Cooking show explores world's street foods

Chef and businessman Baek Jong-won speaks in this July 2015 file photo. / Korea Times file

Chef Baek elaborates untold stories about gastronomy

By Park Jin-hai

Celebrity chef Baek Jong-won, who was behind a home cooking boom in recent years through many of his popular cooking shows, will return with another food show.

Joining with producer Park Hee-yeon of “House Cook Master Baek,” the 51-year-old chef and businessman with many food and beverage restaurants of which he has sold franchises to others will travel around the world to find hidden street food in his new show “Street Food Fighter.” The chef, who says he wants to make “recipes that can actually help people,” and develop easy-to-learn and delicious recipes, will introduce the best food spots in each city, including Hong Kong and Bangkok, and share stories behind the food.

“Traveling abroad and tasting local foods and interpreting them has been my way of developing recipes and know-how,” said Baek during the press conference at CJ E&M's headquarters in Seoul, Friday. “While shooting, I didn't think about ratings or viewer responses. I just thought that my new show would help food researchers and those who love food.”

Producer Park met the chef in her previous recipe-focused show and she heard many amusing and interesting food stories from him at the time. “Instead of recipes, I wanted to share stories related to food this time,” she said. “Street Food Fighter” will bring more detailed stories of each food and its ingredients, going a step ahead from conventional food shows showing food being eaten and restaurant information.

“In the same way TTeokbokki (spicy stir-fried rice cake) makes people remember their school years, street foods hold a country's culture. We wanted to tell the food-culture connection in an easy and fun way. The scenes are filmed in documentary style and viewers may feel like they are reading fairy tales on foods in each episode,” said the producer.

Baek, CEO of Theborn Korea, with his good-natured smile and speaking in his easy-going Chungcheong Province dialect, rose to stardom in 2015, making a TV appearance in the popular MBC reality show “My Little Television.”

With the rule-breaking easy recipes, only using easy to find ingredients and rules of thumb for cooking to make delicious dishes fast, Beak's words “See… It's as easy as this” created a home cooking craze in the country.

Currently the restaurant mogul is more famous than his celebrity wife So Yoo-jin and has hosted many food shows including “Home Food Rescue” series, “Korean Food War” series, “Baek Jong-won's Food Truck” and many more.

Many have started to imitate the recipes Baek has shared on TV and have shared photos of food online. Although he has many fans, he has also faced some criticism. Some food critics say he is more of a businessman than a chef, degrading his simple recipes.

“Street Food Fighter” will air its first episode on Monday.