Delegates get to savour traditional fare from Jewel in the Palace
November 23, 2005While the 21 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) group wrapped up the annual summit yesterday, a buzz of a different kind took place at the lobby of the Busan Exhibition and Conference Centre.
A group of actors, all dressed in traditional Korean royal court costumes, including a couple as the “King and Queen”, gave the crowd a short demonstration on the royal court meal time and traditional Korean dishes.
The display, part of the exhibition on Korean royal court food, is aimed at giving foreign delegates and the media covering Apec 2005 here a taste of traditional Korean food.
Kwak Yong-hwa, a student of the Institute of Traditional Korean Food in Seoul, which took part in the exhibition, said most of the dishes exhibited were shown in the hugely-successful TV mini-series Daejanggeum (The Jewel in the Palace), which was also aired in Malaysia.
SHOW AND TELL: Kwak (right) explaining the set depicting how and what the royal couple ate at the exhibition on traditional Korean royal court food at the Busan Exhibition and Conference Centre yesterday.
The series is about Jang-geum, the first and only woman to serve as head physician to the King in the rigidly hierarchical and male-dominated social structure of the Joseon Dynasty.
The story tells how she had defied all odds to become chief cook, among other positions, at the palace.
One of the dishes prepared and exhibited by Jang-geum was bomandu (meat dumpling) – a dish she and a rival had prepared to vie for the best cook title.
Another was the geumyeong (fried sweet cookies made from strawberries), which a young Jang-geum had made for her ailing mother.
Kwak noted that three basic food represented authentic Korean food – kimchi (fermented vegetables, garlic and sometimes fish), bulgogi (fried marinated beef) and tteok (rice cake).
The exhibition, she said, had been successful as many foreigners had stopped by and sampled the food.
Source: The Star 20th Nov 2005
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