"Anseongjae's Journey, No Ordinary Point"
Career Change from Porsche Mechanic to Chef
Rising Star with 3 Michelin Stars
Chef An Seongjae, a judge on the Netflix variety show "Heukbaek Yori-sa: Yori Gyegup Jeonjaeng" (hereafter "Heukbaek Yori-sa"), which ended amid much buzz, has attracted attention from CNN.
On the 17th (Korean time), the US CNN broadcast introduced Chef An, who appeared on the globally popular "Heukbaek Yori-sa." They detailed the journey of Chef An, who immigrated to California at the age of 13 and rose to fame as a chef, stating, "An Seongjae's journey from the battlefields of Iraq to Michelin-starred chef and a popular Netflix program is anything but ordinary."
Previously, Chef An recalled, "My family were immigrants from Korea chasing the 'American Dream,'" adding, "We arrived in the US without even knowing how to speak English." After becoming an adult, he enlisted in the US military, explaining, "I thought that was the only way I could travel freely," describing his path through the US Forces Korea and volunteering for deployment to Iraq after 9/11.
Chef An said, "When I volunteered for deployment to Iraq, everyone asked me, 'Why are you doing such a crazy thing?'" He explained, "I grew up hearing stories about the Korean War and the Vietnam War from my grandfather, father, and relatives. The reason I volunteered was because I thought this would be my only chance to experience war." He described his military service as an "eye-opening experience," saying, "Those four years were some of the best moments of my life and very fascinating."
Initially, Chef An aspired to become a Porsche mechanic due to his passion for racing cars. However, two weeks before training started, he met chefs working at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and developed a dream of cooking. He joked, "I have never looked back or regretted it. Now that I drive a Porsche, it's all good." After gaining experience working at Michelin-starred restaurants, Chef An opened the fine dining restaurant "Mosoo San Francisco" in 2015, earning one Michelin star. Two years later, he returned to Korea and quickly rose to stardom by earning three Michelin stars with "Mosoo Seoul."
Meanwhile, "Heukbaek Yori-sa" is a variety show depicting a culinary class war among 100 chefs, where the underdog "Heuksujeo" chefs, praised for their exceptional taste, challenge Korea's top star chefs, the "Baeksujeo." Upon release, it ranked first in the non-English TV series category in Korea on Netflix and made the top 10 in countries like Taiwan and Singapore, generating significant attention.
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