SOUTH KOREA: A popular South Korean popular TV drama showcasing royal court food has spawned cooking classes targetting Japanese tourists

A South Korean historical TV dram, which showcases a young girl who makes her way into the royal court and becomes a cook for the king and queen, has ignited interest of royal cuisine in Japanese tourists, and many are coming to Seoul to learn how to cook the royal meals. The drama, "Dae Jang-geum" or "Jewel in the Palace", which combines cooking meals for the royals with stories of intrigue, anguish and triumph in the inner workings of the palace, was a hit in South Korea and Japan. The show has spawned a new business -- Korean court cooking tours. Tour agencies in Tokyo offer special packages to South Korea where visitors can see the location sets used to film and sample the food of Korea's kings. Japanese TV audiences were entrhalled by "Dae Jang-geum" in Korean or "Jewel in the Palace" in English, which tells the story of a young girl who makes here way into the royal court and becomes the cook for the king and the queen. Lee Mi-kyung, senior researcher at Korea House in Seoul, teaches cooking classes three or four times a week. She says since the popularity of the show, the number of Japanese tourists taking cooking class is growing. "Court food was prepared by those who underwent difficult training, so only people in palace can make it. Except them, no one could touch the King's food. Jang-Geum (in the TV drama) was the best cook in the palace", said Lee. Each class is for 35 students and only those with reservations can take the class. Most Japanese tourists taking the class are excited to experience making the colorful court food they saw in the popular TV drama. "Tour agencies were selling tour packages of Dae Jang Guem, so I decided to join the tour because I got interested", Japanese tourist Minemoto Takeko said. "It's such a great cuisine, and I was very surprised that there are so many different kinds of dishes", she added. Japanese tourist Kanae Ikeda enrolled the class because she wanted to try and make some of the food she saw on the TV show. "The way of preparing and presenting the food was so colorful, and it left an impression", said Kanae. Han Bok-ryo, the president of the Institute of Korean Royal Cuisine, who served as a food consultant for "Dae Jang-Geum", said the show helped spread the word about Korea's culture and this is a great chance to expand Korea's tourism in a good way. "We should deliver exactly what real Korean food culture is (to foreign tourists), and this should undergo nationally and even citizens can help tourists understand Korean food", said Han. The TV drama shows various cooking for the royals in Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910), which was ended by the Japanese rule (1910-1945). ENDS

ITN Source | January 13, 2007

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