The year was 1968. His father passed away during the Korean War, and his mother died of illness. The family split up to Taiwan, Korea, and Japan to find a way to survive.
After graduating high school, Hou De-zhu started working at a place because they told him he could eat a lot of ham if he worked there.
He didn't get to touch a knife for a year and did nothing but f-ing dishes.
Around his 3rd year, he used a senior's knife without knowing and got his face smashed in (Hou De-zhu's own words: 'It hurt like hell').
Time passed, and he became the Sous Chef at Shilla Hotel's 'Palsun'.
During the early days of Palsun, sales were f-ed, so the Head Chef got fired. Hou De-zhu was forcibly promoted to Head Chef.
Unable to afford getting fired, he traveled across Asia and started 'burying his nose' in every dish. He actively exchanged recipes, even gifting 'wild pine mushrooms' (which Japanese people go crazy for).
After that, he launched his signature 'Buddha Jumps Over the Wall'. Palsun started killing it.
Even after becoming successful, he makes sure to eat and study any dish he sees for the first time.
Back in 1999, he was even studying cooking through the 'Cooking Master Boy' (Chuuka Ichiban) manga, saying there's stuff to learn from comic books too.
Hou De-zhu is 76 years old and still active. His skills are so insane that he’d easily make TOP 3 even in Culinary Class Wars Season 2. Source: Culinary Class Wars Review Gallery
"The community is showing massive respect for Grandmaster Hou De-zhu's grind, from doing dishes for a year to studying manga at age 76. He's a total legend."
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![[Baek-Gal] Chef Hou De-zhu, who got slapped back in the day just for borrowing a knife](https://kcomm-assets.b-cdn.net/thumbnails/thumb_3ab2b7d6112ddf1c.webp)
