Korean-American chef plants hope for orphans

Chef Hooni Kim, left, prepares a meal with chef Kim Ji-woon of Volpino, right, at Zion Home in Seoul. / Courtesy of Hooni Kim

By Yun Suh-young

Korean-American chef Hooni Kim, who is well known in both Korea and the U.S. for his appearance in Master Chef Korea and for his restaurant Danji in New York which was the first Korean restaurant to get a Michelin star, has embarked on a new journey to help less privileged children and give them hope for the future.

"Yori Chunsa" ("Angel Chefs" in Korean) is an organization he created in February last year to have chefs cook for orphans and provide them with job opportunities at their restaurants, should they be interested in cooking. His research began in June 2016 and he decided on the program later that year. Since its launch, seven restaurants in Seoul have participated and continue to do so a year into the program. This year, more restaurants will be joining the organization -- there will be a total of 13 restaurants participating.

"I'm going to need about 20 to 24 if we're going to do one more orphanage. At the moment, we're visiting just one -- Zion Home which is an all-girls orphanage in Seoul. I didn't think it was my responsibility to expand but we have principals of orphanages asking us to come. And we want to help," he said during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Monday.

"In New York, chefs all volunteer. It's part of the culture to help the less fortunate with our food. I was looking for that because I like to teach. But although being a chef is popular in Korea, there were no organizations that really took advantage of chefs (to help out this way). We became chefs because we want to give, because we want to make people happy. With the talent that we have gained, we want to share. Most of us are teachers in the kitchen -- that's what we do."

The seven participating restaurants are Osteria Matinee, YG Food, GBB Kitchen, Kusuna Bakery, Manimal Smokehouse, Coreanos Kitchen, and Volpino. Every Wednesday, a different restaurant visits the orphanage to cook new menus for them. A head chef of one of the restaurants and two kitchen staffers come with student volunteers from Sejong University to cook. Each restaurant's turn comes every seven weeks. Chef Hooni Kim himself visits three or four times a year to cook.

"The reason we do this is not because we want to feed them but because ultimately they need to be able to taste these foods to be able to become a good chef. This last month we started taking them out to restaurants. The next step this year will be to get the high school kids who are interested to start interning at the restaurants as apprentices," said Kim.

"We will have one chef and his entire restaurant take part in educating this one child. When they're expected to leave the orphanage, there's a job ready for them as a full-time cook. That's the biggest reason why we're doing this."

The initial participants are Kim's own friends and people who have reached out to him when he announced his initiative.

"A lot of my Korean-American friends, most of them chefs and the restaurant owners have some sort of experience or background in the U.S. or abroad and that's why it was easy for me to ask. Some of them are really close, and some of them found me when I told people on Facebook. Manimal found me and they even volunteered an oven for the orphanage. Kusuna Bakery was key because the orphanage that we're helping has all girls. I wanted to have enough female role models that these girls can see, that 'yes you can be a woman and be a chef, you can be a woman and be a CEO.' YG Food's Noh Hee-young was a close friend. She didn't even let me finish my sentence before she said 'that's a great idea, let's go for it.'"

Kim's attention to orphans date back to his youth -- growing up in New York, he saw lot of Koreans being adopted by white families.

"I was in junior high (in the ‘70s and ‘80s) when I noticed it. It was a common thing. I remember thinking I was thankful Americans would adopt Korean kids. But I also remember thinking 'wouldn't it be so much more easier for the kids if it was Korean families that adopt these kids' because at least you don't look so out of place," he said.

"So I wanted to adopt. All my life I thought I was going to adopt. But when I had the opportunity, I realized it's much more difficult. My wife and I talked about it -- our son was seven at the time (two years ago) -- and she said she felt guilty disciplining him. But if the child wasn't biologically ours and if we knew the child had parents in Korea, she said she couldn't live with the guilt of having disciplined them. That's the tragedy of Korea. Most of the kids at orphanages are not really orphans -- most have parents and they're abandoned or they come because their parents can't afford it. So I felt guilty about not being able to help."

When he started visiting orphanages in between the time he was filming Master Chef Korea two years ago, Kim realized the situation was dire.

"Principals at orphanages said these kids are forced to leave at 18 with 5 million won and that's it. They have to find a place to live, find a job, go to school, and find a way to live. But there's a lot of discrimination when they apply for jobs, even with part time jobs at convenience stores. They don't want to hire kids who grew up without parents because they think these kids never learned not to steal. It's a challenge for these kids. These kids start realizing when they're 16, the future is bleak for them. But they shouldn't be worrying about their future at 16. Sixteen is hard as it is."

He learned that among Koreans who commit suicide between ages 18 to 23, four out of five have been in an orphanage. The facilities have the funds and resources to take care of these kids while they're in their care, but once they turn 18, when they really need help, there's nobody there.

"The kids leave and they never come back because they're ashamed -- the girls are taken into human trafficking, boys go into gangs. It's a dire problem and it's something that I thought that I could help. If there's one kid that becomes a chef, then we have done something very special and unique."

The reason why he wants to encourage them to cook is because everyone is equal in the kitchen and nobody is judged by their background.

"I want them to know that cooking in the kitchen, nobody cares who your parents are or if you have parents. None of the chefs care. It's one of the few careers that nobody cares. As long as you work hard inside that kitchen, then you're respected and you could advance. It's a very fair career for them to go into," he said.

"It's all about working hard. Even if they don't become one, when you work in a kitchen you get a good work ethic. There are so many definitions of trying hard. But you really don't know what your maximum potential is until you're pushed. In the kitchen, that happens. In the kitchen, if you put your mind to it, almost everything you can do. So that's what I want to teach the kids."

His project is currently up on GoFundMe.com where he raised $20,110 of $25,000 he set as a goal. The money will be used entirely for the children.

"I thought that this would take a lot more money, that's why I set this goal. I raised 20,000 dollars and of that I have 18,500 dollars not spent after a year. Ultimately this money is for when the child leaves the orphanage and when the child needs to go to school. It's like a slush fund. It's not about the money as of now, but the ultimate mission is to get enough chefs to support us when we want to do another orphanage."