No matter how crazy that path looks, you can't deny it.

I've always had this life that has been very unpredictable.

And there was something about moving to Louisville, Kentucky, even though it was a crazy idea, felt right to me. I had no friends, no contacts, and took over a restaurant in the worst neighborhood for a fine dining restaurant and was quickly told that I would not last three months here.

That was 17 years ago. When you're born to traditional immigrant parents, being a chef is not exactly the first career choice.

I have 20 generations of people on my shoulders saying, you're the first born in America, you can't squander your life.

My first entry into Korean culture was really through food.

My grandmother and my mom cooked really traditional Korean food.

So every time I come to Korea, it's always this chasing the flavors that I had as a kid.

There was always this feeling that my connection to this heritage is unfinished, incomplete. I see life through a prism of food.

I remember eating collard greens for the first time in a soul food restaurant and feeling like I came home.

The more I started to investigate southern food, the more I started to dig deeper into my history, what Korean food means to me.

Food is one way I define myself as being Korean.

Even though the food is in my blood, culturally I'm not Korean.

I have this position in life to be both an insider and an outsider when I'm here.

I can see it from both perspectives.

I can see people and music, but until I sit down to a bowl of cold spicy noodles, I just get transported into my childhood.

That's what it feels like to be in Korea.

I'm here. Being in Korea is reconnecting with my own nostalgia.

But then the other part that's really important for me is also discovering what's new here.

The perfect balance of innovation and heritage is one hand reaching forward but the other hand reaching back.

For every time that we create something new, we have to go back and honor something old. As I get older, I don't want to stop growing.

And travel is a huge part of how I can get to the next chapter of my life.

You put yourself in uncomfortable situations and you sort of peel back all these layers and you really get to the true definition of who you are.

Food is about experiences and memories.

It's the story I want to tell about my life. If I was walking down the road and there were two paths in front of me, I would always pick the path that was more adventurous.

I can't imagine being where I am today without traveling.

I could live out the rest of my life pleasing other people, taking the safe road, or I could pursue my dream and do what I really need to do. What I do know is what's inside my heart. For more UN videos visit www.un.org.