If you are in Korea from October 31st till November 1st, check out the Korean food Festival over by Cheonggye Plaza. They’ll have a range of different activities such as exhibitions, Nanta performances, and you’ll even find some local star chefs there such as Mingoo Kang from Mingles and my buddy Jungsik Yim of Jungsikdang.
The opening ceremony is at 2pm on October 31st at Cheonggye Plaza. If you take a picture tweet or tag the event with #kfoodfestival, they will give you a free Nanta ticket and some cool souvenirs.
Share with your friends and I hope you can make there.
Dan
PS. Here is the Press Release.
Press Release PR Office: (HQ)강원도원주시세계로10, Tel 033.738.3051/3 (Seoul Center)서울시종로구청계천로35관정빌딩14층, Tel 02.729.9482/3 Contact: KyoungHee Sul, Team Head, Food Shopping Team (033-738-3641), Date of Distribution: Oct 25, 201, Total 2 PagesLet’s all enjoy「Big Meal Together, Everyone’s HanSik」at the 2015 K-Food Festival- Korea National Tourism to hold food tourism festival at the Cheonggye Plaza - - K-smile Campaign, a linked campaign to promote hospitality towards international visitors, will also follow - The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (under the leadership of Minister Kim Jong-deok) and the Korea National Tourism (under the leadership of Mr. Jung Chang Soo ) will jointly hold the first 2015 K-Food Festival for two days, from October 31, 2015 through November 1, 2015, at the Cheonggye Plaza. The festival is open for everyone, both Koreans and international visitors, and will be under the theme of「Big Meal Together, Everyone’s Hansik」to invite everyone to celebrate harmonious Korean food that uses variety of ingredients.
Promotion booths at the Festival are organized to deliver the five distinct “Taste” Hansik, “pass on”the traditional Korean food, “add” fun and Korean wave, all of which will make international visitors to “smile.” The Festival will include range of Korean food, including traditional recipes enjoyed by monks, Korea royals, and members of the head families. It will also include everyday Hansik recipes that modern Koreans enjoy, as well as the fusion and futuristic Korean. Moreover, participating guests will also have a chance to enjoy traditional and modern tableware that go with all the variety of foods presented at the Festival.
The festival will also feature the result of the 180 days of Korea Pavilion operation at the Expo Milano 2015, which was held in the fashion city Milano, Italy from May 1, 2015 – Oct 31, 2015 to promote the excellence of Hansik.
To provide variety of contents (viz. exhibitions, on-site preparations & tasting) for the K-food Festival, number of renowned food experts, institutes, and organizations will participate, including Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine, the Andong Gwon clan, Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism, Chef Min goo Kang of “Mingles” and Chef Jungsik Yim of “Jung sik dang”. Other star Chefs, Mr. Rack Hun Kim & Mr. Jo Sung Joo of “Open Studio” will also join the Festival and the program will also include non-food-making related programs such as crafting food miniature for children, non-verbal performance by “NANTA” among many other interesting programs that the Festival will offer.
The Opening Ceremony is scheduled at 2pm on November 31, and it will be followed K-Smile Campaign (a linked campaign to promote hospitality toward international visitors to Korea) around the Cheonggye Plaza. Ms. KyungHee Sul, Team Head at the Korea Tourism Organization commented that “This event is the very first festival to promote food tourism, and I hope we have a lot of international visitors.” She also said that “Through this event, we hope the guests will find Hansik both fascinating and easy to approach, which will eventually cause them to revisit Korea. We hope this event will serve as a stepping stone for Korea to become a popular destination for food tourism.” 보도자료 홍보실: (본사)강원도원주시세계로10, Tel 033.738.3051/3 l (서울센터)서울시종로구청계천로35관정빌딩14층, Tel 02.729.9482/3 담당자:음식쇼핑팀설경희팀장(033-738-3641),배포일: 2015년10월25일,총2쪽 「더불어한상,다함께한식」을즐겨요! 2015 K-Food Festival개최 -한국관광공사,서울청계광장에서음식관광축제의장마련- - K-smile친절캠페인도연계추진예정- 문화체육관광부(장관김종덕)와한국관광공사(사장정창수)는오는10월31일부터11월1일까지2일간서울청계광장에서2015 K-Food Festival을처음으로개최한다.다양한재료가한데모여조화로운맛을내는한식을세계인이함께즐기자는의미에서「더불어한상,다함께한식」이라는주제를정하고내․외국인관광객누구나즐길수있는축제의장을마련한다. 홍보부스는다양한상차림과무대를통해한식의맛을직접‘보고’,옛맛을‘잇고’,재미와한류를‘더하며‘,미래의음식을’찾고‘,그리하여관광객들이’웃는다‘라는5가지메시지를통해구성된다. K-Food의근간이되는궁중․종가․사찰음식에서부터현대인들이사랑하는한식,미래지향적인한식까지골고루보여줄예정이다.또한이음식들을담아내는전통도자와한국식테이블웨어도감상할수있다. 아울러패션의도시이탈리아밀라노에서180여일간에걸쳐‘한식의우수성’을테마로운영된밀라노엑스포한국관(2015.5.1~10.31일)의전시성과도한눈에보여줄예정이다. K-food의다채로운전시,시연,시식을위행서궁중음식연구원,안동권씨충재권벌종가,불교문화사업재단등과의협업과,뉴코리언장르의새로운음식으로인기있는 <밍글스>강민구셰프의마스터클래스시연및<정식당>임정식셰프의전시등이이루어질예정이다.또한‘김락훈’, ‘조성주’셰프의오픈스튜디오와어린이들의음식모형미니어처만들기체험,넌버벌퍼포먼스‘난타’공연등의흥미있는볼거리도마련되어있다. 개막식은31일2시에예정되어있으며,개막식에바로이어청계광장을중심으로외래객환대친절캠페인인K-smile캠페인도연계하여추진할계획이다.
