The Nanro Foundation (chair: Chef Choi Jung-yoon) — the non-profit society dedicated to the industrialization of hansik, its research and the training of the next generation — announced on May 3 that NANRO INSIGHT, its global hansik symposium held April 29–30 at the Leeum Museum of Art auditorium in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, had closed to a strong response from across the ecosystem.
NANRO INSIGHT was the foundation's first global hansik symposium, staged as part of the broader NANRO 2024 exchange program. Under the theme "The Future of Gastronomy: Talking HANSIK," roughly 30 experts came together — headline chefs from Korea and abroad, hansik practitioners, and voices from academia, industry and the arts — to take stock of a Korean-food industry now enjoying an unprecedented moment and to look for ways to sustain its global growth.
Opening the first day, Chef Choi Jung-yoon, chair of the Nanro Foundation, laid out the frame: "The keywords for industrializing hansik are value-up, scale-up, and connect — with other industries and with the global market." She added that "the Nanro Foundation will use this symposium as a springboard to act as an accelerator for the growth of the global hansik industry, working to build and expand the ecosystem."
In the keynote that followed, Prof. Jeong Jae-seung of KAIST's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences dissected the appeal of hansik through a scientific lens, in a talk titled "Why we need a scientific approach to hansik research now." Reading the culinary instincts of fire-cooking Homo sapiens through neuroscience, he unpacked the science embedded in Korean food, naming its three core attractions as fermentation, rice, and the balance between meat and vegetables. A balanced diet not tilted toward any single ingredient, he argued, is both a key to "longevity" — a defining question of the coming era — and one of the tools available in an age of climate crisis. Hence the urgency of studying hansik.
The symposium drew particular attention thanks to the presence of top figures from Peru's Central — No. 1 on the 2023 World's 50 Best Restaurants (W50B) — and its sister food-culture research institute, Mater Iniciativa, along with the leadership of W50B's 2023 No. 2, Spain's Disfrutar, who spoke in dedicated sessions and engaged directly with a Korean audience.
On April 29, Chef Oriol Castro of Disfrutar took the stage first, presenting under the theme "Restaurant Disfrutar: Concept, Technique and Creativity" and laying out the core values of what is regarded as the most creative restaurant in the world today. In a conversation with author and "mind-miner" Song Kil-young that followed, Castro drew applause for the depth of his views on why creativity matters in gastronomy and on how the hansik industry should chart its course in the global market.
On April 30, Chef Virgilio Martínez of Central and Mater director Malena Martínez took the stage together to describe in detail Peru's gastronomy ecosystem — now reshaping the paradigm of global fine dining — and the work Central is doing inside it. The panel session that followed brought Chef Martínez together with Central's only Korean sous chef, Jung Sang; Mater director Malena Martínez; and author Cho Seung-yeon. They discussed at length the common ground between Korean and Peruvian cuisine, comparisons across the world's fine-dining scenes, and what Central's trajectory suggests for the direction of the hansik industry.
Beyond the special sessions, the symposium ran through categories of IDENTITY, CONNECT, SEOUL and GLOBAL, with leading Korean and international experts in hansik and adjacent fields sharing their experience and insight. Chefs Cho Eun-hee and Park Sung-bae, head chefs at Onjium; Chung Dong-woo, CEO of MTP and the operator behind Mongtan and Sanchung Charcoal BBQ Garden; Park Soo-kyung, founder and co-owner of Geumdwaeji Sikdang; Han Choong-hee, CEO of UGD, who runs the champagne bar Geum-to-il Champagne-ppa; and NANRO LAB, the foundation's research arm, drew keen interest with talks on the aesthetics of hansik, its global branding, and Korean meat-grilling research. Simon Kim, CEO of the New York Korean steak house COTE; Song Jung-hun, CEO of the U.S. food-entertainment brand CUPBOP; and Kim Jong-soon, CEO of JS Holdings and owner of London's popular Korean restaurant YORI, spoke on the keys to their success abroad and on Korea's brand value.
Also on the program were Park Young-hoon, founder of TheKit and known for the YouTube channel Korean Englishman; Yong Tae-soon, CEO of WAD, which operates the dining platform CatchTable; Cha Woo-jin, music critic and head of TMI.FM; Heo Cheol, global head at Musinsa; Ahn Yoon-se, PM at GFFG Americafood; and Seo Mi-jin, brand manager on Nongshim's noodle marketing team. From music, fashion, content and platforms — sectors adjacent to but outside food — they analyzed Korea's global wins and the K-food phenomenon, each offering their own reading of the future hansik should be building toward.
Chef Choi Jung-yoon said: "That Nanro-hoe, which started as a small community, could stage an international event of this scale is thanks to the voluntary participation of experts from every field at home and abroad, and to the interest of the audience who thought about the future of hansik alongside us. We hope this occasion helps make widely known the fact that developing the hansik ecosystem can meaningfully raise Korea's national brand value — and going forward, we will support the growth of hansik on many fronts, from cross-industry exchange to training the next generation."
NANRO INSIGHT was hosted with venue support from the Leeum Museum of Art, in a shared commitment to spreading hansik culture. NANRO 2024, being a global hansik exchange, also included several private events alongside the symposium. On April 29, Chef Oriol Castro of Disfrutar joined Chef Sungjae An of Mosu for NANRO GASTRO Powered by SIGNATURE KITCHEN SUITE, a cooking show that brought together top Korean chefs. On April 30, sponsored by Nongshim, NANRO VISION Powered by NONGSHIM brought Chefs Virgilio Martínez and Oriol Castro face-to-face with junior cooks from Korea's Michelin-starred kitchens and culinary students, discussing the next-generation gastronomy industry and the work of raising the next generation of talent.
· Original (Korean): theviewers.co.kr
