Cooking show finds breakthrough with Eric

Eric Mun, from left, Lee Seo-jin and Yoon Kyun-sang pose on a boat at Deukryang Island, Goheung, South Jeolla Province, in the season premiere of “Three Meals a Day.” / Courtesy of CJ E&M

Three Meals a Day's population soars with newly cast members

By Kim Jae-heun

“Three Meals a Day,” a popular reality cooking show directed by producer Na Young-seok, returned with its sixth season set in a fishing village, last Friday on tvN.

Again, Na chose actor Lee Seo-jin as the main cast member of the show to lead the series as he has for the last three years. But the biggest question was whether the newly joined members Eric Mun of the boy band Shinhwa and actor Yoon Kyun-sang will harmonize well with Lee.

In the previous two seasons, Lee and singer Ok Taec-yeon of K-pop boy band 2PM showed great rapport and teamwork. The two seasons were set in rural areas in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province, and Gochang County, North Jeolla Province, where they planted seeds and harvested crops to cook their own meals with limited kitchen utensils.

However, for the new fishing village episodes set on Deukryang Island in South Jeolla Province, Mun’s unexpected cooking skills have grabbed audiences’ attention and his expertise in fishing made him a perfect cast member. The series regained its popularity with the first episode’s average viewership rating recording 12.6 percent, according to Nielson Korea. The finale of the series starring Lee in Jeongseon finished with the lowest average viewing rating of 9.6 percent.

The viewer ratings showed that it was the most-watched show by the age group ranging from teens to those in their 50s among the TV shows aired in the same time slot.

“Honestly, I don’t expect much when a guy says he is good at cooking as Taec-yeon himself said he was a good cook, but he turned out not to be,” said Lee during the press conference at Imperial Palace Hotel in Gangnam, southern Seoul, last Thursday. “But Eric is really good at cooking. He said he learned through cooking TV shows. I never thought one could really become a good cook by watching TV programs.”

Na agreed that he did not expect to see such amazing cooking scenes in the latest season although he knew Eric was a sophisticated cook and fisherman. But the director hesitated in casting Eric, as the singer-turned-actor is a rather shy person and he finds himself uncomfortable with strangers. However, Na decided to put Eric in his show when he remembered the actor’s appearance with Lee in the hit drama “Phoenix” in 2004.

“I remember Lee took care of me a lot when I joined the shooting of Phoenix 12 years ago,” said Mun. “It was my second time acting and I took a leading role in a big drama series and I was under pressure. But Lee taught me many things and treated me to dinner often. I took the offer to join this show when I heard Lee is starring too.”

This is the first entertainment show that Mun has joined without his band mates from Shinhwa.

In the first episode, he prepared potato sujebi, a soup with potato, for lunch. He also used meat from a crab he caught and cooked it in a soybean paste to make a crab doenjang stew.

Na said that he hopes to continue producing TV shows that portray scenes of metropolitan residents preparing meals in rural areas using only foods they grow themselves or fish from the sea.

“We can fix our meals easily in the city, but I wanted people to remember how difficult it is to prepare a proper meal in a slow life. The show does not contain any spectacular or dramatic scenes, but it has its own viewing points,” said Na.