Its been a long couple of months of planning, negotiating, and creating for a 1 day event that comes and goes. Well I guess that's what it means to be an event planner. Overall, I was quite happy with the event. We had a good turn out, the stage was created in time and there were no misspellings on the banners or any of the material that we produced. Plus it looked like everyone had a good time.
Our clients this time were Yevo 43 that wanted a dynamic, fun event that bridged both cultures: America and Korea. They wanted an event focused on explaining the importance of the 43 essential nutrients in their product and how their product was more than food that it was a lifestyle product. We've had other clients that say similar things but with Yevo, I actually do believe in their product. It's really good and good for you.
So what goes into planning a great event in Korea?
A whole lot of frustration, patience, and a good team around you. With an event for 1000 people there are lots of moving pieces. You have a stage to build, an audio and visual team to coordinate, banners and decorations to build, plus you need to get everything brought in and set up in 1 day or there are lots of fees. Oh and the clients. You have to keep the clients happy even in they might be at fault. The event team's job is to fix everything event if it goes beyond the call of what was originally arranged.
The Mind behind Yevo, Chip Marsland with CEO Dave Brown
At this event, we had a VIP press conference in the morning that we were lucky to have quite a number of press to come to. We were lucky enough to be featured on a TV channel plus 4 newspapers. We also appeared on a dozen or so blogs. Here are some of the different media and press that featured the event: Newdaily, Newspim, Naver, Heraldcorp and MBN. Not bad, especially since it was a busy news day (the Korean government wants to standardize the history books which is upsetting everyone.)
The stage with Yevo Product
The stage was an interesting build for the room the clients choose was a bit smaller than what we were used to. We set up two awesome LCD screens on both sides for powerpoints and for live feeds from the videos. The LCDS took all night to build and use a ton of electricity but it does add that high-tech pizazz to the event. For the stage, we had it custom built with 42 different foods on plates to represent how much one would have to eat in order to get the same amount of nutrients in a single bowl of Yevo. We had the speeches from the VIPS and special guests and also some performance guests. This required some great AV guys that could get the levels correctly. We had singer Hong Jinyoung as a performer and she was amazing. She was super charming and she had so much energy. She really charmed the entire crowd.
Hong Jinyoung Singer at the Yevo Korea Launch Event
Gourmet Popcorn has been one of the big trends this year. It is highly portable and giftable so I feel there are many advantages for it in the market. Now they did have soft serve ice cream with popcorn last summer but I think it was more a gimmick than a hit.
Koreans have been obsessed with Greek yogurt this year as it has been selling out at grocery stores and selling as well as the new Bio yogurt. Now it is at cafes as an ice cream alternative. #yogurt #greek #korea
Daniel Gray is a Korean-American Adoptee that returned to Korea in 2005 to rediscover his roots. He is a Korean food expert that has appeared on Bizarre Foods, Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain and more. He does food tours, events, and consulting in Seoul and owns two restaurants: Brew 3.14 and Brew 3.15 in Seoul.
