Busan is good

Young Chefs Present the Flavors of Busan: Evaluation Tasting Event for “A Touching Meal with Neo Chefs in Busan”

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it will host the evaluation tasting event titled “A Touching Meal with Neo Chefs in Busan” at 12:00 p.m. today (December 15) at the Cultural Hall on the 9th floor of Shinsegae Department Store Centum City.

This event has been organized to share and evaluate the final outcomes of the “Neo Busan Chef Project” (hereinafter referred to as “the Project”), which Busan Metropolitan City launched as a pilot initiative this year.

Fifteen young chefs participating in the Project will present creative course menus that they personally planned and prepared for both a citizen evaluation panel and a professional evaluation panel.

The young chefs, who are university students majoring in culinary arts, will showcase dishes prepared based on the cooking techniques and culinary philosophy they acquired through the Project’s training curriculum. The menu includes grilled Spanish mackerel topped with a fish roe–based sauce, octopus-based appetizers and salads, and a dessert featuring chestnuts.

The citizen evaluation panel is composed of individuals who have contributed to the local community, including recipients of the Busan Citizen Award, civilian emergency responders, frequent blood donors, and bereaved families of organ donors.

The professional evaluation panel consists of university professors, gastronomy content planners, and food service industry professionals. They will conduct a multifaceted evaluation of the menus, assessing aspects such as overall completeness, storytelling, and service quality, and will offer suggestions for future development.

This evaluation tasting event holds special significance in that it delivers “a touching meal” to community contributors and experts while simultaneously providing students with an opportunity to present their “talent” to the public.

Beyond a simple culinary presentation, the event also serves as an important platform for showcasing a Busan-style culinary talent development model in which learning, expression of talent, evaluation, and growth are organically connected.

Meanwhile, the “Neo Busan Chef Project” is a field-oriented next-generation culinary talent development program involving renowned local chefs and culinary arts students from three universities in Busan—Youngsan University, Daedong College, and Dong-eui Institute of Technology.

From October to December, the Project was operated for approximately two months, focusing on practical training in areas such as local ingredient philosophy, course menu composition, and service manners.

Busan Metropolitan City plans to further develop the Project into a citizen-participatory culinary talent development model jointly pursued by the public, private, and academic sectors in the region. In addition, the City plans to document and produce video content covering the entire training process and share it with citizens, thereby further enhancing the brand value of Busan as “a gastronomic city that grows together with its citizens.”

Cho Gyu-yul, Director General of the Citizen Health Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “This evaluation tasting event for ‘A Touching Meal,’ in which students dedicate dishes they have personally prepared to community contributors and receive evaluations, exemplifies the level of sophistication that Busan aspires to achieve as a gastronomic city.” He added, “We hope that these young chefs will grow into truly ‘storytelling-oriented culinary talents’ who understand the value and stories of local ingredients and share them with citizens.”