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Experience Your K-Food: Discovering Korean cuisine through web series
Korean cuisine -- from Korean-inspired fast food offerings to authentic dishes expertly crafted by native Korean chefs -- is enjoying a moment in the limelight.
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Korean flavor: Actor and presenter Lee Jeong Hoon (right) hosts a new YouTube series called 'Experience Your K-Food' that introduces viewers to Korean popular cuisine. (Courtesy of Youtube/Lee Jeong Hoon and Taste of Love K-Food)
Korean cuisine is enjoying its moment in the Indonesian limelight.
While Indonesian perspectives on K-cuisine are a dime-a-dozen in light of the Korean wave, one new YouTube series takes it a step further by adding a game show challenge twist to the formula.
Experience Your K-Food, airing every Friday, features four Indonesian K-food fans entering a series of food-related challenges.
The web series is a collaboration between the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp. and the Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
The show is hosted by actor and presenter Lee Jeong Hoon, a South Korean who made his debut on Indonesian airwaves as the sole Korean member of the now-defunct boyband HITZ. After HITZ’ disbandment in 2013, Lee settled down to become a fixture on Indonesian television.
The four contestants themselves – Enny, Caca, Ranty and Ben – are avid K-food lovers and expressed their desire to win a trip to Korea, with Caca and Ranty also quipping their hopes to meet their idols as well.
During the course of the series, the four contestants stayed at Lee’s house, and the events of the series seem to happen in the span of a week.
The first episode, which aired on Sept. 20, sees the contestants arriving at Lee’s house, where they each introduce themselves and familiarize themselves with the rules of the competition.
After being split into two teams, the contestants face their first challenge: completing a puzzle of Korean food products available in Indonesian supermarkets, including tteokbokki (Korean rice cake), seaweed, ramyeon (instant noodles), kimchiand samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup).
The second episode sees all four being taught how to cook kimchi bokkeumbap(fried rice with kimchi seasoning) by Lee, who then challenged them to each create the same dish for him to try.
The episode also highlighted the traditional Korean rock-paper-scissors gawi bawi bo, where contestants could win additional ingredients for their dish.
Other episodes take a variety game show approach, with challenges like pear peeling in one continuous strip in the fifth episode or eating a rice cake as silent as possible in the sixth episode.
At the end of the 11-episode web series, which is expected to air in November, two contestants with the most points will win a trip to South Korea. (ste)
