Time to Reach Out (1)
2015 was a meaningful year for all chefs in Korea. Cooking streams, which had been stealthily rising in popularity, suddenly began dominating all live streams.
The influence of this rise in popularity was not just felt by those who were on-screen. All the chefs in Korea changed.
It began in part due to the change in awareness. People were no longer ignoring the profession of chef. In fact, up until a few years prior, many people even included chefs as a part of the 3D jobs1. It was the type of job that did not pay all that well and whose strength or benefit no one could think of.
Actually, that way of thinking was not necessarily incorrect. Fire and knives are threatening, skills grow slowly, and junior chefs have to prepare every single food item no matter how trash the food is. Even after painstakingly building up work experience like that, unless you were able to join a hotel’s kitchen staff, salary would not be all that great.
In fact, the situation has not greatly changed since then. Cooking streams could not clean up the mess in the chefs’ kitchens, bring about their growth more quickly, or enable them to avoid using fire and knives. Also, their salaries did not improve any.
However, people began to understand that there are not only disadvantages in the chefs’ world. That those who saw those disadvantages and still chose to remain in the kitchen had their own reasons for doing so. And those reasons were far more beautiful than people thought.
People now had begun to accept cooking as a part of art. Previously, there had been people who would say a course at a restaurant was garbage at cost-effectiveness and a pretentious use of food, but now they understood the course to be an expression of romance.
In fact, it is currently the era in Korea in which chefs have been the most well understood in all of history.
Lee Duho was one of those who had benefited the most from this understanding. A few years prior, a morning cooking show he had been appearing in had grown into a huge program alongside the growth of cooking streams. And afterwards, Lee Duho had been called to participate in various cooking streams.
As a result, he had become the most famous chef in Korea. He was so famous that one could argue he was the top when it comes to popularity.
As such, he was currently seated on a plane to L.A. with Hong Mangil. Lee Duho turned his head slightly to look at Hong Mangil. After seeing the other stubbornly keeping his eyes closed, Lee Duho turned his head back. Even though his own worth was at the top of the heap of recent chefs, he honestly could not even raise his head before Hong Mangil. Hong Mangil was not simply a senior in the industry. He was pretty much considered the father of Korean cuisine.
Lee Duho steadied his breath and looked around him. He was currently filming a gourmet travel program. There were just three cast members. Hong Mangil, Lee Duho, and the one who was sitting next to him, Park Shiwoo.
“Hey, Shiwoo,” Lee Duho called out to Park Shiwoo.
His good looks made him appear like a scholar to anyone looking at him. Of course, he was also a chef.
“Hey, hyung.”
“It looks like something’s putting Mr. Hong in a bad mood. Do you know why?”
“…Well, I’m not sure. Maybe he’s just tired?” Park Shiwoo tilted his head as if he could not empathize with that at all.
Honestly, he thought that Lee Duho was rather afraid. Lee Duho had been like that from the start. Lee Duho, who had never seen Hong Mangil before, had behaved like a private being closely disciplined by a battalion commander as soon as he met Hong Mangil.
Shiwoo could understand, however. Lee Duho, who had originally specialized in Western cuisine, had begun pursuing Korean fusion cuisine in large part due to Hong Mangil’s cooking. When standing before the person you idolized who had changed your entire world around, it was not easy shrugging off the meeting.
“The flight’s over 10 hours long. He could possibly just be tired.”
Despite Shiwoo’s assurances, whenever he got the chance, Lee Duho would peek at Hong Mangil’s expression. It looked like he was worried he had somehow inconvenienced Mr. Hong.
He wanted to tell Lee Duho that it was a pointless worry, but it did not look like his words would get through to Duho even if he said them. Lee Duho turned his head slightly to look out the window. Before they had realized it, the California wilderness was visible outside the window.
‘Rose Island, eh?’
It was where the three of them were to visit soon. The U.S. legend that had never missed a 3-star Michelin rating. The restaurant led directly by the top chef in the United States, Rachel. Also…
‘Master Jo Minjoon.’
Jo Minjoon had become a rather symbolic figure in Korea. Although, by pure popularity alone, Lee Duho and Park Shiwoo were more popular because they had been very consistent with filming their programs.
However, despite that, Jo Minjoon still held a significant presence in Korea. He had been the first chef to make cooking streams a thing in Korea. One reporter had said that Jo Minjoon had been the decisive factor in fostering the cooking stream boom within Korea. And since he had gained recognition in the United States, people began to have interest in the Grand Chef series, and that continued on to an interest in cooking.
You could look at Jo Minjoon as a type of Yuna Kim for the world of cooking. Just as a country that had never properly broadcast figure skating before began capturing every one of her matches on camera, people had come to understand the fundamentals of cooking thanks to Jo Minjoon.
‘Somehow I need to find a way to thank him.’
The fame they were basking in that very moment was clearly in large part due to Jo Minjoon. However, Park Shiwoo was more interested in Jo Minjoon’s skills than how much influence he had imparted. The moment Hong Mangil had met them, he had asked them if they knew Jo Minjoon. It was later that he had learned that Hong Mangil had regular correspondence with Jo Minjoon.
Jo Minjoon was a man who left a mysterious impression. Absolute sense of taste. Jotus Guide. And Lotus Bridge. How many people out there had managed to snag two Michelin stars not long after opening their restaurant?
With that in mind, Korea may actually have an interest in Jo Minjoon, then. Jo Minjoon actually was more worthy of attention.
