Mr. Taesun Yook, Content Creator @homechelin
Diplôme de Cuisine 2020
What made you learn culinary at Le Cordon Bleu-Sookmyung Academy?
After I retired, I tried to cross out as many things as possible on my bucket list. One of the things on my bucket list was living like a local in Japan, and that is why I once lived in Japan for a while. As I enjoy cooking, some Japanese friends came over one day, so I cooked for them. Seeing locals enjoy my dish made me think of how cooking could be used as a tool that makes people happy. I realized that cooking could be the starting point of the next chapter of my life. That’s when I felt like I should learn about the basics and methods of cooking, understand ingredients better, and learn various cooking techniques. Then, I tried to find the most systematic about the basics of cuisine and its methodology, and I concluded that it was French cuisine. While looking for the best place to learn French cuisine, I found out that Le Cordon Bleu has a campus in Korea, and I applied straight away.
What kind of work did you do before joining the Academy?
I worked as an executive for a well-known large company in Korea. My main area of expertise were energy, IT, and healthcare, and as you can see, these have nothing to do with cooking. However, I did sometimes think that I had a more developed palate and sense of smell than others. At home, I would often do the dishes, but I didn’t cook as a hobby. However, after I retired, I pondered greatly about what to do next, and to gain more independence from my family in my day-to-day life, I came to the conclusion that I should be able to cook at least one meal a day for myself and that is when I became interested in cooking and started to study by reading books, surfing the web, and watching cooking programs on TV.
What do you do now?
Currently, I’ve been working as a content creator called Chef 6, and I’ve been running a YouTube channel called “Home-chelin, where homemade meals become special” for seven months now. We have a growing number of subscribers, and I am enjoying shooting these videos and developing new content. Last year, after I graduated from the academy, we joined hands with a few fellow graduates to transform a brunch Café in Hannam-dong into a European-style restaurant that serves French and Italian cuisine. While working on this project, a renowned home-shopping company reached out to me and proposed starting a cooking-related YouTube channel. While I put a lot of thought into this decision, I remembered that I began to learn cooking because I thought that cooking could be another source of happiness, so I decided to start this YouTube channel.
As a content creator, when you are developing new content, which part do you put the most thought into?
I like to think of each of my subscribers as a special guest that comes to visit me. Even though I cannot prepare them a dish in person, I make sure to develop content that helps them make fancy homemade dishes using easy-to-find ingredients in season and utensils in most households. When making these recipes and contents, what I learned at Le Cordon Bleu about the systematic methodology of cooking as well as mise en place are the great helps.
What are your plans ahead?
My plan is to be able to introduce to a wide audience European cuisine based on French culinary techniques and methodology that Koreans will like and help them cook them easily as well. In order to do this, I will continue to advertise and develop content for my YouTube channel. On top of that, I will continue to run cooking classes for people who, like me have retired from their first chapter and are starting a new chapter in their life. And I hope in the future, if the opportunity arises, to write a book about cooking and my life experience.
Anything you’d like to tell people who are facing a challenge ahead?
Do you like to cook? Do you want to change your life through cooking? Do you want to heal your family, neighbors, and friends' tired and hurt souls through cooking and building a new relationship? Do you want to discover a happier, freer, and more independent self through cooking? Although it isn't the most straightforward choice or path to take, I wish to tell you to take on the challenge. I am confident that Le Cordon Bleu will hand you the key to the door you were looking for. All you have to do from that point on is grab the key and open the door.
To me, Le Cordon Bleu is?
It is a key or solution that opens a new door in life. You can always imagine and desire your life's goals and dreams. You definitely can imagine the bliss and sense of achievement of reaching those goals and dreams. However, we often lose ourselves trying to find the way thinking whether we can achieve those goals and specifically what we can do to make them come true. I believe that le Cordon Bleu hands a key to those looking for a new path in their life, and it provides you with the solution to open the sturdy heavy door up ahead.
