KoreaToday Ready, Set, Slurp! : Korean Noodles Appeal to Variety of Senses

‘Missionary of Noodles’ Praises Unique Color, Taste, Style

By Kim Hyun-cheol

Staff Reporter

When it comes to the promotion of Korean food, many turn either totally herbivorous or carnivorous. Discussions on the issue usually converge on kimchi or barbecue.

Ken Hom, a world-acclaimed cooking celebrity, however, sees some new possibilities in one of Korea's most common dishes, but arguably the one that gets the least attention ― noodles.

"Dishes like bibimguksu have good

qualities to be known abroad and loved by foreigners," Hom said in an interview with The Korea Times, praising the Korean-style spicy noodles mixed with vegetables and Korean chili sauce. "It's ready-to-eat, colorful and healthy with a lot of veggies. It will appeal to many foreigners."

If well-developed and promoted, noodles could be an efficient item to help non-Koreans get excited about Korean food, according to authoritity on food, as they are cheap, quickly cooked and offer many choices. "And they are appealing to various senses. The slurping sound they make when eating is a good appetizer," he added.

The 60-year-old visited Korea earlier this month to promote a food experience exhibition event in Incheon's New Songdo City as a consultant, where he had opportunities to sample several Korean noodle dishes as well. And some of them felt extraordinarily unique, he said.

``In some ways, Korean noodles are different from many other countries," Hom said. ``For example, Korea has many kinds of cold noodles and they are hard to find elsewhere, even in Asia. Also, they have many different side dishes served with the noodle. I've never seen anything like this."

Each East Asian country has a distinctive style of noodles, and in Hom's eyes, they reflect the differences in their cultures and histories. While Korea appears to prefer chewiness in noodles such as naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodle), China boasts a countless variety originating from its complicated cultural background, while Japanese noodles are characterized by their simple and clear flavor.

Many Koreans now remember Hom as a familiar face through the recent television documentary ``Noodle Road." As narrator and host, he appeared throughout the show, which depicted the history and contemporary trends of noodles all around the world.

Outside Korea, the Chinese-American chef has a much bigger name, as a true star chef and expert on Asian cuisine.

Born in Arizona, raised in Chicago and educated in California, Hom earned most of his fame from his career in the United Kingdom for over 20 years as one of the pioneers introducing Asian cuisine to the Western world. He is now regarded as the father of melding Eastern and Western cooking styles into the concept ``fusion."

Through a successful cooking show series and best-selling cookbooks, Hom became a household name. Earlier this year, he was awarded an honorary Order of the British Empire for his remarkable service to the culinary arts. The United Kingdom has adopted Chinese cuisine, now one of the country's favorites.

Overall, Hom has a positive prediction for Korea's efforts to globalize ``hansik.''