‘In any case, I’ll know soon.’
It was likely he was not the only one wondering about Jo Minjoon right now. There was no need to act hastily. They had plans to head to Lotus Bridge after finishing dining at Rose Island, after all.
It was likely that both Hong Mangil and Lee Duho had just as much desire to see Jo Minjoon as Park Shiwoo had.
‘The world, eh?’
He suddenly began to wonder whether they, who were called the best in Korea, were simply just frogs in a well?
Even if that were to be true, that well would never be small.
“…Oh.”
He had been determined not to be struck by admiration like a country bumpkin, but the moment Lee Duho entered Rose Island, he honestly did feel struck by admiration. There was something about Rose Island’s ambience that you could not easily find in Korea. Nestled in Venice Beach’s easygoing atmosphere, the subtly vintage scenery of the restaurant felt like it was a palace erected among thatched houses.
“Hello.”
Rachel Rose had appeared.
In that moment, Lee Duho could felt deeply moved. Rachel was more famous in Korea as Jo Minjoon’s master, but she was actually famous among chefs. She was an important figure you could not leave out of the conversation when talking about the history of American cuisine.
And now they were partaking of the food of said important figure. Hong Mangil began to speak, and the interpreter began to quickly translate his words.
“I’ve heard a lot about you from Minjoon.”
“Likewise.”
“I’m really looking forward to today’s course. Jo Minjoon is an amazing chef. Then, if you were the one who fostered his growth, then you must also be an amazing chef.”
Upon hearing those words, Lee Duho honestly felt a pang of jealousy. Even though the entirety of Korea said he was amazing, Hong Mangil had yet to acknowledge him.
He was also not the type to speak of such praises easily, either. And to think that said chef he praised was 15 years his junior—that is why Lee Duho was puzzled. At the very least within Korea, while Lee Duho may not know about those who are older than Hong Mangil, he had never heard of Hong Mangil losing out to someone younger than himself.
Rachel smiled widely.
“I’ll let my dishes speak for themselves.”
Those were not empty words of hers. After concluding small talk there, Rachel immediately entered the kitchen. Annie approached and guided them to the table.
Park Shiwoo asked in a quiet voice, “Mr. Hong, do you know anything about Chef Rachel?”
“I know just enough. That she was Minjoon’s master. That she’s among the top chefs in the United States. And that she’s the head of Rose Island. However, I don’t know about her cooking. I’ll find that out now.”
With those words, Hong Mangil stopped speaking again. Park Shiwoo was secretly surprised by this. It felt as if this maestro sensed a rival in another maestro. Was it due to a simple matter of pride as a chef? Or because of Jo Minjoon?
He did not take long to think about it. The dishes began to come out one by one. And as the course progressed, Lee Duho and Park Shiwoo, and of course Hong Mangil, too, could not help but have surprised looks on their faces.
No, rather, it was not a simple matter of surprise. A happiness they could not hide was forcibly tugging at the corners of their lips.
‘…We were indeed inside a well.’
Park Shiwoo looked at the dishes placed before him with a defeated expression. They had yet to experience the main selection. However, just from consuming a few of the appetizers alone, they could already tell how incredible this Rachel person was. What an incredible chef she was.
Unbelievably so. Park Shiwoo had done some investigation on Rachel before coming here. Thanks to his time studying abroad, he had no issues with English so he could understand to some extent what gourmands were saying about Rachel outside of Korea.
However, Park Shiwoo could only doubt all of their opinions. Because many of the gourmands had said that while Rachel’s cooking was impressive, she could not compare to the time when Daniel had been by her side. But that was a ridiculous remark. When he could already acknowledge his defeat by eating only these few initial appetizers, he could not even imagine what such an incredible era could have been like in the past.
It was not unreasonable for Park Shiwoo to think that way. Those evaluations by those gourmands had been done several years ago. Rachel was showing a huge difference between herself now and herself from 1 year ago. So much of a difference that when Jo Minjoon had previously come by to experience Rachel’s cooking, he had thought she may even be able to reach cuisine level 10 soon.
If Park Shiwoo had been that astonished, there was no way Hong Mangil could have been any less astonished. He glanced over at the kitchen. Rachel was not looking at all at them and had settled into cooking.
‘…Honestly, I lost.’
Over the past few years, after receiving advice from Jo Minjoon, Hong Mangil had honestly thought that he had drawn closer to perfection. The skills he had not been able to properly control before now had found their direction. The only need was to find their basis at that point. If he could only establish his sense for cooking perfectly, he had been very confident that one would not be able to find anyone else over the past several hundred years of Korean cuisine history who could surpass him.
However, Rachel was different. This was not an issue of a difference between Korean cuisine and Western cuisine. It was a matter of the chef, him or herself. With a cursory glance, one could say the two of them were similar, but someone of Hong Mangil’s level could understand. He could see that Rachel had only a few steps left to cross that final hurdle.
“Like master like disciple,” Hong Mangil muttered in a heavy voice.
The PD2 exclaimed inwardly as he watched Hong Mangil. Hong Mangil, who had never been one to recognize other chefs, had so easily deferred to Rachel.
‘This is turning out more interesting than I thought!’
The program’s intent was to talk about each country’s gourmet scene. However, a thought suddenly came to mind.
A thought that maybe even before learning about America, viewers’ needed to know about Rose Island first.
CREDITS:
Original author: 양치기자리
Translator: Comic Seoul
Proofreader: Potato