The European Union (EU) presents its first European Cooking Class series in South Korea
EU collaborated with professional Chef Joon-Woo Park for its first cooking class, themed “European Home Cooking”. The cooking class aimed to encourage consumers to explore more about European culture through its food culture and ingredients. Chef Joon-Woo Park is a winner of the semifinals at MasterChef Korea. He is well known as a food critic with has wide knowledge on European food culture and heritage, where he has spent many years living and working, especially in Belgium and Germany.
“It is my great pleasure to be part of the “Colours by Europe, Tastes of Excellence” in Korea as the EU region is well known for their safe and diverse food. It has always been my passion to share and promote quality food. COVID-19 has changed everything about food. People have become more conscious about the safety and quality of the food they eat. A strong shift is indicated towards sustainable food and I believe the world will continue to value a food system delivering health, environmental and socioeconomic benefits” said Chef Park.
Chef Park presented two traditional European home dishes in the first cooking class. The dishes were French “Galette” (crepe) and Polish “Bigos” (stew) which were made with over 10 agricultural food and beverage products from across the EU– from sauerkraut and sausage from Germany, ham and flour from France, pork and spices from Spain, olive oil from Greece, butter from Denmark, cheese from The Netherlands, dried Porcini mushrooms from Italy and wine from Hungary.
The cooking class was held as a physical event with twelve consumers selected through the campaign’s social media recruitment event. The participants met with Chef Park to explore EU food and ingredients through cooking their very own entrée with Galette and the main with the Bigos. Participants got to taste and discover EU Geographical Indication (GI) and organic EU ingredients during the two-hour culinary session. Geographical indication labelling schemes are a guarantee of authenticity. EU quality policy aims at protecting the names of specific products to promote their unique characteristics, linked to their geographical origin and traditional know-how. There are currently over 3000 agricultural food products covered by these schemes.
The EU is at the very forefront in creating a sustainable food system through its ‘farm-to-fork’ strategy. Strict production and quality controls are put in place to guarantee the best products on customers’ tables and to ensure environmental, social and economic sustainability.
Starting with this first cooking class, the EU also organised two more cooking classes for Korean consumers until 2022. Follow us on Instagram to be informed on our upcoming activities in Korea. Check out our website to discover more about the colourful world of EU agricultural food and beverage products.
About “Colours by Europe. Tastes of Excellence.” Campaign
The “Colours by Europe. Tastes of Excellence.” campaign is an EU agri-food promotion campaign which was officially launched in South Korea on 19th July, 2021. The European Union (EU) aims to increase the awareness of the key merits of EU food and beverage (F&B) products (safety, quality, authenticity, sustainability), to educate the audiences on how to best enjoy, and to encourage purchase in South Korea. The 14-month campaign is presented with distinctively colourful and appetising food stories and campaign visuals through consumer events, retail promotions, HoReCa promotions, public relations, and social media activations in the South Korean market.
About The European Union (EU) and Food System
A single entity, a single set of rules
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 Member States. With an estimated population of about 446 million, the EU is one of the largest trading blocks in the world, including the agri-food sector, which employs over 4 million workers and over 300 000 businesses.
The European food system is recognised and trusted because of its harmonised, single set of food laws. The General Food Law Regulation applies to all EU and national measures relating to food and feed, pertaining to the production, processing and distribution of all EU agricultural food products. The core objectives of this legislation include ensuring food safety, improving food quality and generating consumer confidence.
EU food law protects as much the consumer, by guaranteeing high-quality and safe agricultural food products, as the health of the planet. Complementing the EU Green Deal, the Farm to Fork Strategy aims to make food systems fair, healthy and environmentally friendly. Priorities include a 50% reduction in the use of more hazardous pesticides and increasing the share of agricultural land under organic farming to 25% by 2030.
