Korean cooking show Three Meals a Day has everything you want to see after an exhausting day: Mother Nature, a simple premise, good food, pleasant people and adorable animals. It’s my go-to when I want to unwind—and you should add this show to your life too.
Three Meals a Day (2014 – present) dumps celebrities in a remote rural location to live in a bare-bones house and cook every meal for themselves.
Sound boring, doesn’t it? BUT that ordinariness makes the show great. This Korean variety show doesn’t seek to entertain the audience, it comforts them.
Reason #1: The rural nature
Screenshot from Season 1 (Jeongseon Village) Episode 18 (Source: tvN via Youtube)
Three Meals a Day cleanses your eyes and ears with audiovisuals that you cannot find in the city or suburbs. The show presents the true rural landscape: nature co-existing with minimal levels of human presence. Have a look at the filming location for the Jeongseon Village seasons through Google Maps.
For those who haven’t lived in a small undeveloped town before, the scenery and housing will fascinate you. For others such as myself, it evokes nostalgia.
The production director of the show, Na PD, grew up in the countryside and so did I. From the farmland to the lack of car noises, there’s so much I recognize from Three Meals a Day. Even if you’ve never experienced the peacefulness of rural areas, watching the show will make you want to teleport there.
From the 1970s to early 2000s, my grandparents’ farmland expanded far beyond the townhouses you see in this 2010 photo. Every weekend, my parents and I would stay at their place. This town on the outskirts of Shanghai has developed rapidly since my family left China in 2005.
Reason #2: The slow and simple life
Imagine waking up to rooster crows and not having to run for the bus in order to get to school or work. Your time is your time alone.
I would trade everything for that kind of freedom and tranquillity if I could.
I want to spend my mornings waiting for breakfast to boil. (Source: tvN via ODK)
Not only does the rural location contribute to the care-free tone of Three Meals a Day, there’s nothing more to the show besides living in the given house, getting food and cooking it.
No competition, no suspense and no forced situations.
I can live vicariously through the cast at my own pace—as opposed to getting lured by cliff-hangers to watch more.
If you can appreciate scenes of mundane activities like using an outdoor tap to wash dishes and fanning fires to cook food, you will love this show as much as I do.
Reason #3: The food porn
Scallion pancakes fried on a cauldron lid = genius. (Source: tvN via ODK)
What’s a cooking show without the food porn?
Using ingredients mostly from their surroundings or fishing endeavours, Three Meals a Day always cooks up the most scrumptious and healthy-looking meals. The simple traditional cooking methods used (e.g. outdoor cauldron heated by firewood) seem to produce an endless array of dishes.
Every episode will make you want to look for the nearest Korean restaurant. I know I consult Google and Yelp every time I see an unfamiliar dish on-screen.
Not into the healthy-looking soups and Korean pickled vegetables? Three Meals a Day never makes the same menu twice and often features non-Korean dishes such as pizza and tonkatsu (shown in the video above).
Reason #4: The people
Fishing Village Season 4: The cast is ecstatic after catching a fish before sunset. (Source: tvN via Youtube)
Na PD has worked with hundreds of people from the Korean entertainment industry. For Three Meals a Day, he only selects those with enough patience and perseverance to handle a self-sufficient lifestyle. The main cast and occasional guests also range widely in age, bringing different perspectives and discussions to post-dinner chats.
The people on the show are not known for their “variety” sense (traditionally meaning the ability to make any situation entertaining), but rather their kind personalities. I don’t know about you, but I like watching friendly people interact with each other.
Na PD and the lovely cat of Fishing Village Season 2 (Source: tvN via Youtube)
Even the ever-present production crew play an important role in the show. You can often hear the crew’s genuine laughter during filming. Even the producer-director himself makes frequent on-screen appearances wearing his signature hat (shown above).
Reason #5: The animal cast
Animals, young or old, just make everything better.
Three Meals a Day raises new animals every season: puppies, kittens and ducks from the egg-incubating stage. The original cast (Jeongseon Village: Season 1 & 2) spent so much time with their dog Minki that they raised her from a puppy and raised her puppies.
Watch Three Meals a Day for the food and get attacked by the cuteness of puppies (Source: tvN via Youtube)
Is there anything more soul-healing than slow-motion shots of animals frolicking in the sunshine? Combine that with a rural setting, good food and pleasant people for a calm documentary-like show that is Three Meals a Day.
Now, don’t trust only my judgement: the Korean audience loved Three Meals a Day too (or at least enough to have it run for seven seasons and counting).
Have I convinced you to watch Three Meals A Day? Let me know what you think of this Korean variety show!
Online viewing options:
- without subtitles: OnDemandKorea
- with English subtitles, but incomplete seasons: KShowOnline
Happy watching!
Featured image source: tvN
#Assignment 3e
East Asian TV 
I really liked the balance of your blog. It kept consistent throughout, speaking about how the show has reminded you of your past and connected that all to food and the show. The further you described your reasons to watch the show, the more you made me want to watch it.
It was quite evident that you had a lot of informative details about the show, and that you yourself de-stress when watching it.
I believe that you can make your introduction have more of an impact. It starts like this show has everything you need, but doesnèt convince me to continue reading. However, your images and videos are very insightful and helpful to the reader to show concepts of the show, rather than rambling on about it.
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I’m convinced! I recently moved to the GTA and within the past year have really developed a taste for Korean cuisine- but I still know very little about it. This looks like a good way to get some cultural context around how these foods are prepared, so I can appreciate it for what it is, instead of just as “ethnic food.” I’m also intrigued by Three Meals a Day and how, even though it’s super popular (it’s the first thing that comes up if you Google “Three Meals a Day”….) it seems to be the polar opposite of the high-stakes, high-drama reality TV I grew up watching. I wonder if people who watch Three Meals regularly have an easier time being satisfied with life as-is, without needing all the bells and whistles to be entertained. I guess I’ll have to find out for myself! (Thank goodness the show’s currently available on YouTube! So convenient!)
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