What is your background?
Back in Korea I used to be a journalist, working in the fashion industry until I decided to change my life. My goal was to learn a bit of Italian cuisine but not yet to become a chef, for this reason, I moved to Italy where I started a six months cooking course. After that, I started working in Piedmont region, I was not sure yet about being a cook, but I really loved working in a professional kitchen, also because in terms of shifts and stress it is a similar job to the one I had done before. From there and with this passion, I started wandering around Italy among many haute cuisine restaurants for 6 years. In 2019, I started working in ALMA when I saw they were looking for a sous chef to assist the teaching chefs.
Tell us about your ALMA experience.
My job now is completely different from before. It is a new experience for me so it is perfect because I wanted something new and working here is never the same. Each day is different from the one before and after, because each lesson requires a special preparation. Moreover, in ALMA I have the possibility to work with many different chefs, as a consequence, I can learn from each one different approaches and techniques. At the same time, after spending many years in restaurants, working in a School has also allowed me to find a better balance between life and work.
What made you fall in love with Italy?
The pace of life in Italy form the one of Seul for example. In Korea I used to have zero free time for myself, here I can enjoy my life more and I met many interesting and nice people in my Italian stay.
What is your best moment in ALMA?
As soon as I started working in ALMA, I have followed an Advanced Course of Italian Cuisine for about two weeks. At the graduation ceremony a video about their ALMA experience was showed to the students and their family, the emotions that I felt were so intense. I immediately understood why teaching is so satisfying, you see the growth and the evolution of the students due to the efforts that both parts put into it.
What are your future projects?
Recently, I realized that eventually I want to go back to Korea and, if I were good enough as a teacher, I would like to share and spread Italian cuisine in my own country. I would like to open my lab to produce Italian products to cooperate with other restaurants or companies, or to do some consultancy, or to participate to events and showcooking.