'Kim Joo-ha's Day & Night' featured reliable actor Heo Sung-tae and Korean food diplomat Chef Edward Lee, winning viewers' sympathy with bold challenge stories.
On the 13th, the 4th episode of MBN 'Kim Joo-ha's Day & Night' aired as a special 'business trip day' in which the three MCs Kim Joo-ha, Moon Se-yoon, and Jo Jjae-ju leave the studio and hold talks at guest-tailored locations.
First, the daytime 'business trip day' part 1 featured Heo Sung-tae as the main guest. Heo Sung-tae, who majored in Russian and worked in overseas sales related to Russia at large company L until debuting as an actor at age 35, invited Kim Joo-ha to Dongdaemun's Russian village, visited his regular Russian restaurant, and enjoyed a meal while talking.
Contrary to the rough image he has shown in works, Heo Sung-tae revealed that his MBTI is the introverted type 'I,' and he confessed that wanting to become an actor was something he could hardly imagine and that he had an appearance complex after breaking a tooth in the third grade of elementary school, surprising Kim Joo-ha.
Heo Sung-tae, who said, 'My life changed because of an audition program,' revealed that he gathered the courage after seeing a subtitle for applying to an audition program on TV by chance. Laughing at Kim Joo-ha's down-to-earth image of tearing meat with his bare hands, Heo Sung-tae showed a surprise cuteness by saying, 'Nice! Nuna!' and expressed affection and humility toward the villain role that made his career by saying, 'Villain roles are my luck.' Moreover, while he said he could be a hope to people who find their dreams later, he does not recommend it because it is too hard, and he conveyed his conviction and passion about his first starring film 'Intelligence Agent,' which he initially declined by saying, 'It's still premature.' Kim Joo-ha participated in the VIP premiere to support Heo Sung-tae.
At night, Kim Joo-ha, Moon Se-yoon, and Jo Jjae-ju went to a theater in Hongdae where cooking students and professors had gathered and met Edward Lee, the main guest of 'business trip day' part 2. Welcoming Edward Lee, Kim Joo-ha said, 'I can pick two people whom I can call lifesavers,' and expressed gratitude to Edward Lee, who, like Kim Dong-gun, readily decided to appear when the program launched. Moreover, Edward Lee answered that the reason for deciding to appear was 'Because of You,' moving Kim Joo-ha.
Edward Lee, who served as the executive chef for the 2025 Gyeongju APEC banquet, reportedly decided at the time he was offered, 'This is something I must do.' Edward Lee, who said 'the key was to show two sides of Korean cuisine,' recalled that during the preparation of the much-discussed 'doenjang caramel injeolmi,' he even commissioned a mother-of-pearl box from a mother-of-pearl craftsman considering presentation, and explained that for the 'crab meat salad' he used an oil made with red pepper powder, gim, and perilla leaves as decoration to emphasize Korean cuisine's 'clean flavor,' surprising viewers. Edward Lee, who also played the role of 'White House state banquet chef' two years ago, said he selected the menu together with the first lady at the time and that it was a meaningful time to introduce Korean ingredients to the entire United States, various foreign leaders, and the U.S. president.
Edward Lee, who is also active as a social activist, explained the purpose of the nonprofit 'The Lee Initiative' he recently created to support female chefs and expressed his convictions. He added that he graduated second in his class from New York University with a degree in English literature under his parents' expectations and then pursued his original dream of cooking, which surprised everyone. The restaurant he started at 25 with youthful daring succeeded so much after many hardships that it was featured in The New York Times, but he confessed that he lost friends in the Sept. 11 attacks and went through a period of wandering in sadness and depression. Afterwards, Edward Lee went to Kentucky, where he had no ties, restarted his life as a chef, and was able to get married, leaving a heartfelt remark from his experience: 'Great tragedies may come, but you have to keep moving forward. Then someday good things will happen.'
Meanwhile, Edward Lee named his grandmother, his wife, and his daughter as the women who changed him. His grandmother introduced Edward Lee to the 'taste of Korea' by making kimchi, kkakdugi, doenjang, and gochujang in the United States in the 1970s when there were almost no Korean grocery stores, and his wife Diana, whom he said is his everything, was first met in Kentucky, where she is five years his senior. Edward Lee boasted his loving side, saying he won his wife's heart with 'cooking teaching flirting.' He proved he is a doting father who indulges daughter Aden's pranks, and when suddenly asked, 'How does your wife's cooking taste?' he was briefly embarrassed, causing laughter.
Moreover, Edward Lee said, 'I wanted to repay the love and interest I received in Korea,' and calmly recounted recently serving a thousand servings of braised short ribs to elders together with the Korea Legacy Committee. Edward Lee conveyed his sincerity for cooking, saying, 'Being able to tell a story through cooking is truly a beautiful thing for me,' leaving a deep impression.
[Photo] OSEN DB, MBN provided.
[OSEN]