President Lee Jae-myung and First Lady Kim Hye-kyung made a special appearance on the JTBC entertainment program 'Please Take Care of My Refrigerator'. The presidential couple chose 'siraegi' (dried radish greens) as a 'K-food ingredient they want to promote to the world' and discussed the value of K-food as a strategic industry.
According to Nielsen Korea, a ratings research company, the episode of 'Please Take Care of My Refrigerator' that aired on the 6th recorded a nationwide rating of 8.861% based on paid broadcasting households. This is a remarkable increase of 7.4 percentage points from last week's 41st episode (1.4%) and is the program's highest rating since its return.
When the MC introduced the presidential couple as "the greatest guests ever to visit the show," President Lee smiled and said, "It's quite awkward."
Regarding their reason for appearing on the program, President Lee stated, "K-pop and K-dramas are important, but the real core of culture is food," adding, "Food has sustainability as it doesn't change easily once one's taste is fixed, which helps grow South Korea industrially."
The cooking theme that President Lee requested from the chefs that day was also set as 'K-food they want to promote to the world' and 'K-ingredient they want to promote to the world, siraegi.'
In the second round themed 'K-ingredient they want to promote to the world, siraegi', a competition unfolded between Chef Jeong Ji-sun and writer Kim Poong.
Chef Jeong Ji-sun showcased a songpyeon (rice cake) dish using siraegi dough, while writer Kim Poong cooked what he called 'Lee Jae-myung Pizza', which featured siraegi toppings on nurungji (crispy rice) dough and lotus root tempura colored with beet.
The result was a victory for writer Kim Poong. After tasting the lotus root tempura, President Lee expressed surprise, saying, "It's different from how it looks," and added, "This (lotus root tempura) could be made into an independent product." After tasting the nurungji dough with siraegi toppings, he praised, "The cooking process was playful, but the taste is no joke."
This episode was pre-recorded on the 28th of last month and was originally scheduled to air on the 5th. However, due to the death of a public official from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety who was overseeing the team responsible for the national computer network disruption caused by a fire at the National Intelligence Resource Management Agency on the 3rd, the airing was postponed by a day to avoid any potential misunderstandings.
[Lee Da-kyum, Star Today Reporter]
