[Community Discovery] Songpa-gu rides Korean food wave with cooking classes for foreigners

At a cooking studio in Garak Mall in Songpa-gu, southern Seoul, laughter mixed with various languages could be heard as the smell of Korean food lingered in the air.

The studio buzzed with dozens of amateur foreign national cooks, all eager to learn the art of Korean cuisine. The event, hosted by the Songpa-gu Office, is part of its annual Korean culture experience series. Organizers noted a surge in interest this year, crediting the global success of Netflix Korea's "Culinary Class Wars" for the heightened excitement around the program.

“Due to the increased interest in Korean culture, we’ve noticed that foreign nationals are also naturally interested in Korean food,” Yoon Mi-jeong, team leader of Songpa-gu Office’s Tourism Promotion Division, told The Korea Herald. “Therefore, Songpa-gu decided to organize these cooking classes to provide foreign nationals an opportunity to not only taste Korean food but also to enjoy the cooking process by making it themselves.”

The class had 48 participants from 25 countries this year for two days, and “were all foreign nationals who are currently residing in Korea," according to Yoon.

Candice Chin, a participant, told The Korea Herald that it was because she “wanted to learn how to make Korean food” that she’d never learned how to make before.

“I love Korean food and its flavors because they are to my taste. But there are some foods that I’ve never learned how to make, such as japchae and kimchi pancakes, so it’s nice that they offer these classes so we can learn,” Chin said. Also a resident of Songpa-gu, Chin added that this was her second time learning how to cook Korean dishes at an event hosted by the district office.

Another participant, Tatiana Mironova from Russia, told The Korea Herald that she had decided to join the class with her husband, Sergei Mironova, out of their love for Korean culture and its cuisine.

“We like the Korean culture -- especially the dishes -- and we wanted to use this opportunity to not just spend time with each other but also to get closer to what we love,” added Mironova.

The classes were taught by Korean-German chef Dario Joseph Lee, making this event more unique compared to the other Korean food cooking classes for foreign nationals in South Korea -- which are typically taught by chefs of only Korean heritage. This year was also Lee’s second consecutive year hosting Songpa-gu’s cooking event for foreign nationals.

“As someone who grew up with two cultures, it was always in me to share the love and passion behind the Korean cuisine that my parents and my Korean grandmother shared with me when I was growing up,” Lee said, when asked what made him want to teach the cooking classes for two consecutive years.

“I’ve always wanted to share the charm and joy behind Korean food with others who don’t know about it as much. Korean food is so good, but there’s more than that,” added Lee. “I want more people to know more about Korean food and the diversity and complexities behind it rather than those kinds of foods that are already well known.”

After Songpa-gu was designated as a Special Tourist Zone in 2012, the district office regularly plans events like this cooking class for foreign nationals, according to Yoon.

“Out of five tourists that visit Seoul, at least one visits Songpa-gu,” she said. “Therefore, the district office has regularly organized cultural experiences and events so that foreign nationals who visit our district not only get a chance to see the attractions and sights that the district has to offer but also experience Korea’s charm.”

Besides the cooking class, the district office also conducts annual tours around famous sites in the district, specifically for foreign nationals. Yoon added that there are also other cultural events, such as its cherry blossom festival and the Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival, that “attract a handful of both local and international visitors every year.”

“We hope that foreign national visitors to Songpa will be able to look back on their visit to the district with delicious and happy memories,” said district head Seo Kang-seok in a press release. “Songpa-gu Office will continue to strive to discover creative tourism programs that are unique to the district in line with the globalization of Korean culture.”