By Lee Hyo-won
While the G20 leaders won’t be able to show off their chopstick skills during the intensive business meals, their spouses will have a chance to do so when they taste Korean court cuisine in Seoul, Friday.
The first ladies and VIP spouses were served Western-style meals at the Samsung Leeum Museum on Thursday evening, but will be trying something more traditional at the Korean Furniture Museum on Friday afternoon.
Befitting the venue, a time-honored ``hanok’’ (traditional Korean building) that was used as a vacation home during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), the event will feature savory palace-style meals from the same period.
Lee Jae-uk, a chef at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel, will be preparing the dishes. The 54-year-old poured much time deciding on a menu that would retain local traditions while still cater to the palates of guests coming from some 20 different countries around the world.
``First lady Kim Yoon-ok asked for something very Korean, refined and made with care, that isn’t too sweet or salty. President Lee Myung-bak tasted the meal himself and was very satisfied, and remarked `this is genuine hansik.’
``Even many Koreans find ingredients such as `cheonggukjang’ (fermented soybean paste) an acquired taste, so I thought court cuisine, which is savory, rather than spicy or salty, would be suitable,’’ he said.
Unlike most traditional ``hansik’’ (Korean cuisine) meals, the dishes will be served in a multi-course format _ which, contrary to popular belief, is not borrowing from the West but actually something truly regally local. ``In the past, Korean kings enjoyed `multi-course meals’ at banquets, beginning with cold dishes to warmer ones.’’
Thus ``hanjeongsik,’’ in which an entire tableful of hansik dishes are presented at once, is simply one way local cuisine is presented.
In addition to savoring the regal delicacies one at a time, the guests will be able to indulge in a truly hands-on experience.
``Gujeolpan,’’ literally meaning ``nine-part plate,’’ is a colorful dish that offers fine slices of flour dough with eight different ingredients. The separate flavors are wrapped up into a roll using the dough _ it also symbolizes how the G20 Summit aims to bring different stakeholders with different views and interest to the table in harmony.
Moreover, the chef spoke about his outlook on the future of hansik. On Nov. 1, the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill became the first among local hotels to open a research and development center for the globalization of hansik.
Lee stressed the importance of sticking to the basics in sustaining and developing local gastronomic traditions, and expressed distaste for fusion dishes.
``The basic framework and foundation are crucial, otherwise buildings would easily collapse. Likewise when it comes to cuisine, it can become easily altered and devoid of cultural identity if you start morphing it to suit different tastes. It doesn’t seem long until the health benefits and premium taste of hansik will become well-known outside of the Korea _ I don’t understand why people are trying to alter it in a fusion style,’’ he said.
First lady Kim, who participated in creating the menu, is herself an avid promoter of the cuisine. She is president of an organization that promotes hansik and has appeared on CNN to introduce a variety of dishes. She also penned a book about local cuisine, ``Nature of Korean Food by Kim Yoon-ok,’’ and will be presenting it to the G20 leaders’ spouses as a souvenir gift.
