Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
'Culinary Class Wars' chef feeds bereaved families of Jeju Air plane crash victims
Celebrity chef Ahn Yu-seong, left, prepares food for bereaved families at the Muan International Airport, Wednesday. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
Ahn Yu-seong, a Gwangju-born chef who appeared on Netflix’s top-rated cooking competition program "Culinary Class Wars," visited Muan International Airport on New Year’s Day to console the bereaved families of the Jeju Air plane crash victims with food service.
Together with other chefs and restaurant owners from the region, Ahn provided 1,000 servings of abalone porridge, 200 "gimbap" (steamed rice rolls with various ingredients) and 200 sandwiches for the bereaved families at the airport on Wednesday.
Ahn, 53, is the country's 16th national cooking master. He hails from Gwangju and runs a Japanese restaurant there.
He originally planned to prepare "tteokguk," the traditional rice cake soup that Koreans have on New Year's, but changed the menu for the bereaved families.
"The rice cake soup on New Year's would be meaningful, but the bereaved families are so tired and struggling in reality," he said through a local radio program.
"It’s not easy for them to swallow food and eat anything at the moment, so we prepared abalone porridge, hoping that it would help them restore energy."
Several chefs, including those who starred in the Netflix original, joined the cause as volunteers.
"The basic attitude of cooking is sharing," he said. "After hearing that we are serving food, many came to volunteer."
Ahn also visited the site on Monday, immediately after the catastrophic plane crash, with 200 rolls of gimbap.
"I had no idea what the airport situation was like and what I could do to help. But I quickly prepared gimbap and came anyway," he said, adding that among the victims was a producer whom he had worked with, regular customers and local acquaintances.
Ahn plans to continue serving food while the bereaved families stay at the airport.
"I will continue to look for food that could help them regain energy, such as a sandwich," he said, "Making food is the only talent I have, so I wish to donate this talent while staying together to share sadness."