NANRO Foundation, a Korean-cuisine research institution, said on September 7 that it had hosted the ‘NANRO NEXT 2026 Gala Dinner’ the previous evening at Rudbeckia in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, and introduced this year’s three newly selected fellows.
NANRO NEXT is the foundation’s talent-development program, which identifies the next generation of hansik industry talent and supports them with education, mentoring and paths for international expansion. After naming two fellows last year, the program expanded its scope to select three fellows this year.
The third fellow is chef Park Su-young, who built her career at Jungsik — the Michelin three-starred Korean restaurant in New York — and is now preparing to open a restaurant in Los Angeles. The fourth is Ma Hyun-soo, head sommelier at Soigné, and the fifth is Shim Su-jeong, senior chef at Onjium.
About 50 industry leaders attended the gala, including NANRO Foundation chair Choi Jung-yoon and chef-owners Choi Hyun-seok of Choidot, Kim Hee-eun of Soul, Jung Ji-sun of Tian Mimi and Park Ga-ram of Dresden Green. Chef Lee Jun, who runs Rudbeckia alongside Michelin two-starred Soigné, and chef Sung Si-woo of Michelin one-starred Legum served as hosts and presented a four-hands collaboration dinner. Guests shared the fellows’ activity plans and discussed how the community can back them going forward.
NANRO NEXT goes beyond a scholarship: its focus is nurturing next-generation talent through mentoring by senior chefs and specialists from many fields. Programs span traditional-hansik and K-Food cooking education, restaurant management, branding and marketing, design, and overseas internships — covering the food and beverage industry broadly.
Last year’s first fellow was chef Lee Ha-seong, runner-up on Netflix’s ‘Culinary Class Wars 2.’ NANRO subsequently supported the launch of his New York restaurant, ‘Oyatte.’ The second fellow was chef Jung Sang, who worked at Central in Peru — ranked No. 1 on the 2023 World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
NANRO Foundation is a nonprofit society devoted to hansik talent development and global exchange. Some 400 experts from F&B, IT, media, finance and other fields currently take part.
“The intent of NANRO NEXT is for senior chefs and experts across fields to work together to discover and support the talent who will lead the next generation of the hansik industry,” chair Choi Jung-yoon said. “We will build a system of continued support so our fellows can expand their capabilities across culinary scenes at home and abroad.”
· Original (Korean): economist.co.kr
