‘Culinary Class Wars’ aims to cast Gordon Ramsay as show’s team looks toward season two

They’ve already compiled a list of potential chefs they want to cast, one of them being British star chef Gordon Ramsay. “We expect casting will be easier for the next season and will actively take on viewers’ comments to create a show that can receive even more love,” co-producer Kim Hak-min told the local press at a cafe in Jongno District, central Seoul.

“Culinary Class Wars” is Netflix Korea’s first cooking survival show and featured 100 chefs competing for a final prize of 300 million won ($223,000). Premiering on Sept. 17, the 12-part series aired its finale on Oct. 8 and ranked No. 1 on the streamer’s global non-English top 10 list for three consecutive weeks.

The most challenging chef to cast in season one was fine dining celebrity chef Choi Hyun-seok, the producers said. He had initially said he would do it but changed his mind a few times after that. Jung Ji-sun, a veteran Chinese cuisine chef, was also hesitant because she was so busy with her own business. Korean American chef Edward Lee and Chinese cuisine chef Lu Ching Lai, on the other hand, enthusiastically agreed to appear.

But famous or not, all the contestants went through the same application and interview procedure to make it to the final 100.

Some who stood out in that process were “Comic Book” Cho Kwang-hyo, who had no professional chef education but wanted to come on the show out of the “pure heart of just wanting to see what the judges thought of his food.” Another was “Iron Bag Chef” Lim Tae-hoon, who gave such an earnest and genuine last-minute interview that the creatives decided to include him in the final 100.

In the end, “Napoli Matfia” Kwon Sung-jun won the competition, but many of its participating chefs ended up gaining fame and recognition.

“We are really glad that so many of the show’s contestants are receiving love and attention,” said Kim Hak-min.

“Choi Hyun-seok told me the other day that he actually was glad he didn’t win and that he was completely satisfied with how far he got in the show because it was enough to showcase who he was and his cooking philosophies.

“So, even for contestants these days, it isn’t just about winning. It is about being able to express themselves to their fullest.”

Giving these chefs the space to be themselves was the main focus of the creatives as well.
“More important than editing are the ingredients,” said Kim Hak-min. “It is about the people and their stories and journeys on the show. What we do is put that inside the frame of a camera. We wanted to respect everyone and never tried to exaggerate anything.”

In this respect, the show’s somewhat crude, albeit entertaining, concept, which pit the industry’s veterans against the lesser-known underdog chefs, was, in some way, a gamble for the creatives.

“A lot of the younger members of our team were against using nicknames, but ultimately, there were 80 Black Spoon chefs, and we needed the viewers to understand what they do and their stories quickly. Nicknames were effective in that way, and we spent many hours coming up with the best ones.”

The nicknames were also part of their ruling principle, which was to do something that had “never been done before.”

“We had over 700 pages of research about cooking shows, but the purpose of collecting all that was to avoid everything that had been done before,” Kim Hak-min said.

“For the show to be interesting, we thought the competitors and the judges themselves first needed to be having fun and be amused. That is why we stayed away from missions that were more typical of this genre,” said writer Mo Eun-sol.

That thought process gave birth to the show’s most iconic blind tasting round.

“No other cooking survival show has done that — where you cover the judges’ sight and have them judge solely on taste and smell,” said Mo. “Judge Paik Jong-won at first didn’t think it was possible, but both judges ended up saying it was the right call because it helped them evaluate more fairly.”

Another highlight was the “cooking hell,” where seven chefs cooked multiple dishes with a single ingredient. Paik suggested that the ingredient should be tofu because it is often used in Korean cuisine, but his fellow judge Anh Sung-jae apparently didn’t think it was a good idea because tofu is already processed, which makes it harder for chefs to cook creatively.

“But when Mr. Anh said it would be more difficult, that actually made us decide that we should choose tofu,” said Kim Hak-min while laughing.

The creative team spent about three months devising all the missions, and one of the most gratifying moments was when they presented them to Paik, who apparently said, “This looks like fun. Good job.”

Now, after the show, they are most happy to hear that they’ve contributed to Korea’s dining scene.

“We’ve been hearing young people are making a savings account to go and eat at Mosu Seoul when it reopens or that more people are looking to try fine dining,” said Mo.

“It goes to show that we’ve done our job in displaying the chefs’ professionalism and the care and effort that goes into each of their dishes.”

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]