Get to Know Mijune Pak-Food Blogger and Judge on Top Chef Canada

Mijune Pak is an international food personality and creator of FollowMeFoodie.com. I have been following Mijune on Twitter and Instagram for several years and I was always intrigued by Mijune’s popularity in Vancouver and how many places she had travelled to and eaten at. I knew that Mijune ate out a lot, but I didn’t expect a whopping 641 restaurants in 2016. Wow!! She also has a wicked YouTube channel! If you haven’t seen her video of “Shit Foodies Say“, you got to watch it! I could totally relate. She is definitely someone to follow on social media especially if you love food porn.

When I found out Mijune is one of the resident judges on this season’s “Top Chef Canada: All Stars”, I was ecstatic of her opportunity. She is truly an inspiration to me. On top of being an incredible food writer and TV personality, she is gorgeous!

A big congratulations to Mijune on her success to-date!  I am also a huge fan of Top Chef Canada, and watched every season!  Being an All-Star cast with chefs from previous seasons, it makes it extra special and fun to watch as the chefs need to “up their game”.  Also, I can’t wait to hear everything that head judge Chef Mark McEwan has to say. I am expecting some tough critiques of the contestants dishes. The first few episodes were captivating and intense and I know the rest of the season will be the same.

The show airs on Food Network Canada at 10pm E/T. If you don’t have cable, full episodes of Top Chef Canada are available on Food Network Canada’s Top Chef Canada page after broadcast. Who am I voting for? I like all the chefs but I am hoping a Toronto Chef will win. For more information, check out Food Network Canada’s website http://www.foodnetwork.ca.

Quick bio about Mijune Pak

• Born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Mijune [mē-june (like the month she was born in)] is an international food personality and creator of FollowMeFoodie.com. Mijune started her website in 2009.
• Follow Me Foodie is a food, restaurant and travel website detailing international culinary adventures.
• Along with being on Top Chef Canada, Mijune makes regular appearances on various Canadian television shows and media outlets.
• Mijune was voted “World’s Most Extreme Foodies” by The Sunday Times and “Must Follow” by The Social Media Awards.
• Instagram @followmefoodie and Twitter @followmefoodie

(Source: http://www.followmefoodie.com/)

As you can imagine, I was jumping for joy when Mijune Pak agreed to be interviewed for my blog. Now, let’s get to know Mijune Pak a little better!

1.  Tell me about your journey as a food blogger:

This is a really long story and it’s probably the most asked as well, so it’s been written on a lot lol.

I was always interested in food and culture and I was documenting all my restaurants experiences and research in a notebook. I’m a very curious person and I love learning, and of course eating. My sister encouraged me to start a blog in July 2009 after a couple years of taking photos of every single meal and dish I ate. I was still hand writing in journals at the time. She taught me how to do it and I thought of a name and secured all my social media handles in one night. I fell in love with it and started writing every single day. For three and a half years I wrote on average 2500 words on a new restaurant every day. After a year I quit my full time to give my all to the blog which had started to take a life of its own… and I guess the rest is history.

For the first 3-4 years I focused on blogging, Twitter and some YouTube and Pinterest. I still do all four, but the last few years has transitioned to mainly Instagram, Facebook and Instagram Live videos.

2.      How many restaurants did you eat at in 2016?

641

3.      What are your favourite dishes to cook at home?

If it’s for myself, anything simple and light because I rarely eat at home. If I’m entertaining then I go all out. It really also depends on my guests. I like variety and I like to get creative in the kitchen.

4.      What would be your last meal/dishes/cuisines on earth?

It always goes back to comfort food and food you grew up with. Childhood memories!!

5.      What is the most adventurous or grossest thing you have ever eaten?

I rarely describe food as “gross” since it can be culturally offensive, but I will say it’s gross if it’s executed poorly and not tasty.

The most adventurous thing I’ve eat is probably a tarantula, spiders, meal worms, caterpillar cacoons, and water beatles. There’s actually some videos of it on my YouTube channel from years ago!

6.      How did you hear about the resident judge position for Top Chef Canada?

Mark McEwan had asked me and the producers called me to be part of it.

7.      What did you enjoy most about being a judge on Top Chef Canada? 

I loved every minute of it. People might think “eating” was the best part, which is always fun (unless it’s really bad food), but it’s more than that for me. I loved seeing the chefs grow with every challenge. I loved being in a room with people who shared the same passion. I loved dissecting their food and learning to understand how and why they made what they did. I loved the cooking challenges, cultural aspects of the show, and different perspectives we each brought to the table. I loved providing constructive criticism as well as praise.

8.   What is next for Follow Me Foodie? Will we see more YouTube videos, continued content on the blog or TV appearances?

I’m hoping all of the above if you guys will have me!!!

It is hard to keep up with the blog and YouTube videos because I’ve been more or less a one woman show. I usually hired a camera crew to do most my YouTube videos (especially if they’re for clients), and my blog posts take days to write to keep the quality and style I want, so it’s really difficult to sustain.

I started the blog from passion, not from wanting to be on TV, however I enjoy the energy when I’m on set and have so much fun doing it. I’m looking forward to doing more, but we’ll have to see what exactly that means… it’s very fun, but a challenging industry.

9.      What is your advice for food bloggers who want to follow your footsteps and success?

Do it because you love it. It has to make you happy, and even when it gets tough (and believe me, it’s tough) you have to still love it and commit whole heartedly. It’s a passion first. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication, persistence and self discipline. Opportunities don’t just magically come, you have to look for them, work for them and earn them. You have to live and breathe it. It’s part of who I am.

In terms of success, I still have a long ways to go. I haven’t reached a level of success where I feel like I’ve “made it”, or am going to slow down, or stop anytime soon; but I am also learning to enjoy the journey which sometimes I forget to do. It’s all about the journey. I’m hoping this is just the start of my career and I definitely don’t want to peak yet. In a way, I’ve worked so hard in preparation to work harder and I’m so excited about it!

Keep on rockin’ Mijune!