What Seoul Food Fest Can Learn From Singapore

What Seoul Food Fest Can Learn From Singapore

Korean traditional wedding ceremony is reenacted at Gyeonghui Palace as part of the 2008 Seoul Food Festival./Newsis Korea -- A Desert Island in the Globalized World? Manhattanites Served Korean Food as Japanese How Korean Cuisine Can Compete in the World How to Stop Confusing Tourists About Korean Food Josh last Thursday visited Cheonggye Plaza, where Seoul Food Festival was being held. But the 24-year-old American just walked back and forth. "I don’t have the courage to taste the food because I don't know what’s in it." The Seoul Food Festival from Aug. 22 to 31 was meant to publicize the excellence of Korean food to the world and develop it as a tourist attraction. It was an ambitious project by the Seoul city government with a budget of W950 million (US$1=W1,089). But experts said the festival seemed to focus on selling food rather than attracting tourists and publicizing Korean cuisine. The Singapore Food Festival on July 4-27, which has grown into a world-renowned event since it was launched 15 years ago, offers interesting points of comparison. ◆ Singapore seeks customer-centered service Last Thursday, no posters, placards or pamphlets on Seoul Food Festival were available at the tourist information center of Incheon International Airport. The scene was quite different at Singapore’s Changi International Airport on July 11, when big posters and signboards for the Singapore Food Festival filled the ceiling and other parts of the airport. Nor was there much other active PR targeting foreign visitors at the Seoul Food Festival. Hands-on programs such as "Experience Royal Food" at Gyeonghui Palace and "Experience Tea and Cakes" at the Seoul Museum of History were available only on the weekend. Time was limited at most tastings. By contrast, the whole of Singapore looked like a huge free buffet. Foreigners got three "sampler" coupons at the tourist information center and could taste meals at designated restaurants any time. That was customer-centered service. /Courtesy of Singapore Food Festival ◆ Poor English-language services in Seoul English labels were being added for food at Cheonggye Plaza as late as Friday afternoon. The Five Tastes of Korea Exhibition Hall was the only venue that had provided English-language services from the beginning of the festival. At Namsangol Hanok Village, Korean seasonal foods were described only as "minarimuchim" (seasoned dropwort), "jeonbokcho (seasoned abalone)," and "dureupnamul" (seasoned shoots of a fatsia). No foreigner would know what they are. Neither sales people nor guides at Cheonggye Plaza could answer simple English questions, such as "What's this?" A Seoul city official said, "We deployed at least one English-Korean interpreter at every venue, but that’s not enough." A Hainanese chicken rice restaurant shows a "Singapore Sampler" coupon glued to its front window during the Singapore Food Festival. ◆ Lots of tastings in Singapore The Seoul Food Festival distributed a guidebook called "Introduction to 10 Korean Foods." But it was hard to find foods other than bibimbap (boiled rice with assorted vegetables), traditional alcoholic beverages and bulgogi (sliced and seasoned broiled beef). Singapore also chose 10 "Must-Try Local Favorites," and visitors could sample them foods at downtown restaurants with their sampler coupons. After looking around the Seoul festival, food critic Kang Ji-young said, "The festival looks like a food discount event for Koreans only, giving almost no thought to the convenience of foreign guests."