All about Seoul Food 2012 - Part 1

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that SeoulFood 2012, the largest and most established food exhibition in Korea, was fast approaching. As a lover of all things culinary, I trekked all the way out to the KINTEX exhibition center north of Seoul in Ilsan to cover all of the finger-lickin' goodness.

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The line to get into Seoul Food 2012 was huge. This is obviously a very popular show. As I patiently waited to get in I wondered to myself, "Will this be worth it?" (Spoiler Alert: It totally was.)

(I also live-tweeted the show via our Twitteraccount. If you're not following us already, you really should. We bring you even more great tech, design and even food content.)

After getting my pass, the door opened and the first thing I saw was the booth for Maniker, a Korean chicken brand, that was handing out free samples! The company has over 400 chicken farms in Korea and takes pride in providing fresh chicken to Russia, China, Japan and even the U.S.

After getting this first taste of food, my stomach wanted more. My primary focus was to taste unique food so I set to wandering around. What I spotted first was konnyak udon, noodles made out of devil´s-tongue jelly. It is very low in calories and easy to eat. You just need to open a can and insert your chopsticks! It even tasted like real udon so I highly recommend this to those on a diet.

Along the way, I noticed that many booths were named after cities or regions of Korea. I was about to taste and see all the regional foods and farm-products in one spot.

Seoul Food 2012 was also a place for Korean food companies to show their high-level technology. ES Food is a company that focuses on molecular gastronomy. It creates basic flavors, textures and color to make food. They make several unique flavors like bamboo and pine, as well as the secret flavoring that goes into the rather potent Korean energy drink, Bacchus. The crowd at this booth was huge.

The other booth that got my attention was for a company that made the world first allergy-free egg yogurt with reduced egg proteins. While I thought it might taste weird, it was actually very good!

While there were many booths promoting traditional Korean foods like kimchi, soy sauce and ginseng, one booth stood out among them. This booth was specifically designed to promote Korean royal court food and was sponsored by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It had sessions when people dressed as kings and queens of the Chosun Dynasty demonstrated the proper way to eat the royal cuisine. Check out the below images to see how a king ate!

I hope you enjoyed the first part of the virtual tour of the Seoul Food 2012. Next time, I will come back with coverage of the International hall at Seoul Food 2012! More yummy images are waiting.