Roy Choi Cooks It Up At Distinguished Speaker Series

Korean-American chef Roy Choi drew parallels between Asians and Latinos and how it can be difficult to thrive as an artist in those cultures Tuesday at the UTRGV Distinguished Speaker Series.

“Asian people don’t understand art…there’s no time for it,” Choi said. 

Choi, a chef born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in Los Angeles, is the founder of Kogi BBQ Taco Truck & Catering who shared his experience as an immigrant and business owner during the UTRGV Distinguished Speaker Series at the Performing Arts Complex on the Edinburg campus.

On his path to culinary school, Choi took a semester of law school, which he said was not a great fit for him. The expectations of being in an Asian household meant going off to earn an education degree for Choi, who couldn’t articulate his passions at the time. 

“I knew I was creative, but I didn’t have an outlet for it,” Choi told Pulse during a news conference before the event. “I couldn’t really argue my point to my parents when I was young.”

During the event, one of Choi’s main topics was his insight on growing up in Korea and being surrounded by food. For him, being in a newfound country brought a sense of responsibility to hold traditions, without losing sight of himself. 

“The biggest thing that immigrants used as a bridge to get through the difficulties of living in a new country is food,” he said. 

Fusion culture is a staple of Choi’s well-known food truck business, Kogi.

Asked how fusion connects different cultures, he replied, “The early first wave [of immigrants] had to create their own recipes to mimic the recipes of home.”

He said when immigrants are far from their home country the only thing that connects them is family.

“When you arrive [in America] there’s nothing that really connects you,” Choi said. “The only thing that can connect you is family. That’s why family is so insular and private, I see the same with Latino families.”

Kogi, in Choi’s eyes, is an outlier in the restaurant business. Having started with a small amount of money and the business becoming a pop culture phenomenon was certainly unexpected, he said.

“We started with $1,500, but because Kogi kind of jumped off, we never had to face the dilemma of raising money or getting investors or anything like that,” he said. “We just kept this small focus day to day and focused on our community and legends that it did.”

Pulse asked Choi to explain the challenges of being a chef and a business owner, to which he replied that operating a restaurant business is all about considering every factor of every moment.

“Every second of the day is a challenge,” he said. “But the challenge is part of the DNA of running a restaurant or a business. You have to be agile and learn how to maneuver and adapt to it.”

The path of Kogi’s success, he believes, was an unorthodox one. 

The business was founded with a large use of social media around the time Twitter entered the “mainstream,” which allowed for Kogi to follow suit.

“I think what Kogi did in 2008 with Twitter, we built the blueprint and the architecture for how food and beverage operations use social media,” he said. “Back then, no one was advertising, or influencers, or content creation.”

Choi provided advice for local food-truck owners across the Rio Grande Valley, some of whom were in attendance. He said he was amazed at the popularity and growth in the area despite obstacles such as weather and mobility. 

The chef was also adamant to be grateful for the liberation the business can bring. 

“The reason why we do it is freedom,” he said. “Just don’t take that freedom for granted. Don’t take your customers and the people who support food truck culture for granted.”

Choi ended the event by explaining his newfound love for the Rio Grande Valley.

“You all get to really talk, and you’re genuine,” he said. “It just comes from the heartbeat first.”  

He said he believes the RGV has a certain energy and community that should be seen everywhere.

“Just know that whatever you all have here, you can spread that throughout the world and it will matter,” he said. “Focus on you, put your heart, create attainable goals that are meaningful. Never lose sight of community.”