Korean Alumni Profiles

A Note from Pastry-Chef Instructor Jae Kim

As a fellow Korean, a graduate of the school and a chef-instructor, I’m so proud of all my students here at The French Culinary Institute. However, I feel an extra bit of empathy towards the international students because of the unique challenges they face as foreigners in this country. I know because I’ve been there. Communicating in English and getting used to the culture might seem intimidating at first. But trust me, it gets easier. And the people here want you to succeed.

The FCI is very well connected within the culinary industry, and it’s not unusual for our faculty to recommend students for jobs in restaurants or bakeries or to help facilitate introductions to chefs. I introduced one of my top Korean students to pastry chef Marc Aumont at The Modern, the Michelin®-starred restaurant at the Museum of Modern Art, where she was offered an internship. They’ve been so impressed by her that they’ve offered to sponsor her green card so she can continue to stay in this country and work.

The success of our students is a direct reflection of our school. Whether our Korean students stay in the States or decide to go back to Korea (or even another part of the world), we couldn’t be more proud of our graduates.

Please read on to meet some of our outstanding students and alumni.

Chef Joseph Jae H. Kim
Pastry Chef-Instructor at The FCI
Classic Pastry Arts ’02
Hometown: Seoul, Korea

Yohan Jeon

Hometown: Seoul, Korea
Current city: Edgewater, New Jersey
Course of study: Classic Culinary Arts
Graduation year: 2009

My mother ran a successful catering business back in Korea so I was always surrounded by great food. It wasn’t until her death five years ago that I really started cooking and thinking about food in a more serious way. I was studying Economics at the time, but I found myself spending more and more time in the kitchen trying to recreate the food that I missed so much. While I could never replicate her dishes exactly, in time, I came to discover my own passion for cooking. I worked as an interior designer for two years in New York City before deciding to pursue a career in food. I chose The French Culinary Institute because of its incredible reputation in the industry. I like what one of my instructors, Chef Pascal, told me one day: When I graduate, I will have skills that I can take with me anywhere in the world. I like that. Right now, I’m interning as a line cook at Momofuku Ssäm Bar. The chef-owner, David Chang, is a Korean-American and also a graduate of The FCI. He’s very tough, but I have a lot of respect for him. The way he puts ingredients together is pure genius. Eventually, I’d like to open my own restaurant, maybe in Korea or Japan, but for now I want to stay in New York and learn as much as I can from the best that I can.

Sun Keum Kim

Hometown: Kyungki-Do, Korea
Current city: New York, NY
Course of study: Classic Pastry Arts
Graduation year: 2009

I have always been a foodie. I love looking at food magazines and checking out all the pastry shops. I have a fondness for desserts in particular because they are so beautiful to look at. But I never baked until I came to The French Culinary Institute! In comparing various professional pastry programs, I knew I wanted to be in an urban environment where I would have access to top restaurants and I knew I didn’t want to learn in French, which would have been an even greater challenge than English. The FCI was the perfect fit for me. I’m in school now and I’m having so much fun. I’m also interning at Daniel, one of the country’s most acclaimed restaurants, with pastry chef Dominique Ansel. It’s a little crazy because I work 12-hour shifts, but I’ve never been so happy. There’s never a dull moment in a kitchen.

Jee Min Lee

Hometown: Seoul, Korea
Current city: Atlanta, Georgia
Course of study: Classic Pastry Arts and Classic Culinary Arts
Graduation year: 2004 and 2006

I fell in love with cooking while translating cookbooks from English to Korean for chefs Nobu Matsuhisa and Jamie Oliver. My cooking instructor, one of the first Koreans to graduate from The FCI, asked me if I wanted to help with the project and I jumped at the chance. Until then, I had been taking classes just for fun but suddenly I wanted to quit college and be like Audrey Hepburn in the movie Sabrina and move to Paris to become a chef! Naturally, my mother thought I was crazy, but she made me a deal. If I promised to finish school first she would support me in my dream. I think she was hoping that I’d change my mind, but of course I didn’t. When my husband was accepted into the PhD program at Yale University, I chose the culinary program at The French Culinary Institute. Despite the daily five-hour commute (I had no idea New Haven was so far away!), I knew from the beginning that I had chosen the right school. By the time I graduated, I was exhausted. But I was learning so much that I knew I had to sign up for the Pastry Arts program too. I took some time off, then decided to get an apartment in Manhattan for the next six months so that I could take advantage of internships and other learning opportunities in the city. I’m now in Atlanta, Georgia teaching private cooking classes and working as a food journalist for various Korean-American publications. I love what I do, and I’m so glad I followed my dream.

Seung Sik Yang

Hometown: Seoul, Korea
Current city: Englewood, New Jersey
Course of study: Classic Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management
Graduation year: 2008

I was thinking about pursuing an MBA but it was with the encouragement of my family that I decided to follow my real passion in life—cooking. My mother is a very good cook and I have four older sisters who are always telling me that I have an excellent palate. I had already completed The FCI’s Restaurant Management course, but I signed up for the six-month Classic Culinary Arts program so I could learn how to cook using French techniques. My dream is to someday open my own French-Asian fusion restaurant in Korea and to eventually start my own restaurant consulting business as well. The restaurant consultants in Korea are all marketing people who don’t have any background in food. With my background, I'll stand out from the crowd.

Tae Goo Kang

Hometown: Seoul, Korea
Current city: New York, NY
Course of study: Classic Culinary Arts
Graduation year: 2009

I studied restaurant management in Korea, but I knew I needed to sharpen my cooking skills to be able to one day open my own restaurant. While doing an internship at AIX Brasserie on the Upper West Side, I discovered that many of the cooks were graduates of The FCI. I could see that they had really good skills so I decided to check out the school for myself. I was really impressed by the professionalism of the program and knew the school was the right fit for me. My family tells me that I sound tired every time I talk to them on the phone, but that’s just because I’m pushing extra hard to learn as much as I can while I’m here. For how serious the program is, I was surprised to discovered how friendly all the chef-instructors are. Here, the relationship between an instructor and a student is far less formal than in Korea. They’re nice. They want you to learn, but they also want you to have a great experience.

Eun Ye Kim

Hometown: Bundang, Korea
Current city: Newport, New Jersey
Course of study: Classic Culinary Arts
Graduation year: 2004

My sister had been living in Virginia for the last 15 years so my parents insisted that I live with her for six months to get used to American life before coming to New York. It was like training wheels for big city life. I think I would have been fine, but I used that time to take more language classes to ensure that I would make the most out of my culinary education. I had visited several cooking schools in the New York area but I knew right away that The FCI was for me. It stood out as the most professional of all the programs, and I liked the intensive six-month format. Even though my main interest has always been pastry and baking, I decided to do the Culinary Arts program because I wanted to learn how to cook everything a little better. I’m now the pastry chef at Battery Gardens, a restaurant in Battery Park overlooking the Statue of Liberty. I’m lucky because my employers are sponsoring my work visa so I can stay and work here in this country.