'Perseverance crucial to becoming chef'

Chef Lee Yeon-bok, honorary ambassador of the Seoul International Food Film Festival, speaks during the opening ceremony of the festival in Megabox COEX, Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, Thursday. / Courtesy of SIFFF

By Yun Suh-young

Sebastien Bras, son of legendary French chef Michel Bras who has earned three Michelin stars since 1999, struggles to live up to his father's reputation. As much as he loves to cook, he also has pressure on his shoulders to inherit and expand the restaurant his father built and that flourished in the countryside of Laguiole, France.

Rene Redzepi, owner-chef of Noma, a Nordic restaurant in Copenhagen that topped the World's 50 Best Restaurants for three consecutive years, strives to evolve every day with new creative dishes. He persists in keeping his restaurant's identity of pursuing "Nordic cuisine" and his own style despite the pressures and intrusive comments from customers and critics.

The above two stories, which were made into films _ “Step Up to the Plate” and “Noma: My Perfect Storm” _ are among the selection of movies shown at the 2nd Seoul International Food Film Festival, providing a glimpse into the lives of world-famous chefs who struggle every day to improve. The hardships they face are beyond description but the one thing that keeps them rolling is "passion" ― the passion for cooking.

Chef Lee Yeon-bok, who is honorary ambassador of the Seoul International Food Film Festival, which is at the Megabox COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, until Tuesday, said the job would be nearly impossible without passion and persistence.

"I hope the films shown during the festival help students who want to become chefs realize whether they really like cooking or not. I also hope they realize that this career is difficult and will be a tough journey," said Lee during an interview with The Korea Times.

"Because this is an arduous career, to become a chef, you need to be strong and determined. You really need to love the job. For those who are not up for it, they better give up early or else they will be wasting their time. Only step into this profession if you're ready for the hardships. If you are, then go for the challenge."

One of the reasons why the job is harsh is because of the long working hours allowing no private time. Physical fatigue is a given.

"People who cook have no private life at all,” Lee said. “We come to work at 9 a.m. and leave at 11 p.m. You have no time to enjoy cultural life or hobbies or even date someone. There's a lot of frustration involved with our work.

"If you work at a restaurant that doesn't do well, then your body will be at ease but that doesn't do you any good as a chef. If you want to learn, you need to go to a busy restaurant in good business, but then you need to prepare for hardship. This work is never easy, so you have to be strongly determined."

Lee accepted the position as honorary ambassador for the film festival because he liked the purpose of the event to enhance understanding of the food industry.

"After a film ends, a discussion session follows,” Lee said. “I liked the fact that people could be exposed to food through films and expand their understandings about food and discuss them to understand what they're consuming.

"I hope the audiences realize how many different kinds of foods there are in the world and even in one category, and understand how they are made and how much effort is put into it by chefs. I hope many chef-aspiring students and young people come to watch. Current chefs will also be inspired by the films and they might spark them with new dreams."

Currently running Chinese restaurant Moklan (Mulan in Chinese) in Yeonhui-dong, western Seoul, Lee's plan is to travel when he retires.

"I will cook for two more years. Until then, I will be fostering junior chefs so that I can leave my restaurant up to them. Then, when the time comes that I cannot cook anymore, I want to travel the world. Oh, how I would love to visit France, Italy, Croatia... there are too many to name."