Hansik Disregarded at 2010 Shanghai Expo

By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter

Visitors to the upcoming Shanghai Expo will have a hard time finding a Korean meal.

There will be only one Korean eatery out of the 90 restaurants within the expo complex, according to the organizing committee for the world’s largest expo in the event’s history.

The only Korean restaurant available will be housed within the Korean Pavilion. Most of the restaurants will serve Chinese and Western food. Around 15 percent of them will be Japanese restaurants.

The disregard for hansik, or Korean food, at the expo is alarming, considering that Koreans are expected to constitute one of the largest groups of overseas visitors, after Japan.

Seoul spent some $35 million building the Korean Pavilion, spanning an area of nearly 7,700 square meters. It is the second-largest pavilion, after that of the host country, China.

Around 70 million people are expected to visit China during the six-month event that is slated to begin in May, organizers said.

Some experts say that authorities were ill prepared to make the best use of the expo as a showcase for Korean food, despite the nation’s arduous drive for hansik globalization.

Another reason for the expo’s under-appreciation of Korean food could be found in its relative unpopularity among Chinese people. More than 40 percent of Chinese tourists to Korea found Korean food “tasteless,” according to a survey conducted by the Korea Tourism Organization last year.

To counter criticism that hansik promotion has lacked focus and coordination, a new committee was established last month by the food ministry in cooperation with experts in the private sector to promote Korean foods and ingredients overseas.

Meanwhile, Korea will place top priority on publicizing the remote southern town of Yeosu, which will be the host of the next expo in 2012, during the Shanghai event.

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