Nanro takes the first step toward a ‘private-sector fellowship’ for the future of hansik.
A new experiment aimed at globalizing hansik has begun. On October 30, the non-profit Nanro Foundation held the launch of NANRO NEXT — a fellowship program for cultivating Korean-cuisine talent — at Dresden Green, a restaurant in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul. About 30 hansik researchers, chefs and industry figures attended a four-hands dinner prepared by Chef Choi Hyun-seok and Chef Park Ga-ram.
A ‘private-sector fellowship’ for hansik talent
Nanro began in 2022 as an industry gathering focused on hansik branding and was formally established as a non-profit foundation in 2023. It is chaired by Chef Choi Jung-yoon of Sempio’s Woorimat Research Center (also the Korea chair of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants). Chef Cho Hee-sook, Ven. Jeong Kwan, and Park Jung-eun of Atomix are among the Korean and international figures serving on its advisory boards.
NANRO NEXT’s stated aim is to discover and develop the next generation of chefs who will drive the industrialization and globalization of hansik.
The first fellow is Chef Lee Ha-sung, an alumnus of the Michelin three-star The French Laundry and New York’s Atomix. Nanro plans to select 20 fellows across Korea and the United States and provide education and mentoring across the hansik industry — from cooking to management, marketing and design.
“A platform built by the industry itself, not with government money”
Nanro’s operating model is markedly different from existing government-supported initiatives. In a phone interview on October 31, Kang Do-yeon, Nanro’s PR director, said: “We are a fully private non-profit that takes no government funding — a case of industry professionals coming together on their own initiative.”
Kang added: “Hansik is no longer just a category of cooking; it is expanding into an industry. Chefs, but also managers, sommeliers, business operators and brand directors are all involved, and this program grew out of the belief that hansik can be industrialized as a medium.”
“Laying the private-sector foundation for hansik’s industrialization” — long-term goal: a specialized hansik school
“NANRO NEXT is not meant to stay a short-term fellowship. The long-term goal is to establish a specialized school for hansik,” Kang said. The first cohort was chosen by recommendation, and further program details will be worked out step by step through the advisory committee.
Nanro already has a collaboration network of global figures including Chef Cho Hee-sook, Ven. Jeong Kwan, and Chef Oriol Castro of Spain’s Disfrutar — recently ranked the world’s No. 1 restaurant. They are expected to take part in the education and mentoring programs.
The launch of NANRO NEXT is significant for adding private-sector capacity to the government-led effort to globalize hansik. Around a national brand-led push to export hansik, chefs, researchers and service professionals from the private sector are converging around an industrial ecosystem.
Given that Nanro’s stated vision is the “industrialization and globalization of hansik,” the launch reads as more than a talent program: it looks like an attempt to redefine hansik as an industry. Nanro plans to remain independent — not a commissioned program of any single institution — and to strengthen a chef-centered education and mentoring network for those aiming to open businesses overseas.
For hansik to grow into an industry, a self-sustaining private ecosystem matters as much as government support. Nanro is a first move in that experiment. If the program cannot secure durability and expertise, however, it risks ending up as an upscale networking club.
Ultimately, the program will be judged by “who is developing the talent, and with what philosophy.” Nanro’s next steps will decide whether the “industrialization of hansik” remains a slogan or gives rise to a new generation of hansik professionals.
· Original (Korean): cooknchefnews.com
