrial area with not much money and few gourmets, he had much time to think. His positive approach to life made me laugh. After going bankrupt with his first restaurant, he had an opportunity to open another restaurant in Paris and London.

Today, he has 15 restaurants around the world that employ many staff members and make much money. However, he emphasized that money isn’t the ultimate goal. For him, cooking is an art based on the integrity of a chef. Through cooking, he can express love, establish relationships and make people happy. He wishes to remain as a craftsman and says he would not have been successful without the support of and collaboration with his staff, whom he considers family. He learns from the food created by his team members’ intuition and shares with them his attitude, respect, spirit and experience rather than just his skills.

The second chef on stage,

Roca,

is a chef with philosopher’s eyes. As the chef responsible for moving the center of the culinary world from France to Spain, he, like Feran Adria, is a creative genius who introduces new ways of cooking. Born into a family of restaurateurs, he runs El Celler de Can Roca with his brothers — Josep, a sommelier, and Jordi, a world-famous pastry chef. He started his talk by saying he had a humble dream to open his own restaurant next to his father’s traditional Catalan restaurant in Girona, a small, working-class Spanish city.

Even though he started his career as a duty to his family, he was full of imagination and passion and dreamed of operating his own restaurant so that he could continue to be resourceful and creative.

Roca has achieved this dream with his brothers. He runs a creative lab to develop innovative dishes. He creates different dishes by adding to Catalan food tastes from places he has traveled. He has also boldly adopted Korean ingredients. He makes Spanish rice with “boong-eu-ppang,” a fried ball with pork belly and kimchi inspired by “bossam” or steamed pork with wrapped kimchi. Using his creativity and travel experience, he transforms Catalan food.

He consistently references Catalan food because of his love for the people of Catalan. This remark made me understand his sincerity in making his customers happy and helping them enjoy life.

He closed his talk by showing a video of his parents enjoying the dishes he and his brother created based on food they ate in Mexico, Peru, Korea and Morocco, places their parents haven’t been to. The bright smiles on their parents made me feel Chef Roca’s connection to Korean culture, which strongly values the family. He said the world goes round and Korean food has limitless potential and will be highly competitive if people highlight authenticity and are open to applying different techniques from other cultures.

The last one to take the stage was and the youngest among the three was Chef Ledzepi, who established the culinary center in Copenhagen, which nobody expected to happen. Smart and curious, he challenged preexisting notions about food.

Coming from a Nordic country with severe winters and insufficient food on top of a frugal Protestant culture, he faced more hardships than the other two chefs. He wanted to showcase his country’s cuisine through its agricultural and fishing industries, and he made incessant efforts to research and evaluate traditions.

After 11 years, his restaurant, Noma, which has 40 seats, grew into one with 100 staff members and became regarded as the world’s best restaurant.

Thanks to Noma, the number of visitors to Copenhagen significantly increased, and so did the city’s agricultural and fishing exports. Some 1,500 people are on the restaurant’s waiting list, but only nine would be lucky to get a table.

The chef continues to challenge himself by studying ants. In particular, he wants to know why we eat honey, which is bee vomit, but not insects. Ever curious, he challenges old practices and offers new perspectives. His childlike curiosity along with his passion stirs the world. He said he feels great happiness from the changes in the culinary world and is proud of playing an important role in that change, and he and his staff want to share that happiness to customers.

The genuine and lively talks by the three chefs made me realize that they achieved their status not because of a God-given talent but because of their relentless efforts to find their identity in order to overcome constraints and their neverending curiosity. They all pointed out that honesty, passion, creativity and teamwork are keys to success in the culinary world.

People at the event also asked them how Korean food can be globalized and whether Korea can generate star chefs like them. Even though they spoke in different languages, their answers were the same — both can be achieved if you genuinely love what you have, strive for authenticity, challenge customs and recognize your strengths instead of comparing yourself with or copying others.

Vivian Han is the CEO of Congdu Food & Culture. She believes Korean food is changing and growing in tandem with modern Korean life and culture. She is a culture creator, showcasing modern Korean food and lifestyle that integrate the past, present and future.