"Cooking martial arts." Black and white chef "Jongyoung"...The craze is "live."

■ Proceedings: Anchor Jung Ji-woong
■ Phone: Ha Jae-geun, cultural critic

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN NewsNOW] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Ask a professional about a hot issue. It's an issue call. The popularity of the Netflix cooking survival program "Black and White Cook" is rising day by day. It ended on the 8th, but the craze doesn't know how to cool down. According to a restaurant reservation app, as of 10 a.m. on the 10th, 110,000 people flocked to a restaurant run by chef Kwon Sung-joon, the winner of Naples Matpia, and the app was paralyzed for dozens of minutes.

In particular, the number of searches for chefs' restaurants that appeared after the broadcast increased 74 times compared to the previous week, and the number of restaurant stores surged 1,884%.The average reservation growth rate also increased by about 148%, and among them, restaurants with the largest increase in the number of reservations showed a reservation growth rate of 4,937.5%. This kind of sensation goes beyond the restaurant industry.It is also driving through various industries. CU made a pre-booking for Chef Kwon Sung-joon's "Bam Tiramisu Cup," which won the first place in the program competition, and sold 20,000 in 20 minutes.

In addition, GS25 also planned the launch of the 'Pyeonseouser Series' in collaboration with Imokase No. 1 and iron bag chefs. In addition, other convenience stores, e-commerce, Korea's largest portal Naver, and used trading platform Carrot have also entered the craze. Let's take a look at the "Eating War" brought by a black-and-white chef with critic Ha Jae-geun. The critic is here, right?

[Ha Jae-geun]
Hello.

[Anchor]
How are you? Even with the end of the black-and-white chef, its popularity and ripple effect seem to spread further. I don't think the craze will end short, how do you see it?

[Ha Jae-geun]
The trend of visiting famous restaurants in Korea has been spreading a lot recently. However, as this program became popular, it became a kind of coordinate, so people go to it even after the program is over, and in terms of management, Korea's economy is gradually developing compared to the past. As the economy develops, interest in gastronomy is bound to grow. And these days, the trend of feeling something small by experiencing food among young people is growing, and the culture of taking pictures of food related to gastronomy, experiencing it directly, and authenticating it on social media is spreading, so interest in black and white chefs and restaurants will continue to grow.

[Anchor]
It seems that the impact on not only the restaurant industry but also various industries such as convenience stores and e-commerce is much greater than expected. You're invigorating a struggling restaurant business after the pandemic?

[Ha Jae-geun]
So basically, the sales of chefs and businesses involved in this program will increase, and if this program increases the interest in the chef and the cooking itself and spreads the gastronomic culture, it could have a ripple effect on other sectors of the restaurant industry. As you said, affiliate marketing is taking place with various companies, and chefs related to black and white chefs are invited to local festivals, and chefs related to this program come out to events related to the restaurant industry to lighten the atmosphere. So, even if the entire restaurant industry is not 100% energized because of this, can't it serve as a catalyst to some extent? That's what I'm looking forward to.

[Anchor]
Some point out that the polarization has deepened, with customers flocking only to famous chefs' restaurants that have become a hot topic. What do you think?

[Ha Jae-geun]
As I just said, even if the restaurant industry is influenced well, it will inevitably focus on the performers or related companies. The more enjoyable they scream, the more deprived the marginalized will feel. However, if this program increases interest in cooking itself and spreads gastronomic culture, it can have a good effect on other industries indirectly, and consumers need to recognize that excessive concentration or winner-take-all phenomenon is not good and refrain themselves from leaning only to one side.

[Anchor]
It became the first Korean entertainment show to top the world for three consecutive weeks on Netflix. That's amazing. Foreign media are also paying attention to it because it is popular overseas, but it can be seen as valuable as Korean Wave content, right?

[Ha Jae-geun]
It's very valuable. This is a variety show. I don't usually watch entertainment programs from other countries. That's why our country loves Hollywood content, but we watch Hollywood movies and dramas, and we rarely look for entertainment programs in Hollywood and the United States. So, it's normal not to watch foreign entertainment programs that much, but the fact that this program ranked No. 1 in the Netflix non-English world program received tremendous attention, and the foreign media paid great attention to the program, so that Korean food culture can be widely known abroad.

Of course, not only Korean food was included in this program, but Chinese food, Japanese food, and Western food came out, so knowledge about Korean food can spread to foreign countries, and from foreigners' perspective, there are such food cultures in Korea and chefs like that. You're so serious about food. With this awareness, this program's value as a joining content seems to be quite great, as it can lead to interest in Korea itself or Korean culture and can lead to tourism.

[Anchor]
Some are concerned about overheating in popularity. There is even a rare scene where popular products are preempted by crossing the line and sold back at twice the price. Shouldn't we refrain from such disturbing the market order in order for the box office to be a long run?

[Ha Jae-geun]
The problem is always overheating. It is said that ticket sales and various overheating problems appear because it is popular again. If that happens, people will experience unpleasant experiences related to this trend, and if such unpleasant experiences are accumulated, the trend itself can cool down. That's why the trend that was created at best should spread further to have a good effect on the entire industry, but if it cools down, not to mention spread, everyone will be in a bad condition. So, we need to be careful of excessive overheating, and as I said earlier, we need to be wary of excessive concentration with only a few companies, winner-take-all, and polarization.

[Anchor]
We hope that the warm breeze that blew through the related industry, which began with the black-and-white chef craze, will stay for a long time. It was with cultural critic Ha Jae-geun. Thank you, critic.

[Ha Jae-geun]
Oh, thank you.