 An Indonesian celebrity chef William Wongso, center in a short white sleeve shirt, joins Indonesian residents here, after a cooking demonstration at the residence of Indonesian Ambassador Nicholas Dammen in Seoul, last Tuesday. To his right is the ambassador’s wife, Lenny Dammen. / Courtesy of Indonesian Embassy |
The most appealing aspect of Korean cuisine is its health benefits, said Indonesia's celebrity chef William Wongso, an honorary goodwill ambassador for Korea, appointed last October by the Korean Tourism Organization.
Korean cuisine uses lots of fresh vegetables cooked using simple and natural methods instead of with lots of oil, he said, citing a piece of raw seaweed and the raw horse liver he had tried.
"Horse liver was interesting."
The honorary post has required him to make trips to Korea frequently.
He came in December with a group of Indonesian chefs, to film special cooking shows featuring Korean food. He also acted as a guide so that they could try authentic Korean dishes.
The trip last week, however, was to do the opposite.
His task was to promote Indonesian food in Korea, an auxiliary event to an exhibition on Batik, an Indonesian dyeing technique.
The chef presented "regional" Indonesian dishes at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul for a week. He added that there's no "Indonesian food" per se, for it's so diverse.
He also led a short cooking session for a group of Indonesian wives living in Korea. At Indonesian Ambassador Nicholas Dammen's residence where he gave the cooking demonstration, his popularity was obvious.
Some thirty some participants exploded in excitement, declaring him "a master of cooking."
One lady remarked that seeing the chef and interacting with him in at such a close distance was surreal.
In Indonesia, Wongso hosts a TV cooking show called, "Cooking Adventures with William Wongso."
He is an author of recipe books and a culinary advisor to Garuda Indonesia, an Indonesian airline company.
The chef lauded the Korean government for food promotion efforts, but threw in some advice - the spicy element has to be highlighted as distinctive of Korean cuisine, instead of being tempered.
"That's what makes Korean food Korean," he said encouraging Korean cuisine promoters to stick to promoting the taste of red hot pepper paste known as 'gochujang," or pepper powder.
"It (gochujang) is not awfully spicy."
For Wongso, Korean cuisine came into his cooking career quite late.
It was not until last year when he was formally introduced to kimchi; samgyetang, chicken ginseng soup; pajeon, spring onion pancake; and haemultang, seafood stew. .
In a short time, he has become a connoisseur to even comment: "I like samgyetang only with good kimchi."
Although the Korean population ranks highest among foreign nationals living in Indonesia ― at nearly 400,000, the popularity of Korean food isn't up to expectations, the chef said, hoping his initiatives will change this soon.
He is preparing for another culinary tour for Indonesian chefs next month.
