Top K-drama Bon Appetit, Your Majesty finding fans around the world

If you had to cook to save yourself, what would you make? That is the prompt presented to Ji-young, a decorated chef and protagonist of K-drama Bon Appetit, Your Majesty, which is showing on Netflix.

- Eric Kim

After accidentally time-travelling to 16th-century Korea, Ji-young (played by Yoona from K-pop girl group Girls' Generation) must cook for a tyrant king, Yi Heon (Lee Chae-min), as if her life depends on it. (It does.)

The fictional king, thought to be inspired by Yeonsangun, the great terror of the Joseon Dynasty, hurls death threats at the chef as often as he purrs, eyes closed, between bites of her exceptional dishes.

Since its Aug 23 premiere, the 12-episode Bon Appetit is now No.1 on the ranking of Netflix's most popular non-English shows worldwide, and is among the top 10 most-watched shows in 73 countries.

It is a grab bag of genres, but at its core, it is a romantic comedy, with cooking as its love language.

"I found the story of a modern chef and a king falling in love to be incredibly romantic," said Chang Tae-you, the series' director and food programming aficionado, calling it "a story where food changes a person, and that change evolves into love".