FOLLOWING AN UNEXPECTED TRAIL

I gave away one of my signed book copies to a bakery chef named Lee in Yangpyeong the other day. The story of how I got to know the chef and the master chef (Jiwon Kwak) goes back almost exactly a year ago. Chef Lee has known I was working on my book since last year. When we visited a week ago, I told her that one of my small dreams was to hold a book concert at her bakery. As soon as I shared, she said, “Of course” with her eyes twinkling. Without skipping a beat, she went on to add that she would like to promote and do all that is necessary to pull off an event. My expectation which I did not verbalize the first time was that I would simply rent her bakery space and hold my book event without her involvement. She went above and beyond what I asked for. I am letting her take the lead as I am very curious as to how this event will enfold. . . 

She now has my book and supposedly is reading it while I am waiting for her initial instruction. She sheepishly commented the other day that she attends church once in a while and the reason she attends is that the church has a beautiful cross architecture. While I appreciated her transparency inwardly, I assured her that I did not write my book only for churchgoers but for all spiritual seekers. 

To backtrack my story of how I first got to know Chef Kwak and Chef Lee, I am pulling my origin journal entry of this encounter from April 29, 2022 (almost exactly a year ago). After the initial encounter, we did visit Chef Kwak and his wife (Chef Choi, who is also a renowned chef) a couple of times at his house and the training facility and received their warm hospitality and held meaningful conversations. 

April 29, 2022

I met a humble celebrity bakery chef tonight. His name is Jiwon Kwak and has a stellar pedigree as a chef and was featured on multiple TV programs over the years. He could have gained more fame and wealth, but he has decided to “let it all go.” Rather, he spends his time “discipling” younger aspiring bakery chefs in Korea through his academy. His method is that of an apprenticeship model, training only a few at a time.  

Soon after we arrived in Yangpyeong, our Airbnb host suggested Kwak Jiwon Bakery after she found out that we liked bread. Her simple words to us were, “It is special. You will like it.” As we anticipate hosting a few guests about a week later, we decided to drive out to the bakery and try a few ourselves. It is a peculiar and inviting standout of a 3-story building with Parisian flair in dark turquoise color contrasted with white trim windows compared to the dull ordinary medium-sized apartment buildings surrounding the bakery. They use no milk, sugar, eggs, or butter. Rather, they make bread through a natural fermentation process. I absolutely have no idea how this kind of bread-making works so this is where I stop in terms of how they actually make bread.

After we walked into the store, we were greeted by a lady who asked if this was our first time probably because she intuitively has caught our first-time vibe. She kindly took the time to explain how they make bread. All the while, I could see her smile behind the mask. I was nodding my head politely as if I was following her process of making bread while my restless eyes were scanning different kinds of bread on the shelves. We picked a couple of loaves of bread, strawberry (locally produced strawberry as Yangpyeong is known for organic strawberries) bread and what they call rustic bread, along with an apple strudel and Americanos which we enjoyed immensely, still wondering in my head how they make their bread without milk, sugar, eggs, and butter. After spending some time reading and writing in the bakery, as we were walking out, the lady came up to us again and asked in a curious tone where we were from. I thought of telling her we are from Yangpyeong, which would not be a complete lie or truth. However, my mouth beat my mind as I blurted that we were from the US, experimenting with living in Yangpyeong for a month. That was when she promptly invited us to a premiere movie night at the bakery with a few of her friends for a simple dinner. She handed us a brochure and after coming home, we learned that she was a partner bakery chef and a top protégé of Jiwon Kwak. We politely said, “What gracious invitation” and that we would consider and said goodbye. 

We were back at the bakery a few days later and bought some more loaves of bread for our other guests. Since we were masked up and I had a different hat on, I did not think she would notice us. That is when she came up to us and told us to come again for the movie night which was later that day. We did make it out there. We were tired since we hosted a couple for a night, and they left only a few hours earlier. My wife being an introvert was not necessarily thrilled about going but she knew that I was interested. We ended up arriving right on time maybe a minute or two late, but the door was locked. After debating what to do for a few short minutes, I decided to knock on the door. The door was swung open by the chef and she welcomed us in a hushed voice. The movie had already started and the only seats available were at the front of the room where the screen was while everyone was watching us come in and sit down. As we forced ourselves to be comfortable, the chef then went into the kitchen and got a small plate of cheese, bread, and ham with mugs of warm tea. We felt bad and embarrassed because we arrived late, and the host had to go back and forth to serve us. It was too late for us to bail out, so we stuck it out. Later, we found out that the host did not think that we were coming so she started the movie. 

The movie was Driving Miss Daisy. It was a bit surreal watching the movie in Yangpyeong with a bunch of strangers (less than 10 including us) whom we met only a few days earlier. After the movie, she wanted to introduce one another. That was when we found out that we were the only “outsiders” with four of her friends and Jiwon Kwak and his wife. When I asked why and how she invited us, total strangers, she plainly told us in front of the group, we carried a certain presence and that she felt compelled to invite us. Little did we know that we would meet Mr. Kwak, someone we read about in a magazine article, get his autographed book, and take a picture with both Mr. Kwak, his wife, and Kyunghwa Lee (the chef who invited us). 

They were just as curious as we were, so they rightfully asked us how we came to Yangpyeong. I shared our story of a healing stay and that we were Korean American missionaries wanting to focus on and develop younger people in Korea.

We are intrigued to read Mr. Kwak’s book which is about his story. From a short article we read, we were drawn to his philosophy of making bread but also his way of business. His vision is to develop and train bakers, only a handful at a time. His approach is to empower his disciples in their creativity to do their own business, not to franchise and grow his empire. The bakery we visited used to be his bakery but gave it away to Lee Kyunghwa. Mr. Kwak and his wife warmly invited us to their home and the academy where they train bakers which is close to where we are. We are planning to sit with them sometime next week. 

This is a chance encounter that may fizzle out like a dead-end alley. Even then, I learned that although we serve in two very different fields, there was attraction and even admiration as to how he went about his business, how he is semi-retired in training and mentoring, and how he wants to live the rest of his life (he just turned 70). He told us that he is planning to do Camino de San Tiago next year. This is a chance encounter that may also lead somewhere I have not expected us to go, not that I would be baking bread but gleaning and learning from how he is serving the next generations and transitioning in life.