US-based Korean influencer Jooshica, who has been watching popular Chinese romance drama, The First Frost (2025), came across a scene in the show that left her stunned. 

The scene in question? Men cooking. 

She said at the start of her TikTok: "Guys, I'm Korean and I'm watching a Chinese drama for the first time in my life and I'm having a cultural shock because why is a man cooking in the kitchen?"

She then showed a snippet of the drama, which shows an older man cooking.

"You will never see a grandpa cooking in a K-drama because women are supposed to cook in Korea," she explained. 

"This is so wholesome," she continued to gush when a younger male character, presumably the grandson, goes into the kitchen to help out with the cooking. 

"I think this is the reason Korean girls want to date Chinese guys, because they just help with house chores a lot versus a lot of Korean men [who] did not grow up learning to do that. This is shocking to me, this is actually insane."

"This is the man I want in my life!" she would later say when the older man was seen bringing the dishes to the dining table. 

"Is this considered normal in China?" she asked in her caption. 

Many netizens have since replied that it is normal for Chinese men to help around the house. 

One Korean netizen even shared that her grandma was shocked to find out that her Chinese husband was doing 70 per cent of their housework. Other Chinese netizens also said they are used to seeing their dads cooking and cleaning their houses. 

"I heard Chinese culture places emphasis on men to take care and spoil their lovers," offered another netizen.

While we can think of a couple of K-dramas that show their male leads cooking in some scenes — King the Land and Love Next Door, come to mind — we agree that they aren't as commonly seen, especially compared to C-dramas.

What we did not expect though was for someone to experience such a culture shock from something we never thought twice about. 

Photos: jooshica/ TikTok