SEOUL - War zones, burned kitchens and death from malnutrition were among troubles that lay on life paths of South Korea’s culinary elite.

The most surprising thing about Netflix’s smash-hit culinary survival series Culinary Class Wars may not be the food or the final rankings, but the stories of each chef.

Season 2’s beloved judges and the white team - the elite figures who helped shape South Korea’s contemporary culinary scene - make their on-screen entrances like kings.

Yet behind the status and the Michelin credentials is something far messier and more cinematic than any edited competition show: a motley crew of runaways, war veterans, dropouts, and even accidental TV champions whose applications began after getting drunk.

If Culinary Class Wars has a face, it’s Anh Sung-jae, the polite yet sharp-tongued judge whose intense gravitas defines the series. The owner of South Korea’s sole three-Michelin-star restaurant, Mosu, Anh anchors the series with a well-mannered demeanor and piercing critiques.

However, before reaching the summit of South Korea’s culinary world, he led a chaotic life.

Born in South Korea and raised in California, Anh’s youth was defined by immigr...