Ae Jin Huys was born in South Korea and adopted by a Belgian family at age six. She studied fine arts and worked in fashion design before rediscovering Korean food at the home of a Korean chocolatier she met by chance. Those meals brought back childhood memories of kimchi, doenjang, and gochujang, sparking her passion for Korean cuisine.
She returned to Korea and traveled across the country, discovering that even kimchi tastes different by region. Drawn to traditional foods like kimchi, kkakdugi, soy sauce, and jeotgal, she opened Mokja (meaning “let’s eat”) in Ghent, Belgium’s third-largest city, in 2013. There, she introduced Korean-style grilled pork belly to a country where pork belly is typically eaten as bacon.
Today, Ae Jin Huys is a leading voice for authentic Korean cuisine in Europe. She has authored several award-winning cookbooks and visits Korea every year—not to study with famous chefs, but to learn from ordinary Korean mothers who make jipbap (home-cooked meals) the traditional way, staying true to the essence of Korean food.
Table of Contents
The Turning Point: Rediscovering Korean Food
Ae Jin Huys met Ko Young-ju, the owner of Cacao Boom and a chocolatier, by chance. Ko had lived in Belgium for eight years starting in 1994, where she learned cooking and chocolate-making.
After that encounter, Ae Jin was frequently invited to Ko’s home for meals. It was during these meals that she rediscovered the long-forgotten taste of Korean food, sparking her interest in Korean cuisine.
Memories of the flavors of kimchi, along with doenjang (soybean paste) and gochujang (red chili paste) from the jangdokdae (traditional Korean outdoor fermentation vessel area) in her childhood backyard, began to resurface.
Twenty-four years ago, she visited Korea again and traveled across the country. Through this journey, she discovered that even kimchi tastes different depending on the region.
Rather than fancy or expensive food, she found herself drawn to traditional Korean dishes such as kimchi, kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), soy sauce, doenjang, and jeotgal (fermented seafood).
Mokja: A Taste of Korea in Ghent
Starting in July 2013, she began operating a pop-up restaurant called Mokja (먹자) in Ghent, Belgium’s third-largest city.
The name Mokja means “let’s eat” in Korean.
In Belgium, where pork belly is typically eaten as bacon, she introduced Korean-style grilled pork belly (samgyeopsal gui).
Later, her recipes for sigeumchi-muchim (seasoned spinach), hobak-jeon (pan-fried zucchini), and kkakdugi were featured in the Korea special issue of Magazine, published by the prominent Belgian media outlet De Standaard.
Learning from Korean Home Cooking
Every year, Ae Jin Huys visits Korea. Instead of attending formal culinary schools or learning from famous Korean chefs, she seeks out ordinary Korean mothers who make jipbap (home-cooked meals) and people who prepare Korean food in traditional ways to learn their cooking methods.
The Misugaru Moment
Ae Jin Huys is a Korean-Belgian chef who was adopted to Belgium at age six and raised there. When she was around twenty years old, a Korean friend she met in Ghent gave her a cup of misugaru (a traditional Korean grain powder drink). In that single cup, she rediscovered the taste of Korea she had forgotten and became strongly aware of her identity. This experience led her to change her career path from fashion designer to chef.
That sense of “something familiar” from a cup of misugaru led her on a deep exploration of her roots in Korea. Since then, she has visited Korea almost every year, going beyond mere travel to seek out Korean culinary masters and learn their traditional cooking techniques.
Through exchanges with Korea’s Slow Food community in particular, she absorbed the deep philosophy and view of nature embedded in Korean cuisine and went on to author several cookbooks.
Books & Recognition
Ae Jin has authored several cookbooks that bridge Korean tradition and European cooking.
2019 – Kimchi: gezond koken met gefermenteerde groenten
A book focused on kimchi and fermented vegetables (title translates to “Kimchi: Cooking Healthy with Fermented Vegetables”).
2023 – Jang
A book exploring Korean fermented sauces including soy sauce, doenjang, and gochujang.
2024 – Korea Küche
Published in Germany by Prestel Verlag, this book won Silver at the GAD Award from the German Cookbook Association (title translates to “Korean Kitchen”).
2026 – Appeared on MBC’s Chef’s DNA
Awards & Career Highlights
- 2019 – Published Kimchi cookbook
- 2023 – Published Jang cookbook
- 2024 – GAD Award Silver (German Cookbook Association) for Korea Küche (Prestel Verlag)
- 2026 – Appeared on MBC’s Chef’s DNA
TV Appearance: MBC’s ‘Chef’s DNA’ (2026)
Ae Jin Huys traveled to Korea to appear in this 60-minute documentary special alongside Korean actor Ryu Soo-young. The program documented their process of developing a global Korean menu in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province.
She experienced a representative 17-course traditional table setting (sangcharim) at a restaurant with 40 years of tradition and was deeply moved. Based on this experience, she developed new global Korean dishes using Korean ingredients.
It is known that she decided to visit Korea for this program out of a sense of mission to convey the true value of authentic Korean food, rather than the modified versions of Korean cuisine trending in Europe. She is an adopted Korean chef who works tirelessly to globalize Korean food and promote its authenticity, traveling between Belgium and Korea.
Personal Life & Family
Husband: Frederik Sioen — a Belgian musician known for the song “Crujin,” which was featured in a Beanpole (빈폴) commercial in Korea.
She has healed the pain of her past — being separated from her birth mother at a young age and being adopted — through Korean cooking.
Restaurant Mokja Information
- Name: Mokja (목자)
- Location: Ghent, Belgium
- Address: Greenockstraat 3, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Philosophy: “As with Korean cuisine, my goal is to consistently work with local seasonal ingredients rather than commercially available ingredients to create a variety of dishes.”
Chef Ae Jin Huys Profile
- English Name: Aejin Heuis / Full Name: Ae Jin Huys
- Age: 49
- Birthplace: South Korea
- Nationality: Belgian
- Education: Art University in Ghent, Belgium (Fashion Design major)
- Family: Husband Frederik Sioen, adoptive parents
- Instagram Follow Chef Ae Jin Huys on Instagram
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