Culture Ministry to spotlight Korean food culture in Paris alongside Olympics

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Craft and Design Foundation (KCDF) are co-hosting a campaign to promote Korean food culture in Paris from Friday to Wednesday.

An example of the traditional Korean way to eat a meal on a soban (table) [JOONGANG ILBO]

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Craft and Design Foundation (KCDF) are co-hosting a campaign to promote Korean food culture in Paris from Friday to Wednesday.

The Culture Ministry and the KCDF have been working together to spread traditional Korean food and culture through festivals in New York in 2022 and Jakarta, Indonesia and Milan in 2023.

Following this year’s promotional campaign in Sydney, Australia in April, they will continue the campaign in Paris to introduce soban (a traditional Korean table) and juansang (a table set with liquor and side dishes) alongside the Paris Olympics.

From Friday to Sunday, Korean food culture exhibitions will be held at the 15th arrondissement of Paris, including Korean food tasting and other participatory events.

Eventgoers will be able to see utensils like traditional white tableware and earthenware bowls and check out the Korean Food Culture Box, a portable exhibition in a box.

Attendees will be able to taste popular snacks such as dasik (traditional bite-sized desserts made of powdered grain and nuts) and yakgwa (fried honey cookies), as well as three times of jeon — kimchi jeon (Korean kimchi fritter), buchu jeon (Korean chive fritter) and gamja jeon (Korean potato fritter).

There will be six traditional games to play at the event: ddakjichigi (a game where competitors throw thick pieces of paper attempting to flip an opponent’s piece), jegichagi (a game where competitors try to kick a sack or a shuttlecock with their feet), tuho (traditional arrow-throwing game), paengi (top-spinning), gonggi (Korean jacks) and sangaji (traditional game using rods). Participants can also try crafting events like making a mini mother-of-pearl table, a dried pollock keychain and a bojagi (traditional Korean wrapping cloth).

A Korean food culture workshop will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday in the OORI center, in the heart of France. It will focus around the theme of traditional table settings.

Chef Jeong Ju-hee, who has contributed to introducing Korean food culture around the world, will personally teach the classes. Participants will experience kitchen life in the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and make traditional dishes such as neobiani (minced steak patties) and lettuce kimchi while tasting traditional Korean alcohol.

Interested participants may sign up through the Centre Culturel Coréen, or the Korean Culture Center in France, or the OORI’s website.

BY AIDAN SONG [kjdculture@joongang.co.kr]