The Nation's Largest Food Festival 'NS Food Festa' Opens Today in Iksan

Cooking Contest with 100 Teams Held Over Two Days at Harim First Kitchen
Various Exhibitions and Experiences Including Gourmet Tour

'NS Food Festa 2023,' the largest food festival in Korea, opened on the 15th at Harim First Kitchen in Iksan, Jeonbuk. NS Food Festa is a food culture festival hosted by NS Home Shopping since 2008, aiming to promote the consumption of Korean food products through recipe discovery and contribute to the growth of rural farming and fishing communities by continuing cooking competitions.

Preliminary scenes of the 'Young Chef Challenge' cooking contest at the NS Food Festa. The 20 winning teams were granted the right to participate in the finals.
[Photo by NS Home Shopping]

This year's cooking competition featured 100 teams, each consisting of two members, competing for 60 minutes. Seventy teams participated in the Gourmet Recipe category, and 10 local gourmet restaurant teams from Iksan competed under the theme "The Most Delicious Recipe Using Fresh Natural Ingredients." Additionally, 20 teams from the Young Chef Challenge, who passed the preliminary round of the National Specialized Culinary High School Cooking Contest, exhibited their developed dishes.

At this year's NS Food Festa, various exhibitions and experiences were held, including a "Gourmet Tour" exploring future shared kitchens, the "Harim Group Brand Exhibition," and a "Job Fair." Ahead of Chuseok, a Local Food Market showcasing and selling excellent agricultural specialties representing Iksan was set up, along with a promotional area introducing and offering tastings from 12 local "Daemullim Matjip" (heritage restaurants) in Iksan.

The opening ceremony was attended by Chung Hwang-geun, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Jeong Heon-yul, Mayor of Iksan; Choi Jong-o, Chairman of the Iksan City Council; Kim Hong-guk, Chairman of Harim Group; and Jo Hang-mok, CEO of NS Home Shopping. Mayor Jeong stated, "As NS Food Festa plays a significant role in widely promoting Iksan's status as Korea's representative agricultural and food hub and food capital, we will continue to further develop it."

Starting this year, NS Food Festa expanded its theme from cooking to food and extended the event period to two days. On the second day of the opening, various conferences and side events looking into the future of the food industry are scheduled. Additionally, cooking classes for multicultural families will continue. CEO Jo said, "NS Food Festa has been striving for the development of Korea's food industry and agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industries. We will further develop NS Food Festa to diversify food culture content and take the lead in revitalizing Korea's food industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.