The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT) participated in Vietfood and Beverage 2024, a festival of food and drinks held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from Aug. 8-10, promoting Korean dishes. Shown above are visitors in front of the K-Food (Korean Food) booth at the festival. (aT)

By Lee Jihae

The Korean booth at a festival of food and drinks in Vietnam captivated local visitors.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation (aT) participated in Vietfood and Beverage 2024, a festival of food and drinks held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from Aug. 8-10, promoting Korean dishes.

The ministry and aT jointly organized an "Integrative Korean Booth," participated in by 28 enterprises. The booth was created to expand exports of K-Food (Korean food) to Vietnam. Various types of food and drinks were offered there including farm produce, processed food, functional health food, alcoholic beverages and regular drinks.

One event offered samplings of typical street food such as gimbap (seaweed rice rolls) and rabokki (a combination of tteokbokki, or spicy rice cakes, and ramyeon, or instant noodles), and attracted countless visitors. It also offered kimchi banh mi, a combination of kimchi with banh mi, or Vietnamese short baguette, which was immensely popular.

K-food exports to Vietnam until the end of July this year rose 5% compared to the same period last year reaching USD 362 million in value. Shipments of drinks rose USD 38 million (14.4%) compared to last year, while those of snacks increased USD 13 million (20%).

Vietfood and Beverage is the largest food and drink festival in Ho Chi Minh City. About 1,000 enterprises that export their goods participated in country booths at the festival, including ones from Korea, Taiwan and Poland.

jihlee08@korea.kr