“Eating food is about more than just consumption. It is rather the
consumption of a particular culture. Each culture's food will have
differences in style, and this year’s food festival aimed to publicize
the cultural elements embedded in Korean food”.
Organized with the above purpose, Korea Food Festival 2012 brought renewed attention to cultural and social aspects of Korean food in the city of delicacies, Jeonju.
"Eating
food is about more than just consumption. It is rather the consumption
of a particular culture." Korea Food Festival 2012, held in Jeonju from
October 18 to 22, higlighted the cultural elements that can be found in
Korean food. This year’s festival, held from October 18
to 22, presented the historic changes in Korean food and meals to
introduce visitors to the identity and uniqueness of Korean food.
When food and stories meet
Under
the title of ”A dining table of Koreans,” the festival featured a
variety of plain and simple but generously prepared dining tables, and
also showcased different table styles from the Three Kingdoms period
to the present day. The exhibits, which allowed a peek into the
lifestyle of ordinary people through presenting what they eat, received
favorable evaluations for its uniqueness compared to other food
festivals.
Among the special exhibitions was temple food, known for healing both the body and soul, prepared by monks. Wuguan from the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism
cooked a salad of balloon flowers with citron and shared the recipe
secrets of wellbeing food with the audiences. According to Wuguan, one
of the important eating habits in temples is to consume a proper amount
of food, and too much is considered worse than too little.
The
biggest hit of the festival was where famed restaurants offered their
own specialties. A total of three restaurants were invited: Jinmi
Restaurant from Iksan which has been serving bibimbap for 77 years,
Hanilguan in Jeonju serving bean sprout soup for 57 years, and Sunchang
Restaurant cooking soondae (boiled or steamed cow or pig’s intestines
stuffed with various ingredients) for 57 years. Every day, a long line
formed in front of the booth with waiting crowds who were looking to
have a taste of the legendary delicacies, and all the food was sold out
before closing time.
Three food festivals light up Jeonju
This
autumn, a total of three gigantic food festivals were unveiled during
the same period to give special attention to Jeonju. Korea Food Festival
2012 was held together with the International Fermented Food Expo and Jeonju Bibimbap Festival 2012.
Top:
Tourists from Sri Lanka pound rice cakes using mallets during one of
the cultural programs of Korea Food Festival 2012. Bottom: Festival
visitors try their hand at making kimchi (photos: Yonhap News). Visitors
to the International Fermented Food Expo were offered an impressive
opportunity to learn about fermented Korean foods such as gochujang (hot
pepper paste), doenjang (bean paste), and cheonggukjang (soybean
paste), which might be considered as off-the-wall for foreigners but are
staples for Koreans. Meanwhile, around the Hanok Village
where the Bibimbap Festival was held, more than 10,000 participants
took part in a bibimbap performance, where they mixed ingredients in
a large bowl to create 13,000 servings of bibimbap. The Hanok village,
which welcomed an inflow of 600,000 people during the festival, is said
to still give off the savory smell of bibimbap.
When asked to rate the event out of 100, Lee Charm, president of the Korea Tourism Organization,
said that he could give a score higher than 1,000. He also added that
these festivals have great growth potential and that he is especially
happy to see a higher participation rate each year.
Legendary artists arrive in Jeonju Jeonju’s food festivals may all be over now, but now is the time to delight your eyes. Since October 19, Jeonbuk Museum of Art
is offering the chance to rediscover masterpieces by world-renowned artists.
The
exhibit, entitled "My Chagall, Your Picasso," invites art lovers
to enjoy fine pieces by legendary artists, from Manet, Picasso, and
Mondrian, to Chagall and Andy Warhol, whose works had only
been approachable through books or media channels. The total number of
art pieces showcased in the museum is 128, which are together worth a
total of approximately 100 billion KRW.
The exhibition is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day but Monday. For the convenience of visitors from Seoul, the KTX
schedule on Saturdays and Sundays will be specially adjusted during the
run of the exhibit. More detailed information is available at the website of the Jeonbuk Museum of Art (Korean only).
By Lee Seung-ah
Korea.net Staff Writer