Kitchens never stop churning on Korean TV

One of the most noticeable trends in the Korean television industry since 2015 has been the sudden rise of “cook-bang,” a newly coined term that refers to shows that combine cooking and entertainment.

These shows, which add a talk show, game show or survival reality element to traditional cooking shows, have been steadily on the rise -- and they show no signs of stopping, with cable channel JTBC rolling out a new show called “Best Chefs Ever” just last week. 

On the show, four chefs are tasked with representing the culinary scene in Korea and sent abroad to various countries to engage in “cook-offs” with top local chefs.

Described as an “expansion” of other cooking shows by producer Lee Chang-woo, the program is a spin-off of JTBC’s immensely popular “Chef & My Fridge,” which is also commonly known abroad as “Take Care of My Refrigerator.” On “Chef & My Fridge,” chefs are challenged to create dishes in just 15 minutes using ingredients already stocked in someone’s refrigerator. On “Best Chefs Ever” the chefs must figure out how to whip up dishes using the ingredients and kitchens in restaurants abroad.

The new program pulls together all of the elements that have been known to bring success to entertainment shows in the past: Chef-tainers Lee Yeon-bok, Choi Hyun-seok, Sam Kim and Lee Won-il, who have showed off both their culinary skills and sense of humor on television in the past; hosting giants Kang Ho-dong and Kim Seong-ju as cohosts along with soccer star turned rising TV personality Ahn Jung-hwan; a battle-style framework; and scenery and food from travel destinations.

However, at the press conference ahead of the show’s premiere, the cast repeated that the result of each cook-off was less important than the experience of chefs sharing their talents across cultures.

“More than the competition, I felt that the core of the program was in the way the chefs really communicated and related with one another afterwards,” said host Kang. “I felt that there was a new message being promoted in this program, and I felt very proud.”

“Best Chefs Ever” may be the first program to highlight the relationship between chefs, but it is certainly not the first to use cooking as a way to bring people -- notably nonprofessional cooks -- together. On tvN’s “Three Meals a Day,” created by star producer Na Young-seok, the bonding between top chefs attracted viewers to the show as these chefs had to work together to create three meals a day, completely from scratch. On O’live TV’s “What Shall We Eat Today,” talk show stars Shin Dong-yup and Sung Si-kyung introduce easy recipes to viewers, making mistakes and cracking jokes the entire time.

“Most cooking shows have at least one specialist,” Shin told reporters at the CJ E&M studio in Seoul while introducing the revamped studio on Feb. 16. “On our show, we have two non-specialists who pretend they know how to do everything.” 

“Best Chefs Ever” and “What Shall We Eat Today” are representative of the two looming trends in cooking shows: Professional chefs using their craft for entertainment and celebrities using food to create a friendlier, more approachable image. With the exception of Baek Jong-won’s “House Cook Master Chef,” which focuses on introducing simple homely recipes combined with Baek’s folksy personality, it is hard to name a popular cook-bang show that follows the traditional cooking show format.

Cooking as a skill or art form is no longer at the center of the cook-bang concept, with cooking having become simply another tool for entertainment. With the exception of particularly young or lesser-known chefs such as Maeng Ki-yong, who voluntarily left “Chef & My Fridge” after controversies arose about his skill and attitude, chefs are rarely judged on their talent alone. They are mostly sought after for their value as entertainers.

After all, even the producer of “Best Chefs Ever” acknowledged that the famous chefs challenged by the Korean team barely knew who the Korean chefs were, and required some persuasion to agree to a match. The fact that there is not a single female star chef, or even host, under the spotlight also alludes to how these cooking shows are probably more about pleasing mainly female viewers than pure culinary skill. But with ratings holding steady, it seems cook-bang will be here to stay -- at least until another TV-friendly cooking concept comes to the fore.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)