Entertainment
2023-03-20 17:04
Celebrities are traveling back abroad to film K-Food reality shows
| Posters for reality show Jinny’s Kitchen, left, and Korean Food Tray / Courtesy of tvN and JTBC |
By Lee Gyu-Lee
Reality shows showed that pre-coronavirus travel and food combo peaked with a handful of programs featuring celebrities cooking Korean food abroad, such as 4 Wheeled Restaurant and Pocha Beyond Borders.
About three years after the pandemic paused such shows with travel restrictions, food travel shows are returning, with new shows in the works.
Star producer Na Young-seok’s latest reality show, Jinny’s Kitchen, embarked on its much-anticipated journey late last month, introducing Korean food to Bacalar, a small town in Mexico.
Former cast members of Na’s previous food travel show Youn’s Kitchen (2017) – actors Lee Seo-jin, Jung Yu-mi and Park Seo-joon – reunited to create, along with two new members, Choi, running a Korean restaurant Woo-shik and V.
tvN’s show follows five celebrities as they struggle to run a restaurant and sell dishes like ‘gimbap’ – rice and vegetables wrapped in dried seaweed – and ‘tteokbokki’ – spicy fried rice cakes – while enjoying the tranquil, beautiful countryside put the city in the spotlight.
The series, which started on February 24 with an audience rating of 8.8 percent, achieved the highest rating of over 8 percent with its episodes of 9.3 percent.
TvN will premiere another food travel show starring celebrity chef and restaurant owner Paik Jong-won.
“Business Genius, Director Paik,” scheduled to air on April 2, will follow Paik leading a group of celebrities to open his own restaurant in overseas territories with people who have little chance of encountering Korean food.
| Scene from the show “Business Genius, Director Paik” / Courtesy of tvN |
Paik first travels to Africa with singer BamBam and actor Lee Jang-woo and then travels to Italy with Lee along with singers John Park and Kwon Yu-ri.
“Paik has made a name for himself as a successful franchise businessman. With the knowledge and strategies he has developed so far, he will challenge himself with a food company in areas unfamiliar with Korean food,” the network said. “Wait and see whether Paik’s many years of know-how in these areas will work. The trip will be a lot more fun than you expect.”
JTBC is also introducing a new overseas show set, “Korean Food Tray” starring celebrity chef Lee Yeon-bok.
The new show, which will air on March 25, is about a chef who travels abroad to introduce Korean-style school meals.
The chef, along with TV personality Hong Jin-kyung, comedians Heo Kyung-hwan and Nam Chang-hee, singer Joohoney and nutritionist Kim Min-ji, will tour various institutions to give foreigners a taste of Korean food .
The cast make a first stop at English professional football club Wolverhampton Wanderers to prepare a meal for their players. They will visit Oxford University to introduce Korean food to the students there.
The show’s producers shared that they came up with the show’s idea of putting a twist on travel shows by introducing Korean food.
“We accidentally stumbled across content about K-School meals on YouTube. And it was refreshing to see foreigners enthusiastic about Korean school meals,” they said.
“So instead of just introducing Korean food by running a restaurant abroad, we thought it would be unique to offer a large portion meal.”
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