A feast of hansik unfolded in the heart of Beverly Hills. At Hyundai Motor’s new-vehicle launch event at the Goldstein House on November 20, a Korean menu built around jang and fermentation-based cooking drew the crowd’s attention.
Nanro Foundation, the non-profit dedicated to Korean cuisine, announced on November 22 that it had overseen the planning and operation of food and beverage service for the “IONIQ 9 World Premiere,” the global unveiling of Hyundai’s new IONIQ 9.
Nanro said it had paired the IONIQ 9’s design excellence with the appeal of hansik in line with the event’s theme, “Built to Belong: Beyond Space, Toward Empathy.” As lead chef, Nanro invited Chef Kwang Uh, owner of Baroo — the modern Korean dining restaurant in the LA Arts District recently named Los Angeles Times’ 2024 Restaurant of the Year and widely regarded as one of the most innovative Korean restaurants in the U.S.
“I took part at the invitation of Chef Choi Jung-yoon, chair of Nanro,” Chef Uh told The Korea Daily. For the event he prepared dishes centered on jang and fermentation-based techniques.
“I wanted to show what Baroo does, so I built the menu around jang and fermentation-based cooking,” Chef Uh said. “I tried to bring out elements of hansik in a way that matched the Korean sense of beauty in the IONIQ 9.”
Guests were served pan-toasted sulppang bread with lemon balm, fried mushrooms with dubu-jang (tofu paste), namul-bap rice seasoned with jangajji and gamtae buggak, yangnyeom (soy-braised) chicken paired with perilla leaves, baek-kimchi stir-fried with perilla seed, silver cod braised in soy sauce, chamoe-melon dongchimi, and grilled lotus root with a dubu-jang nuruk sauce.
“Because this wasn’t a food-industry event, I tried to lean into approachable dishes,” Chef Uh said. “A large portion of the guests were non-Korean, and the reaction was very positive.”
Nanro Foundation said it plans to build on the event to help hansik take root among non-Korean audiences as an everyday cuisine.
Chef Choi Jung-yoon, chair of Nanro and the person who oversaw the event, said, “We will keep pursuing collaborations with different industries and brands — cultural sectors included — so that hansik can grow into an everyday food for the world. We will put real effort into hansik’s growth and expansion as a global business.”
Nanro was launched in 2022. Focused on industrializing Korean cuisine, conducting research, and cultivating the next generation of talent, it is regarded as a forward base for the globalization of hansik. Its name is drawn from the Joseon-era grilled-meat gathering “nanro-hoe” enjoyed by silhak scholars such as Yeonam Park Ji-won and Dasan Jeong Yak-yong. Alongside chair Choi Jung-yoon — Vice Chair for Korea & China of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and head chef of Sempio’s Woorimat Research Center — the group counts among its members owner-chef Junghyun Park of the two-Michelin-starred Atomix in New York, Cho Hee-sook of Hansik Gonggan, Park Soo-kyung of Geumdwaeji Sikdang, and other prominent figures across the Korean restaurant industry.
· Original (Korean): news.koreadaily.com
