Get your fill of Korea's food culture at 'Taste of Seoul'

Event schedule for the 2021 Seoul Gourmet Week. [SEOUL TOURISM ORGANIZATION]

The 2021 Seoul Gourmet Week dubbed “Taste of Seoul” will be held both online and offline from Friday until next Wednesday to promote Seoul's unique food culture.

Under the theme “Six-day trip of World’s Delicacies in Seoul,” the Seoul Tourism Organization is hosting the festival to introduce the capital city’s colorful gourmet culture to citizens worn out from the pandemic, through a serious of programs incorporating music, movies and tourism.

Divided into two parts, this year’s festival will offer various events including screenings of movies about food, Seoul city bus tours to some popular foodie destinations and cooking classes under the first part, “Seoul Food Travel Week”; and will introduce 100 restaurants and bars in Seoul during the second part, “Seoul Restaurant Week.”

The festival will kick off with the "Taste of Seoul Online Tour" from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at Oil Tank Culture Park in Mapo District, western Seoul. The show will share stories related to travel and food with Seoul's star chefs and recount stories sent in by participants. Singer Hwang Kwang-hee and crossover male band RabidAnce will be featured as special guests. Only those who pre-register online through VisitSeoul's website can visit in person, but anyone who wishes to tune in from home can stream the show live via VisitSeoul’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/user/visitseoul).

“Seoul Glocal Food Market with Marche” is the next activity on the agenda and will take place from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at KOTE in Insa-dong, central Seoul, to give Seoulites a chance to experience healthy and sustainable cuisines from all over the world, using ingredients grown locally. A zero-waste food market will be open where various cooking ingredients, from local vegetables to ingredients traditionally used in Korean cuisine, will be available. A cooking workshop will also be held for people to explore diverse ingredients and tastes.

A restaurant on wheels, or a “bustaurant,” will take passengers to Seoul’s popular tourist attractions and foodie spots from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 1, accompanied by Youtubers and local gourmet experts who will share their experiences. Passengers will need to make reservations beforehand, through the website.

A gourmet movie and talk session called "Seoulicious Cine Flavor” will be held for two days from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 2 and 3 at CGV’s Myeongdong branch. After watching the movies “The Trip to Greece” and “The Wandering Chef,” a talk session will follow where the audience and special guests can discuss their takeaways together.

Lastly, an online cooking class starring nun chef Jeong Kwan, master of the Cheonjinam Hermitage at the Baekyangsa Temple who rose in popularity after she appeared in Season 3 of Netflix show Chef’s Table, will be held from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. KST, or 11 a.m. GMT, on Nov. 3. She will present the recipe for soy sauce tofu jangajji (picked vegetables) and introduce other dishes that can be made with it, such as sandwiches and salads. The class can be viewed live on VisitSeoul’s YouTube channel.

Seoul City also prepared a guidebook, “Seoul Restaurant & Bars 100,” which lists 100 restaurants and bars in the city specializing in Korean, Western, Asian, grilled gourmet and vegetarian dishes. The guidebook is available in Korean and English, and can be found on the Taste of Seoul website (tasteofseoul.visitseoul.net).

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]