By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
In the mega-hit drama "Jewel in the Palace," heroine Jang-geum gains acknowledgement from the king in a cooking competition during her career as a royal chef. Although not for the royal palace, Korea will similarly see a new young star chef born through a competition in October.
The new chef competition, part of the annual food expo, is intended as part of a program to pick and groom young hansik or Korean food chefs.
In the competition, hansik chefs will recreate traditional food during the Korea Food Expo fair, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said Wednesday.
The expo is organized by the ministry to offer an opportunity for producers and consumers to build mutual trust and gain a vision for the food-related industries and businesses as a promising growth engine.
Under the ministry's plan, the competition will be broadcast on television. With the goal of introducing young chefs, the participants will have to be 40 years old or younger.
Hotel restaurants will hope to gain publicity by sending their own young chefs to represent them at the competition, the ministry said.
The nation's best-rated hotels have recently been focusing on marketing their fancy restaurants, but of the 18 highest-ranked hotels in Seoul, only four of them operate a Korean restaurant.
Experts say Koreans should take hansik seriously, if the cuisine is to be globalized.
``We can't try promote our food as a high-quality as long as we are not willing to spend money to have high-end hansik experiences first," said Cho Tae-kwon, CEO of local ceramic ware maker Kwangjuyo.
The ministry said it is mulling over various ways to expand a network of fine Korean restaurants.
``We collected various opinions on how to revive high-end Korean restaurants and reached the conclusion it's most important to expand the pool of Korean food lovers," a ministry official said. ``In the end, it's a matter of developing its fan base."