From Master Chef to writer, Choi Kang-rok shares his quiet struggles, new dreams
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"Once you put your life into a book, it's kind of frozen in time. That made me hesitant. But if even this kind of experience can help someone feel, 'He's not that different from me. He lives just like the rest of us,' then maybe that shared feeling can be a form of consolation too."
"As I approach my 50s, I'm thinking about how both my body and cooking will naturally change with age. I'm preparing for a kind of cooking that evolves with these changes."
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Known for his creative ideas and star turns on reality shows like Netflix’s "Culinary Class Wars," chef Choi Kang-rok appeared at the 2025 Seoul International Book Fair on Wednesday not with a knife, but with a pen in hand — and a surprising amount of self-doubt.
“I’m very embarrassed to put my life into a book,” said Choi, 47, a well-known introvert, speaking slowly but candidly to a crowd at Coex. He attended the book fair as the author of “Cooking for Life,” his first essay collection and second book following the 2023 recipe book “Choi Kang-rok’s Cooking Notes.” It was selected as one of 10 titles featured in the fair’s selection of newly published works.
The essay draws from Choi’s experiences, his thoughts about food, cooking, operating restaurants and what it means to live as a chef.
“I wasn’t sure if it was okay to put those trivial stories out there,” he said. “But I ended up writing down the small, everyday things from the life of an ordinary working person.”
What he hopes to offer is not inspiration, but connection and comfort.
“Once you put your life into a book, it’s kind of frozen in time. That made me hesitant. But if even this kind of experience can help someone feel, ‘He’s not that different from me. He lives just like the rest of us,’ then maybe that shared feeling can be a form of consolation too.”
A decade after winning “Master Chef Korea 2” (2013) and after leading restaurants like Neo (2022-2024), Choi admitted that cooking no longer brings him joy.
“The first 10 years were fun — testing recipes and discovering the process. But these days, I’m quite afraid of how people look at me. I never truly mastered it, and then I became a ‘Master Chef.’ I can feel the unspoken look in their eyes, like ‘Let’s see how good he is,’” Choi said.
“I’ve tried to overcome that, and I’ve gotten better at ‘pretending’ — pretending I’m skilled, pretending I’ve done it all before. But it doesn’t make things any more enjoyable.”
Choi said that presenting a dish means being put to the test.
“Whether you place a dish beautifully or serve it simply, the cook is waiting for the moment it falls apart. The dish must break down to receive feedback. It’s a constant evaluation.”
Despite his weariness, Choi still dreams. He mentioned Netflix’s cooking show “The Blank Menu for You,” where guests place open-ended orders that he interprets into customized dishes, and called it his “fantasy,” partly because it lets him cook without the pressure of paying rent or running a restaurant.
Another dream is to build a library-cum-kitchen, a place with a cooking space where people can browse his vast collection of cookbooks.
Under the theme "The Last Resort," this year’s book fair has invited authors to reflect on what it is they ultimately rely on.
For Choi, that is no longer physical. “I think the age when I could rely on my body has passed,” he said. “Now, it’s the knowledge stored in my head -- the kind that helps me respond naturally to situations I couldn’t have handled before. That’s what I lean on now.”
Choi continued the talk with how aging has prompted him to rethink and adapt his cooking for this new phase of life.
“As I approach my 50s, I’m thinking about how both my body and cooking will naturally change with age. I’m preparing for a kind of cooking that evolves with these changes.”
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