5.4 Club expands on 'Good France Project'
By Kim Ji-soo
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French Ambassador Jerome Pasquier talks about the “Good France Project 2015” at the 5.4 Club’s year-end meeting at the JW Marriott Hotel in southern Seoul, Thursday. / Courtesy of Corea Image Communication Institute
The members of the 5.4 Club learnt Thursday about how Korean restaurants and chefs could participate in the “Gout de France, Good France” festival that will take place on March 19, 2015 throughout the five continents.
In the project supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development and by chef Alain Ducasse, 1,000 chefs from five continents will prepare a French meal using quality products, after which they will be free to adapt it to their own market.
“The event is to show that French cuisine can be light, and enjoyed on a regular basis,” said Jerome Pasquier, the French ambassador to Korea. “The idea is that French cuisine can be enjoyed all over the world,” he said.
Pasquier urged the 5.4 Club members to recommend aspiring restaurants or chefs to apply. The common guideline is to create a sequence of French courses including a traditional aperitif; cold and hot appetizers; a fish or shellfish-based course; a meat or poultry-based course; and French wine and liquor. Registration at
closes Dec. 15. The winner will be announced Jan. 15.
The Thursday meeting was also the year-end gathering of the 5.4 Club that was launched by the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) and consulting firm Cs in 2013 under the motto of promoting Korea through "Feeling Korea through Five Sense and Four Themes." CICI is led by President Choi Jung-wha, and Cs firm by Didier Beltoise. The club also toes the French custom of “convivialite” where acquaintances and friends debate on specific topics.
The members discussed how such a culinary festival could work for Korean food.
Ambassador Pasquier said that as Korean businesses are successful in France, there are Korean restaurants in every part of the country, but Koreans need to demonstrate their diversity and use culture to spread Korean gastronomy. Beltoise said that there needs to be commitment. Matthew Cooper, general manager of JW Marriott Seoul said that Koreans should underline the flavors ― soybean paste, chili pepper paste and others ― of Korean food. Chung Yuni, CEO of Oliversweet, said that Korea can think about reaching out to a broader base of foreign palates by presenting Korean food in a more approachable way.
Also in attendance at the 5.4 Club meeting were Shim Jay-hyuk, vice chairman of Taekwang Industrial Co.; Bernhard Brender, general manager of the Grand Hilton: Lee Jai-wook, a lawyer at Yulchon; Mark Chung, head of KCMI Productions; and Lee Hye-soon, a hanbok designer for Damyeon.
Park Jae-woo, head of Dr. Park Plastic Surgery gave an introductory talk on medical tourism, and said that about 50 percent of his patients were from abroad. Lee of Damyeon also gave a presentation on the history and status of the traditional Korean attire, the “hanbok.”