Posted: 11/22/2021
Patients, staff treated to inspirational meals
For nearly four decades, Joseph Nam has worked in some of the most prestigious restaurants and hotels in the world. Today, this executive chef is bringing his culinary skills to Parkland Memorial Hospital where he’s preparing flavorful yet healthy meals for hospital patients, staff, and visitors.
“We are very excited to have Executive Chef Joseph Nam join our talented team of leaders and are looking forward to improving the patient experience through the quality and flavor of our food,” said Solomon Melesse, MBA, CDM, CFPP, Parkland’s Director of Food and Nutrition Services.
Chef Nam’s path to Parkland is unlike those who work alongside him in the hospital’s state-of-the-art kitchen. Born in Seoul, South Korea, he knew at an early age that pursing a career in academia was not his destiny. “The teachers asked, ‘what are you going to do with your life?’ I thought about going into a lot of different trades – computers, engineering, even a veterinary reproductive specialist,” he said. “But none of those felt right.”
After 14 months in the South Korean Army, Nam made a decision that would change the course of his life.
It was the mid-1980s. South Korea was growing and tourism was booming. Knowing that he liked to cook, Nam took a chance and applied to cooking school and landed a job at the prestigious 5-Star Hotel Shilla in Seoul. For the next 12 years, Nam perfected his skills in Shilla’s French restaurant where he prepared meals from menus created by world-renowned Chef Alain Senderens of the Lucas Carton restaurant in Paris, and took part in international food festivals in England, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and Australia. He also created meals served during the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and even served two Presidents – George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton – and the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson.
It was during this time that he got his first taste of America. “While I was at the Hotel Shilla, I was selected as one of two students out of 300 applicants to study abroad at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York,” Nam said. “I worked very hard while I was there, but it was a dream come true.”
Having earned his Chef’s credentials, Nam briefly returned to Seoul but the thought of fulfilling his American dream was too powerful and together with his family he found a new home in Connecticut. Chef Nam spent the next 18 years in Connecticut serving meals in upscale restaurants in South Windsor, Hartford. Diners would come from miles around to partake in his culinary masterpieces. Life for the family was good.
Then came the financial crash of New Haven-based Lehman Brothers in 2008. “It was a horrible situation. The hotel was almost empty, there were no customers in the restaurant and people including me lost their jobs,” Chef Nam recalled.
The next few years were tough, but the family survived due in part to Nam’s wife Joyce owning her own business and the Chef taking part-time jobs wherever he could. Then, in 2015, the couple moved to Dallas to help care for their granddaughter while his daughter worked. “We moved here because deep down, family is more important than money,” he said, smiling.
Nam went to work as Executive Chef first at Addison’s Crown Plaza Hotel, and then in the American Airlines Flagship Lounge and at Hendrick Hospital at Abilene before coming to Parkland.
Chef Nam relishes having culinary responsibility for the more than 3,000 meals served daily and the 4,000 to 5,000 retail transactions at Parkland.
“I look at food as medicine. Even if a patient is on a restrictive diet, they should be given a meal that is flavorful. And you can do that be incorporating various spices,” he said. “But beyond the taste, it’s important that you provide good nutritional food that is consistent with what they have at home. That way you can teach them how to modify their diet and when they get home they can continue working toward a healthier lifestyle.”
Chef Nam’s goal is to expand the ethnic fare offered in Parkland’s retail store and cafeteria by embracing the diversity of the system’s patients and staff. In addition, he foresees seasonal foods added to the menu such as warm soups in winter and light offerings in summer.
“It’s not about eliminating your favorite food, it’s about introducing more flavors and learning to eat in moderation,” he said.
For his first Thanksgiving overseeing the massive hospital’s kitchen, Chef Nam says he wants to “see how Parkland does the Thanksgiving meal even though I know how to make New England style dishes.”
He and his wife will continue a Thanksgiving tradition they began in 1998. “We invite an immigrant family to our home and cook New England style turkey and Korean foods for them each year,” he said. Korean dishes include japchae (stir-fried starch noodles with beef and vegetables), nokdujeon (mung bean pancakes), bulkogi (sauteed sliced beef with Korean seasoning), songpyeon (half-moon shaped rice cake), galbijjim (braised beef short ribs), gosari namul (fiddlehead ferns side dish) and doraji namul (sauteed bellflower roots).
“We are eager to harvest the depth and rich experience Executive Chef Joseph brings to Parkland and look forward to amplifying his talent and gift through the culinary training and development vision he plans to execute,” Melesse added. “Welcoming Chef Joseph to our professional family of culinarians, managers, supervisors and frontline staff is a dream come true."
“It’s a big task but I believe the Parkland culinary team and I are up for the challenge,” Chef Nam said. “I just want our patients, staff and visitors to know that in the end, I’ve worked very hard to put my soul on their plate.”