The biggest TV shows in South Korea are about cooking and the stars are men - a sight which would traditionally have been taboo. However, more men in the kitchen does not mean more women in top jobs in business.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1. Who dominates TV ratings?
2. How old is Park Kyoun Hee?
3. Why did Park learn to cook?
4. Why did Park's daughter get surprised?
5. What is changing in South Korea as the country modernises?
6. What happens when women reach 30?
Turn on the TV in South Korea and all you see these days is men in the kitchen. Zap through the channels and male celebrity chefs dominate the ratings. Sam Kim is a star in the studio, and in his own restaurant.
You want to spend your time with your family and he goes to a public place. Everyone wants to come to see me and wants to take a picture together. Even if you do house chores, you go outside to empty the trash, everyone wants me.
The rise of male cooking shows how this very traditional country is changing fast. This is a cooking competition for men. Park Kyoun Hee is 65. He had a spell working abroad while his family stayed home in Korea, so he did what his father never did, he learned to cook.
In the past in Korea, men or boys cannot approach the kitchen, and they do not know how to cook. Men cannot live without a wife.
So it was a big surprise when I heard he started cooking classes in here. So it was a very big surprise and I was very delighted to hear that.
Is he a good cook?
Yes, I was really surprised. He is a really good cook.
Men in aprons is one sign of changing gender roles. As South Korea modernises, traditional ideas of what men should do and what women should do are changing gradually.
Men, what a performance, always cooking the big meal for the special occasion. I wonder if these guys ever do the cooking at home.
While the men completed the cooking, the women stayed next door looking after the children. Young women now get jobs and work just as much as men, but the figures show that when they reach 30, they leave work to have children. More men in the kitchen doesn’t yet mean more women in top jobs in business.
Stephen Evans, BBC News, South Korea.
Key:
1 male celebrity chefs
2. sixty-five years old
3. because he worked abroad
4. because he had started taking cooking classes
5. the traditional ideas of what men and women should do
6. they leave work to have children
