'Join My Table' producers spotlight expats' 'home away from home' through food

Clockwise from top left are Team AWAW's producers Lee Myeong-ju, Choi Min-gyu, Lim Kyong-ah, Lee Hee-sun, Cho Yu-chae, Ha Hun-tak and Gong Min-jeong, who led Watcha's original show "Join My Table." Courtesy of Watcha

By Lee Gyu-lee

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, traveling overseas has become much harder, if not impossible, with entry restrictions in place across the world.

A poster for the show "Join My Table" / Courtesy of Watcha

As many await their chance to get a dose of culture by traveling again, the streaming platform Watcha's original show, "Join My Table," took a rather different approach to explore different countries through food that offers a sense of "home away from home" to foreigners who live in Korea.

"If we just take a look around, there are plenty of good places to eat ethnic cuisines in Korea. Thanks to those immigrants who came here and took on a role in our society, we are able to enjoy these privileges (for different food)," Lim Kyong-ah, the head of the show's producer team Team AWAW, said in an interview with The Korea Times, Monday. "We wanted to blend in that story for the viewers and offer a sense of tranquility to get through this tough time."

The subtle, feel-good show takes the viewers on a trip to different cities across Korea to get a glimpse into an individual expat or immigrant's lives, like Yemenis in Jeju Island and Indonesians in Ansan of Gyeonggi Province. For each episode, a host from a different country invites the show's main hosts ― veteran announcer Lee Keum-hee and her former student and "Love in the Big City" author Park Sang-young ― to their favorite restaurant and the surrounding neighborhood.

Taking a guide booklet about the host and the neighborhood, Lee and Park freely exchange conversations from historical background to social issues as they visit different spots, and share life stories as they join the city's host for a meal.

A scene from the show / Courtesy of Watcha

The show is led by a team of producers, Team AWAW, ― comprised of Lim, Ha Hun-tak, Lee Myeong-ju, Cho Yu-chae, Gong Min-jeong, Choi Min-gyu, and Lee Hee-sun. The former producers of TV variety shows, such as "Street Food Fighter," "Youn's Kitchen" and "Three Meals a Day," came together to form a collective creator system as the team under Watcha.

Lim said that the show's format began with the simple approach to inviting a person from that country to introduce a restaurant offering its cuisine.

"Like Koreans know the best about Korean food, we just simply thought that we should scout a place in the city where the immigrants are populated. And we realized that those areas, populated with immigrants from a specific country, have a backstory relating to our history," she said. "And as we narrowed down to the restaurants in these areas, we came across the spots where we can learn more about our lives and our country (from the immigrants' perspective)."

However, she also noted that the show tried to avoid putting emphasis on the historical or political background of the immigrants' native country.

"Sure, it'll be helpful to understand where they came from if we learn their historical background. But we just wanted to focus on that individual and on that moment where he or she has fun and shares joy over a meal," she said. "We felt that it would be an over-interpretation to take the story into such broader scope and try to cover all sorts of (political and historical) aspects. So we tried to put a balance in it."

Veteran announcer Lee Keum-hee, right, and author Park Sang-young lead the show as the main hosts. Courtesy of Watcha

So the show intends to tell a story from the expats' and immigrants' personal accounts over food to show that they are no different from any other Koreans.

Producer Ha shared that the production team took a thorough process and approach to find the right host for each city that would best fit the show's purpose.

"(For example,) for Gimhae's episode, there are a lot of people with different nationalities. And when we chose to cover Moroccans in that city, we looked for people whose lives are similar but also different from ours," he said. "Then we came across the boy named Ali whose mother is Moroccan and father is Korean. He was the right fit as he could share his life, coming from a multicultural family, and can relate to our society's future as a Korean native."

Lim added that she hopes the viewers can gain a broader view of the expats' and immigrants' lives in Korea and find them relatable through the show.

"Each city's hosts are people who have rooted their lives in the Korean society and are spending their days healthily, happily, and enjoyably. When we look at only a part of one's life, we might have a partial view as if that small part defines that person," Lim said, adding that they just wanted to see the hosts as a person rather than someone caught in a diplomatic or social issues.

"We thought it would be nice to take out the serious, partial aspects of this person and view them from a slightly different perspective to bring their story to the table … (for example) there are a lot of documentaries about Yemeni refugees going through a hard time. And I felt that the spotlight is mostly on that side of their story. So we decided that we balance it out by shedding light on their joy and happiness."

The show invites expats and immigrants from different countries across Korea to share their country's food and their story. Courtesy of Watcha

The producers expressed that the show has given them an opportunity to grow closer to the immigrants across the country.

"For the Gwangju episode, featuring a Goryeoin (ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet states) restaurant owner, we offered the owner to take a family photo at the end of the filming. And as we were taking the photo and seeing him and his family smile, I felt touched thinking of how he opened up to us and shared his stories, and made me look back on my own family," producer Cho said. "It is such a meaningful episode and I'm sure the viewers can also grasp that essence from it."

Producer Gong added that she came to truly learn more about those who were often misleadingly portrayed through media.

"Like in Jeju, for example, we came to deeply interact with people from Yemen, with whom we've only been familiar through the media. And the more we share stories and get to know them better, they were so friendly and goodhearted," she said. "The feelings toward these six cities and its people have grown a lot since the production."

The six-part show hit the streaming site on Feb. 28 and releases each episode every Monday at 5 p.m.