It's 11:47 PM in Hongdae. The subway closed 20 minutes ago. You're standing on the curb, arm raised, watching every taxi drive past with their "occupied" lights off — but nobody stops. Welcome to Korean taxi culture in 2026: if you're not on the app, you don't exist. Here's the reality that catches most visitors off guard: Korean taxi drivers don't cruise for passengers anymore. The vast majority of rides come through apps now. Especially after 10 PM, standing on the street waving your hand is an exercise in frustration. Drivers are already matched with their next passenger before they even drop off the current one. The good news? Once you have the right app on your phone, getting a taxi in Korea is faster, cheaper, and more convenient than almost anywhere else in the world. No haggling, no scams, no "I don't know that place" excuses. The destination goes straight to the driver's screen — in Korean — so you don't nee...
Culinary Class Wars didn't just end when the finale aired. It multiplied.
This is Part 2: the cooking TV renaissance, the chef crossovers, and why Korea's food scene will never be the same.
 |
| Courtesy of JTBC |
If Part 1 was about how Culinary Class Wars became a global phenomenon, Part 2 is about what happened after — and it's arguably even more interesting. Because the show didn't just create stars. It created an entire interconnected universe of Korean chef content that is now dominating Korean television.
냉장고를 부탁해 (Please Take Care of My Refrigerator) originally ran on JTBC from 2014 to 2019 and was one of Korea's most beloved cooking shows. The format: a celebrity guest brings their actual home refrigerator to the studio, and two competing chefs have 15 minutes to create a dish using only what's inside. No shopping. No prep. Just speed, creativity, and chaos.
The show went off air in 2019. Then Culinary Class Wars exploded in late 2024, reigniting Korea's appetite for cooking content. JTBC saw the opportunity and relaunched it as 냉장고를 부탁해 since 2014 in December 2024. |
Here's where it gets fascinating: the relaunched show's cast is essentially a Culinary Class Wars reunion tour.
From the original Refrigerator show: Choi Hyunseok (최현석), Kim Poong (김풍), Jung Hoyoung (정호영) The result: chefs who once competed in a high-stakes survival format now joke around, bicker, and cook together in a relaxed weekly show. It's like watching Avengers characters in a sitcom — and Korean viewers can't get enough. |
| Courtesy of JTBC |
The Son Jongwon Phenomenon
If Culinary Class Wars created the chef universe, Son Jongwon (손종원) is its breakout star on the Refrigerator side.
Son is a French-trained chef with meticulous technique and a surprisingly dry sense of humor. He competes on Refrigerator with the precision of a surgeon — perfectly balanced sauces, elegant plating, obsessive attention to detail. He's the chef other chefs respect.
But what made him a national figure is his dynamic with Kim Poong (김풍) — and this is where Korean food TV gets genuinely special.
The "Son-Poong" (손풍) Bromance
 |
| Screenshot - courtesy of wavve.official instagram |
Kim Poong is Son Jongwon's polar opposite. Originally a manhwa (Korean comics) artist who taught himself to cook, Kim Poong represents everything the Black Spoon philosophy stands for: no formal training, unorthodox methods, dishes that look questionable but taste extraordinary.
Son starts each episode watching Kim Poong's cooking with visible horror — wrong techniques, bizarre combinations, a mixer that seems to explode every other episode. Then he tastes the result and can't hide his shock: it's delicious.
Fans named this dynamic "Son-Poong" (손풍), and it became the show's most beloved running gag. Their contrasting styles — elegant precision vs. creative chaos — mirror the White Spoon/Black Spoon tension of Culinary Class Wars in miniature, except instead of competition, it's become a genuine friendship. They interact on Instagram, leave comments on each other's posts, and have developed the kind of on-screen chemistry that takes years to build.
At the 2025 Refrigerator Awards, they won Best Couple. The audience was not surprised.
The Full Cast Dynamics
The current eight regular chefs form a surprisingly complex web of relationships:
Choi Hyunseok (최현석) — The veteran. Star chef from the original Refrigerator and Culinary Class Wars White Spoon. After a knee surgery kept him off the show briefly, fellow Culinary Class Wars contestant Choi Gangrok (최강록) filled in as a substitute. The crossover never stops.
Kwon Seongjun (권성준) — The Culinary Class Wars champion, now a Refrigerator regular. Watching the man who won a 100-chef survival show calmly cook Italian food in 15 minutes with whatever is in someone's fridge is a fascinating contrast.
Yoon Namno (윤남노) — "The Cooking Lunatic" from Culinary Class Wars, whose intense personality softened into comedy gold on Refrigerator. His French technique paired with his fearless experimentation has made him a consistent fan favorite.
