More than 100,000 people visited the K-Food Plaza near the Olympic Plaza in Pyeongchang to sample some delicious Korean food. The photo shows non-Korean tourists making some Korean food in a cooking class on Feb. 20.
By Lee Kyoung Mi and Hahm Hee-eun
Photos = Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs
The "K-Food Plaza," a food pavilion open for 34 days during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, did a great job in promoting the wonders of Korean cuisine.
On March 20, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Gangwon-do Province reported that more than 100,000 people visited the K-Food Plaza, taking advantage of the promotional experience hall's location near the PyeongChang Olympic Plaza.
On an average day, around 5,000 people visited the food pavilion from Feb. 9 to 25 during the Olympics, and 1,700 per day from March 9 to 18 during the Paralympics. In total, there were more than 7,000 non-Korean visitors.
In particular, the cooking classes were popular among visitors, since they were able to make and enjoy some Korean food firsthand. There was bulgogi marinated beef strips, gimbap rice rolls, hangwa traditional cookies and makgeolli rice beer.
Around 53,000 people visited the food hall in total, where there were more than 60 kinds of Korean foods on offer, including soup made with beef reared in Korea, stuffed squid, coagulated blood noodle sausages, and grilled short rib patties.
Kim Duk-ho, a food industry policy officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, "Through Korean food, I hope that we were able to show the excellence and diversity of our agricultural products and livestock to our visitors. With this opportunity, we will strive to publicize Korean products among the participating countries at the PyeongChang Winter Games."
A non-Korean tourist at the K-Food Plaza on Feb. 11 enjoys making some makgeolli rice beer during the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Non-Korean tourists visit the K-Food Plaza, a multi-purpose exhibition and promotional hall for Korean food, and pose for a photograph as they try out some traditional drinks on Feb. 9.
km137426@korea.kr