By Honorary Reporter Alice Hong from Canada
Photos = Alice Hong

Tucked away in a corner of Seoul's Gangnam-gu District is a place where the story of Ottogi, one of Korea's leading food companies, resides. 

Before the company's founder Ham Tae-ho died in 2016, he donated his home to his company, which he built through decades of hard work and perseverance. The company erected another building at the site and named it Ham Haus after him. 

This facility houses O'Kitchen Studio, the company's official cooking studio. Through a collaboration with the annual Korea Grand Sale and Ottogi, I attended a cooking class at Ham Haus on making japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) and gimbap (seaweed rice rolls), two of my favorite Korean foods.

Ham Haus is a building built in memory of Ottogi founder Ham Tae-ho.

I arrived at Ham Haus on Feb. 6 at around 11 a.m., when the class was supposed to start. I was ushered to the fourth floor where the studio is located, and the first thing I had to do was to take off my shoes and put on a pair of adorable Crocs slippers shaped like an Ottogi product. 

After putting my belongings in a locker, I looked for my spot, which was marked by a sign with my name on it. I was joined by four others in this class: two women from China, one student from Peru and a Canadian expat.

O'Kitchen Studio hosts classes on Korean cooking.

It was my first time at O'Kitchen but I was ready to cook. The instructor switched back and forth between Korean and English in class since all of the students knew some Korean. I was raised in a Korean Canadian household, so I knew the recipes.

In Canada, my mom made japchae and gimbap for me and my sister while we were growing up, but Hansik was hard to enjoy in Canada because the ingredients such as sesame oil were sometimes hard to find. Thus this class was a perfect way for me to do something often unavailable to me in the past.

Two of my favorite Korean dishes, japchae and gimbap, are done and ready to eat.

The class was easy to follow because preparation was done in advance for the sake of novices. I'm sure it would've taken me two to three hours if I had to do everything alone because of the steps involved in making japchae and gimbap.

We used Ottogi products such as their instant rice and premade wooyeong (burdock roots) and danmuji (pickled radish), finishing everything in an hour. After making the food, we sat to eat at a big table. I was so ready to eat after all the cooking and sure enough, I enjoyed every bite. 

This was the last class of the season offered by Korea Grand Sale, but it will be offered again. 

msjeon22@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.