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Michael P

- Research Program Mentor

Industry expert at Yale University

Expertise

Culinary Arts, Business Strategy & Management Consulting, Biology, Creative Fiction and Non-Fiction writing

Bio

I am currently a sous chef at Momofuku Ko, a two-Michelin star restaurant in New York City. At the restaurant, I help develop new concepts for events and drive seasonal menu changes for both our bar and tasting menus. In 2022, I was a North American finalist in the San Pellegrino Young Chef Competition and won the "Aqua Panna Connections in Gastronomy" award for my dish which aimed to chart my family's migration from North Korea to the Southern port city of Busan during the Korean War. I am interested in both the craft of regional cooking as well as the family histories and cultural anthropologies that drive these culinary traditions. I also have extensive business training in the food and beverage space given I was a management consultant at Bain and Company for three years following graduation. I also ran a series of entirely student operated pop-up restaurant concepts at Yale under the umbrella of "Y Pop-Up". The intersection of food as story, craft, and commerce is my area of interest and expertise.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Cooking to Find the American Dream: Food as a Mode of Historical Dialogue

Delve into your family's history through a series of interviews with near and extended relatives. These conversations will inform dishes that will capture the salient milestones and historical moments that define your family's journey to the present day. The project will culminate in a tasting menu for your family that will not only demonstrate the mentee's culinary growth but also galvanize conversation surrounding the interviews and family histories that resulted in the meal.

Chemical X: Creating the Next Great American Snack Food

Conceive, develop, and go-to-market with a scalable consumer packaged good product. The project will involve culinary ideation and R&D as well as detailed work-planning and execution on product iteration and design. Project will result in a product launch and potential to extend into sales tracking and growth strategy.

Languages I know

Conversational Spanish and Korean

Teaching experience

My current role as a sous chef and previously as a management consultant have required consistent mentorship of new team members and hires. I have also tutored and taught music lessons to middle and high school students throughout my undergraduate experience.

Credentials

Work experience

Momofuku Ko (2022 - Current)
Sous Chef

Education

Yale University
BA Bachelor of Arts (2017)
Humanities (Literature) and Biology

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