Ministries team up to promote 'hansik'

Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs Minister Lee Dong-phil, left, poses with Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Yoo Jin-ryong, after signing a memorandum of understanding for the promotion of Korean traditional food or “hansik,” in Gahoe-dong, Seoul, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) said Tuesday that it will team up with the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (MCST) to promote traditional Korean food or “hansik.”

The two signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a travel package designed to introduce tourist attractions that are famous for local cuisine, offering indigenous dining experiences.

“Food is not just something to eat, but a powerful way of understanding the culture of a country,” MAFRA said. “And it’s crucial that we cooperate with the MCST to make hansik a unique part of our tourism industry.”

It cited data released by the MCST to stress that hansik has become an important factor in attracting foreign tourists.

Some 48.4 percent of the 12,021 visitors from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia surveyed last year said that they visited Korea for the purpose of experiencing the food.

MAFRA will focus on introducing various cuisine and dishes, as well as chefs and restaurants that make or sell them. The MCST then will develop related travel packages.

The government will offer dining experiences for traditional family meals in the second half of the year.

It will select two families that have maintained unique dishes and recipes from their ancestors and educate the number of such families by five every year from 2014. It will also set up a package that introduces tourists to traditional Korean food chefs and provincial regions that are famous for specific cuisine.

For example, the head house of a Jeong family based in Geochang, located some 300 kilometers south of Seoul, has a unique set of dishes designed specifically for visitors and guests that has been known only to the family for the past 500 years.

There are plenty of such examples, unfortunately very little is known about them even amongst native Koreans, the ministry said.

“A number of those families live in Korean traditional houses, and we consider up to 635 of them can participate in our program,” the MCST said.

To promote the food tour package, the two ministries will capitalize on K-pop as a means of reaching its fan base about hansik.

The government also plans to host international food conferences with the United Nations World Tourism Organization and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“Internationally-acclaimed chefs, gourmets, and other food experts will be present to discuss strategies to internationalize hansik effectively,” MAFRA said.

It added that it will run cooking classes or promotion events on hansik at Korean cultural centers overseas.

The MCST will train translators who will be able to provide information on cuisine and dishes in English and other languages.