The new faces who will open the next chapter of K-Food have been unveiled.
NANRO Foundation said on September 7 that it had hosted the ‘NANRO NEXT 2026 Gala Dinner’ the previous evening at Rudbeckia in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, and completed the selection of the second-year cohort of new fellows. NANRO NEXT is a fellowship program that identifies and nurtures the next generation of Korean-cuisine talent through nominations by senior chefs.
This year the program broadened both the number and the scope of its fellows. Chef Park Su-young, formerly of the U.S. Michelin three-starred Jungsik and now preparing to open a restaurant in Los Angeles, was named the third fellow, followed by Ma Hyun-soo, head sommelier at Michelin two-starred Soigné, as the fourth, and Shim Su-jeong, senior chef at Onjium, as the fifth.
The three fellows will receive systematic, specialized training across traditional hansik, restaurant management and branding, and are expected to grow further through exchanges with mentors present at the gala — chefs Choi Hyun-seok, Jung Ji-sun, Kim Hee-eun and Park Ga-ram among them. Attention is turning to whether this steady investment in talent will become a new engine for the K-Food sector.
NANRO Foundation, launched in 2023, is led by chair Choi Jung-yoon and gathers more than 400 industry experts. It runs a wide range of programs for hansik talent development and global exchange, including the ‘NANRO INSIGHT’ conference and the ‘NANRO Academy.’
· Original (Korean): nc.press
