Hotel&Restaurant
Culinary stardom wasn’t part of chef Edward Kwon’s career plan, but he’s using his unexpected celebrity to make a kitchen career respected in his native South Korea, and to introduce the world to traditional Korean cuisine. Words Iris Wong Many chefs tell you their aspiration to cook professionally started early, often after watching a mother figure whipping up their favourite childhood dish. But not Edward Kwon. The Jamie Oliver of South Korea – whose youthful, camera-ready face has appeared on CNN’s Culinary Journeys, TVdramasandcookingshows such as Cheongdamdong Alice and Yes Chef –started working in a kitchen because it paid US$20 more thanhisserverjobatthesamerestaurant.“Atthat time, $20 was not small money,” he says. “A music CD was around $1.50, so we’re talking more than 10 CDs there. That was a lot of money for me, so I didn’t hesitate to switch jobs.” NotonlydidKwonnotexpecttobeachef(“When I was in middle school, I made tteokbokki for my sister. She hated it. Took one bite, slammed down her chopsticks and said it was garbage”), he wanted to become a priest. That news didn’t go down too well with his family. “I was the only son, so if I became a priest, the generations would be disconnected, and my grandmotherwasso,soworried,”hesays.After givinguphisplansforthepriesthood,hewent through a phase as a delinquent teenager, then moved toSeoultoworkatarestaurant.Heeventuallywent to culinary school, where he discovered his passion for the culinary arts, especially French cooking. Kwon honed his craft at luxury hotels in Seoul (The Ritz-Carlton Seoul and W Hotel Seoul- Walkerhill), San Francisco (The Ritz-Carlton Half MoonBay),andmostnotably,BurjAlArabinDubai, where his TV career took off. “I was the head chef at Burj Al Arab, and back then, Dubai was just opening up to the world. It’s one of the most expensive hotels in the world. I guess because I was a Korean guy who’s not old and worked at a seven-star hotel, the mediathoughtthatwouldmakeagoodstory.Istarted appearing on the news and in documentaries… there were crews filming how I cooked and lived at the hotel. It became a hit,” Kwon recalls. Perhaps South Korea’s first globally recognised celebrity chef, Kwon’s presence in the international culinary scene may have kick-started changes in how Koreans, especially from the older generation, perceive those who want to pursue a culinary career. “OneofthereasonsIcameback[toSeoul]was becauseIwantedpeopletolookatusdifferently,” Kwon explains. “Working in the kitchen in Korea was notarespectedjob,ascomparedto,say,in Europe or in the US. Chefs are not just workers in thekitchen.Theword‘chef’hasaconnotationof leadership and I want people in the industry to be acknowledged and respected.” It was following his move back to Seoul, in 2009, that he decided rather than localising Korean cuisine