Star chef Kwon promotes Korean cuisine in Japan

Chef Edward Kwon

By Baek Byung-yeul

Chef Edward Kwon will host Korean cooking classes in Osaka, Japan, on July 6, announced the Osaka branch of the Korean Cultural Center on Monday.

“As Osaka has the largest Korean population in Japan, many Japanese people are familiar with Korean cuisine, but the food most known to them is usually homemade meals,” the cultural center said in a statement. “With Kwon, who endeavors to promote Korean cuisine around the world, we hope to extend the level of food exchange.” The center revealed that they are preparing the cooking class to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral ties between Korea and Japan.

The celebrity chef rose to stardom after serving as head chef at the prestigious Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai where he worked until 2008. Since coming back to Korea in 2009, he has spent time as an executive chef of restaurants in Hannam-dong and Cheongdam-dong in Seoul. Last May he opened a Korean restaurant, “Elements by Edward Kwon” in Moscow, in a bid to expand the presence of Korean food internationally.

At the cooking class, scheduled to take place at Nuri Hall in the Korean Cultural Center Osaka, participants will have a chance to taste Kwon’s dishes. Kwon is known to demonstrate “bibimbap” (rice mixed with assorted vegetables) salad and spicy grilled chicken wrapped in wheat crepes, which proved popular with the world’s leaders present at the Davos World Economic Forum four years ago.

“I began my career learning Western cooking, but I have served Korean food whenever I have had the chance overseas,” Kwon said.

Prior to hosting the cooking class in Osaka, Kwon will hold a cooking class at ABC Cooking Studio in Tokyo, one of Japan’s most popular cooking schools, on July 4, before providing lessons to members of the World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Association in Tokyo the following day.

In order to register, visit the cultural center’s web page at https://www.k-culture.jp.