Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant Kim Jae-joong was moved to tears by his parents' tumultuous life story, which he heard for the first time.
On the afternoon of the 19th, KBS 2TV entertainment program Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant (hereafter "Fun-Staurant") aired as the first episode of the "mom's hands" special, ambitiously prepared by the production team for the upcoming national holiday Chuseok. As the title suggested a special filled with family love, cooking prodigy and national dutiful son Kim Jae-joong and the eternal marine boy Park Tae-hwan appeared. Thanks to the two dutiful sons who appeared with their master cook mothers, the episode was full of laughter and emotion. The episode recorded a 4.1% viewership rating in the Seoul metropolitan area, rising from the previous week, and ranked first among all channels in its time slot across terrestrial, generalist cable and pay cable networks. (Nielsen Korea)
That day Kim Jae-joong worried about his mother, whose knees and hips and now ankles were bad. Kim Jae-joong's father said, "I promised to keep her from getting even a drop of water on her, but I only caused her suffering," showing his remorse toward his wife. A little later, Kim Jae-joong's mother, who came to her son and husband, shared her tumultuous past. Some of the stories were ones Kim Jae-joong had never heard before. They were so shocking that even the Fun-Staurant cast were all startled.
Kim Jae-joong's father, who had a youth so comfortable he could be called "silver spoon," walked a smooth path after marriage while working in transportation. However, after joining acquaintances' business proposals he suffered a big failure and accumulated an enormous debt of 100 million won in the 1980s. At the time, 100 million won was an amount that cannot be compared with now. Kim Jae-joong's father said, "I was so shocked by that incident I couldn't recognize people. They called me mentally ill."
Kim Jae-joong's mother recalled, "My husband went through many turbulent ordeals. He faced death many times," remembering that time. She said her husband even developed 신병 from the great shock. In the end, Kim Jae-joong's father lived at a temple for a while, and Kim Jae-joong's mother had to support the nine siblings' livelihood alone. Kim Jae-joong's mother said she had to work nonstop, from peddling to restaurant work, to feed the nine children.
Kim Jae-joong's mother said, "When I think back then, even if I wanted to die I couldn't..." Still, she kept fighting for her family and by chance started a restaurant, which turned her life around. She opened a restaurant in Gongju with menu items such as jokbal, sujebi and barley rice, and at a time when there was no SNS, word of mouth made it a huge hit. Kim Jae-joong's mother recalled that she paid off the 100 million won debt in a year and hugged and cried with her husband. Hearing this, Kim Jae-joong said, "Mom, that's amazing," showing great surprise and emotion.
That day Kim Jae-joong made sujebi with his mother. It was a dish filled with a mother's love and sincerity for the family, who had supported the livelihood of nine siblings. In addition, Kim Jae-joong made jokbal and other dishes with his own tips added to his mother's flavors. The mother and son pair shared the same hand and the same love for their family.
Meanwhile, the eternal marine boy Park Tae-hwan also showed fantastic chemistry with his mother. That day Park Tae-hwan visited the family home he bought for his parents after winning first place in the world in swimming at 19. Park Tae-hwan hugged his returning mother tightly, showing he was the charming son. Park Tae-hwan and his mother said they had the same athleticism and competitive spirit, raising expectations about what dishes they would present together in the "mom's hands" special.
[Photo] KBS 2TV broadcast screen capture.
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