Korean Cultural Center in Turkey holds healthy summer food contest using kimchi and local ingredients

The Korean Cultural Center in Turkey held a Korean food contest on Saturday on the 14th, with the theme of healthy summer food using kimchi and local ingredients in Turkey. A total of 12 contestants, including current chefs and culinary students, competed in the finals of this competition.

As an important opportunity to introduce and promote Korean food culture

This contest was held under the theme of healthy summer food using kimchi and local ingredients in Turkey. Contrary to the previous theme of competitions to evaluate cooking skills for specific foods such as bibimbap and chilgol-pan, this competition was held under the theme of kimchi and nourishing food using local ingredients for the purpose of localization and globalization of Korean food.

In consideration of social distancing and hygiene, the entire contest was broadcast live without any spectators. Unlike general competitions, Korean food contests have had difficulties in broadcasting live. This is because it is difficult to show all the cooking and screening processes in detail. However, the first live broadcast of the Korean Food Contest recorded a total of 3,400 views and 350 likes, and real-time comments were enthusiastic. Despite the three-hour long contest, real time comments such as, ‘I am a mother of one child and I am watching it with my child. It's nice to be able to watch this contest that introduces not only entertainment but also educational aspects', 'It was beneficial to see the variety of Korean food ingredients and the composition of healthy ingredients', 'I want to try the food made by the participants today at home” kept coming during the broadcast.

The local and the unique taste of Korean food mixed together!

Selin Izgi took the first place in this competition. Chef Selin presented kimchi rolls in the finals. Selin reinterpreted the Turkish food called Sarma in a Korean style, grilled meat seasoned with soy sauce like a bandit, put stir-fried kimchi inside to complete the main dish. The 2nd place was won by Zeynep Hazal Gulay, a current culinary student, who presented noodles made with beef and kimchi-based broth, Turkish Sarma cuisine with bibimbap wrapped in grape leaves, zucchini jeon, and Subak-hwachae. Zeynep captured the hearts of viewers and judges by introducing the meaning of eating noodles and Korean culture in Korean greetings such as ‘Have you eaten?’. 3rd place went to Aysenur Depe, who learned about the efficacy of kimchi while personally translating a book on Korean food. She prepared kimchi stew with seasonal Turkish summer vegetables and cacik, a cold Turkish soup based on cucumber and yogurt. “Koreans protect their summer health by fighting fire with fire, but I also wanted to introduce a culture that cools the heat with cold soup in Turkey."

Park Kee-Houng, director of the Cultural Center, said, “I believe that the real cultural exchange is content convergence. The development of Korean-Turkish fusion food using kimchi and local ingredients will be a good example of content convergence.”