“Traditional Korean food is really great!”

International Summer Campus students cooked and tasted Korean food

On Friday July 19, Korea University’s International Summer Campus (ISC) held an event at K-Style Hub in Jung-gu, Seoul to give its students a chance to experience Korean food. The students who participated in the event cooked and tasted Korean food for themselves.

Kyunghee Kim, a chef and the instructor of the event, explained that bulgogi and hobak jeon (pumpkin pancakes) are “the most popular and easiest-to-make Koran dishes.” Her cooking demonstration was full of wit and humor, which helped the students smile and laugh throughout the program.

At first, the students seemed to be somewhat nervous about the unfamiliar cooking ingredients and processes. However, with the help of Ms. Kim and their Korean KU Buddies, the students soon started enjoying the cooking lesson. In pairs, they participated actively by stir-frying meat and cutting vegetables. After the cooking was complete, they shared the food they cooked themselves, which filled the eating time with laughter.

Cristal Brau, an American ISC student from Villanova University, gave her impressions of the program, saying, “Cooking Korean food was exciting and interesting.” Morgan Petro, another American ISC student from the University of South Florida, also said, “Before this class, I thought cooking Korean food must have been difficult, but now I feel that it is actually not that complicated. Besides, it tastes just great.”

Hanseong Shin (’15, Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering) who participated in the event as a Korean Buddy smiled and said, “To most of the ISC students here, cooking Korean food was a very new experience. So everyone seemed to be really excited, and so was I.”

Deputy Department Head Donghyun Jang, who is in charge of the program, said, “We are in the era of the Korean wave, which K-pop is leading, and the international interest in Korean food, an important part of Korean culture, is greater than ever these days.” He also explained the purpose of the event by saying, “I sincerely hope that today’s cooking experience, which helped the ISC students to understand Korean culture better, gave them a special and precious memory.”

KU’s ISC will offer its students various cultural experience programs for the rest of the term.