Jeju gaining momentum as food festival mecca

Eighteen chefs participating at the Jeju Food and Wine Festival cheer during a photo session. / Courtesy of Jeju Food and Wine Festival

Alan Wong

By Yun Suh-young

JEJU — White tents lined up in the garden of the Hyatt Regency Jeju on May 12 contrasted beautifully with the blue sky that only clears up during the spring and autumn.

Each of the white tents was imprinted with the name of the chef presenting his or her dish specially prepared for that evening. Guests lined up in front of each of the tents to grab a plate from the world-famous chefs who rarely gather in one place if not for an event like this.

This event was called “Bounty of Jeju” a standing buffet dinner to start off the official programs held May 12-14 as part of the Jeju Food and Wine Festival (May 5-14).

Roy Yamaguchi speaks during the opening ceremony.

For that day, 11 local and foreign chefs showcased delicacies inspired by Jeju and made with local ingredients available on the island. For the festival, a total of 18 renowned chefs from around the world were invited.

Todd English, a James Beard award-winning chef from the U.S., introduced a tasty main dish featuring wrapped pork belly and makgeolli-poached lobster tail, while Korean chef Kim Seung-min, winner of Master Chef Korea, presented sea bream boiled in Jeju tangerines. Ming Tsai, another James Beard award-winning chef from the U.S., offered new-style amberjack sashimi, while Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto, the former Iron Chef who holds one Michelin star, offered momosan ramen made with seafood from Jeju.

Todd English, center, serves his dish to visitors to his tent on May 12.

Janice Wong introduces her dessert, “citrus nest.”

For dessert, Singaporean pastry chef Janice Wong, who was selected as Asia’s best pastry chef by Le Cordon Bleu, introduced an artistic dessert called “citrus nest” made with karahyang (citrus in Jeju’s native language) ice cream, consomme, cactus nest, burrata pepper and Chungha soju.

“I use these festivals to help me to create. Sometimes you get stuck in your own kitchen and you need to get out to create,” said Wong, who is known for “no reference” desserts which don’t have fixed recipes. Her dessert was improvised on the spot and matching artwork made with marshmallows was displayed next to it.

The festival was a platform of creativity for chefs as they were required to use local ingredients to conjure up their meals, and it was a great opportunity for guests to experience a variety of top-quality dishes.

Inviting foreign chefs from overseas to cook with local ingredients was exactly the format of its sister festival, the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival, which the Jeju festival was inspired by and emulated.

Alan Wong, right, tastes gochujang (red pepper paste) at an earlier stage.

“It’s similar to how we conduct the Hawaii festival. We invite 100 chefs from all over the world to cook with local products. That way, we can spotlight Hawaii — its tourism, culture and food,” said Alan Wong, co-founder of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival.

“Through this event, you will put the spotlight to Korea.”

The annual Jeju Food and Wine Festival, which was launched this year, is an offspring of Hawaiian event which is already entering its sixth year. The two islands celebrate their 30th anniversary this year of establishing a sisterhood.

Kim Ji-soon presents local Jeju dishes

The idea came from Jeju Food and Wine Festival chief director Chung Moon-sun who is vice president of Hyundai BNG Steel. A regular guest at Roy Yamaguchi’s restaurant in Hawaii and a good friend of Yamaguchi, Chung decided to start the festival while having dinner with his friend who had co-founded the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival with Alan Wong. Chung collaborated with the Jeju Tourism Organization and the Jeju Special Self-governing Province in launching the festival.

“I told him it’d be great if we had a chance to do something like this in Korea and he said why not Jeju?” said Yamaguchi, explaining how the festival was born.

Ming Tsai prepares dishes to be served.

“Jeju is an island like Hawaii with a lot of agriculture, fish and ranches. We thought it’d be similar to Hawaii so now we’re here. We’re proud to be able to work with local ingredients.”

Yamaguchi, Wong and Vikram Garg were the foreign chefs collaborating with four Korean chefs for a gala dinner on May 14.

The invited chefs, friends of Yamaguchi, are purely volunteering for the event.

Lee Chan-oh, left, speaks with Josiah Citrin.

“I’m thankful to Roy for gathering all the chefs on behalf of us. I thought holding this event would be good for both Jeju Island and the culinary industry,” said Chung, who is known to be an enthusiast of food and culture.

“The proceeds from this festival (through tickets) will be donated to Halla University and several culinary institutes as this is a non-profit event. It will be organized very much like the Hawaii festival,” he said. The Hawaii Food and Wine Festival also donates its profits for the development of culinary arts in Hawaii.

During the festival, a presentation on Jeju food was made by local chef Kim Ji-soon, and a cooking class for students was held with master chefs. Thirty-six students from Halla University in Jeju had the opportunity to pair up with world-famous chefs to cook.

“I feel there’s a connection already,” said Alan Wong. “We’re trying to bridge two cultures — exchange ideas, cultures and food. If we can do this throughout the Pacific Asia area, maybe we will bridge more cities together.”

The event provided opportunities for foreign chefs to learn about Korean culture and food as well.

Foreign chefs such as Wong participated in a program offered by a local farm to learn about Korean “jang” (paste) such as gochujang (red pepper paste) and doenjang (soybean paste) and experience making them.

“A lot of local people in Hawaii are familiar with Korean food,” said Wong. “What I like about Korean food is that they always have health in mind. I signed up for the class because I wanted a point of reference. I like to make my own so when you have a point of reference, it gives you more confidence. It’d be great if I could make my own soy sauce and chili paste.”

He mentioned during the class that he noticed Caucasian chefs in his restaurant didn’t know the differences between Asian sauces.

“Local people in Hawaii understand these flavors because we grew up eating that way, but the Caucasians, when they work at our restaurant, need to get used to the ingredients before they start cooking,” said Wong, who is Japanese-Chinese Hawaiian.

“Young cooks who want to do fusion cooking fail because they don’t understand the ingredients. Americans think soy sauce is soy sauce, miso is miso and just think of it as one type. They don’t realize every country has their own type.”