Park Eunyoung (박은영) — The "Chinese Food Goddess" who competed as a Black Spoon in Culinary Class Wars (and was a student of the legendary Yeokgyeongnae). Now a regular who brings Chinese cuisine depth to the show.
Jung Hoyoung (정호영) — Japanese cuisine specialist from the original show. When the Culinary Class Wars chefs joined, he became the bridge between the old and new casts, and his strategic team leadership in Culinary Class Wars Season 2 was widely praised.
Culinary Class Wars Season 2: The Redemption
Season 2 premiered on Netflix on December 16, 2025, and immediately topped the global non-English TV charts for two consecutive weeks.
The production team had listened to every criticism of Season 1 — and fixed them:
No forced ejections. The controversial mid-round "vote someone off your team" rule was eliminated entirely.
Fairer team rounds. Team battles were redesigned so individual skill still mattered, with duplicate participation allowed to balance uneven team sizes.
Consistent semi-finals. Both semi-final rounds tested the same core skills (speed, creativity, endurance) rather than completely different formats, addressing the criticism that Season 1's semi-final felt unbalanced.
Season 2 also brought new stories that elevated the show:
Seonjae Sunim (선재스님) — A Buddhist nun competing with vegetarian temple food philosophy. Her respectful exchange with her opponent echoed Season 1's legendary Yeokgyeongnae moment, proving that at its best, this show is about the dignity of cooking, not just winning.
Son Jongwon as White Spoon — Already popular from Refrigerator, his appearance in Season 2 showed audiences his full competitive range. His one-liners became instant quotes.
Season 1 veterans as special judges — The Top 8 from Season 1 returned as guest judges for Season 2's team rounds, creating the kind of narrative continuity usually reserved for Marvel movies.
Season 3 was confirmed in January 2026, with a radical format change: restaurant team battles instead of individual competition.
The Bigger Picture: Korea's Food Economy
 |
| Data: CatchTable, Netflix, CNBC, Forbes, Baeksang Arts Awards The Korea They Didn't Subtitle · koreanotsubtitled.blogspot.com |
The impact of this cooking TV renaissance extends far beyond entertainment.
Restaurant bookings exploded. Catch Table reported chef restaurant searches up 74 times, reservation rates up 148%, and restaurant "saves" surging 1,884%. Choi Hyunseok said his own revenue more than doubled. The entire fine dining sector — which had been struggling post-COVID — experienced a measurable revival.
Food tourism became national policy. South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism incorporated food tourism into its 2026 strategy, directly citing the show's influence. CNBC documented international visitors planning Korea trips specifically to eat at Culinary Class Wars restaurants.
The chef as celebrity was redefined. Before Culinary Class Wars, Korean celebrity chefs existed primarily as TV personalities. After it, they became cultural figures — people whose cooking philosophies (Baek's populism vs. Ahn's precision, Kim Poong's chaos vs. Son Jongwon's elegance) reflected larger questions about class, access, and who gets to define "good food."
The Korean Wave spent years exporting K-pop, K-drama, and K-beauty. Now, through shows like Culinary Class Wars and Refrigerator, K-food is becoming the next major export — not just the dishes themselves, but the stories, personalities, and cultural meaning behind them.
Where to Start Watching
New to all of this? Here's the optimal viewing order:
1. Culinary Class Wars Season 1 (Netflix) — the foundation. 12 episodes.
2. Culinary Class Wars Season 2 (Netflix) — the evolution. Notice returning chefs from Season 1.
3. Please Take Care of My Refrigerator since 2014 (JTBC / YouTube clips) — watch the same chefs in a completely different context. Start with any Son-Poong episode.
4. Wait for Season 3 — restaurant team battles, format TBA.
What Subtitles Miss (Again)
The Refrigerator show reveals something subtitles can't fully convey: the way Korean chefs relate to each other across generations and styles. The way Son Jongwon — formal, precise, classical — slowly learns to appreciate Kim Poong's anarchic genius. The way Culinary Class Wars rivals who once competed under extreme pressure now share a studio, a laugh, and a mutual respect that feels earned rather than performed.
Korean food TV isn't just entertainment. It's a window into how Korea thinks about talent, class, craft, and the question that every cook — from a Michelin-star chef to a school lunch lady — eventually asks: "Is my food good enough?"
Culinary Class Wars answered that question with a blindfold: yes. If it tastes good, it's good enough. No pedigree required.
That's the Korea they didn't subtitle.
🎭 This is Part 2 of our Culinary Class Wars series. Read Part 1: The Netflix Show That Changed How Korea Eats for the Season 1 story, characters, and memes.
📖 Next up: T-Money Card: The One Card That Rules All Korean Transport — because you'll need to get around Seoul to visit all these chefs' restaurants.
Comments
Post a Comment