Recipe Book 2024–2025

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At the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), Chef Kang Min-chul unfolded the appeal of Jeju's ingredients in his own way. He wanted to explore the ingredients shaped by Jeju's sea, soil and wind, and through them to make Jeju more widely known. Researching local produce himself, he worked to hold Jeju's particular flavour within his cooking.

Chef Kang regarded sharing happiness through cooking as more important than anything. Food was not simply a single meal but a tool that moves people's hearts and creates special moments in a life. That is why he has held to the conviction that one must always cook honestly. In his cooking, instead of ornate decoration, there is the truthful taste of the ingredient and the warm heart he wishes to convey through it.

His connection with Jeju was not simply that of a supply source for ingredients but a spring of constant inspiration. Visiting the fish markets spread along the coast, seeing seafood just lifted from the water at the fishermen's fingertips, he felt Jeju's vitality directly. Jeju's ingredients, raised by waves, wind and volcanic soil, had distinctive textures and flavours, and they offered a new direction for his cooking. "On Jeju, the ingredient speaks first," he often said. He believed that respecting the story an ingredient already holds — rather than the cook adding to it — is the way to express Jeju's cooking properly.

While staying on Jeju he also found new clues for cooking within landscapes that changed by season: in fresh wild greens in spring, abundant seafood in summer, vegetables holding the scent of the earth in autumn, and ingredients matured with the wind in winter. Jeju's four seasons breathed vitality into his cooking, and a plate holding that sense of season became a small landscape containing the identity of this island. Building on the inspiration gained on Jeju, he moved beyond food alone to complete "cooking that holds Jeju's time and space."

On this foundation Chef Kang prepared Jeju Red-Banded Lobster Tartare with Caviar for JFWF 2024. Fresh Jeju red-banded lobster was finely chopped into a tartare and served with caviar, expressing the deep scent of the sea and a luxurious flavour at once. The sweet, tender taste of the lobster met the salt-sea aroma of the caviar in harmony, and the dish became one that seemed to hold the landscape of the Jeju sea within itself.

The spirit of the figure he respects, Auguste Escoffier, is deeply infused in his cooking. Escoffier was not simply an excellent chef but a figure who systematised modern French cuisine and left achievements vast enough to earn him the title "father of cooking." Learning Escoffier's culinary principles and organised kitchen management, Chef Kang arrived at the realisation that "honesty and principle are what ultimately make the finest technique." Escoffier's writings, set to one side of his restaurant, are not a simple reference work but something like a compass guiding a cooking life.

He has never imagined what life he would have led had he not walked the path of a chef, but he has always wanted to convey happiness to people through cooking. His bucket list is to travel all over the world and meet in person the ingredients and cultures he has not yet experienced. For him cooking is an endless journey of learning, and the most honest way of understanding and sharing the world.

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Standing on the stage of the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), Chef Kwon Woo-jung did not regard the event as a simple festival. He decided to take part because it was "a meaningful occasion where the proceeds go toward good causes," and sought to use it as a chance to understand and explore Jeju's ingredients more deeply. Studying the flavours held by ingredients drawn from Jeju's seas and fields, he looked forward to the moments of new inspiration they would bring.

Chef Kwon's culinary philosophy has always touched on seasonality and honesty. Holding the belief that "cooking is, in the end, answered by the ingredient," he concentrated on finding produce harvested at its most delicious and healthy moment. For him cooking was not simply a process of producing flavour. It was a sincere means of communication in which the gift nature offers meets a chef's sensibility and seeps into a person's life. So he always went out to the markets, the fields and the sea to see ingredients with his own eyes and touch them with his own hands. He made it his first priority to strip away unnecessary ornament and draw out the inherent taste of an ingredient, and this attitude became the driving force that established Kwonsooksoo as a fine-dining restaurant representing Korea.

The direct charcoal cooking often used in his kitchen is not simply one technique among others but a close conversation between ingredient and fire. The fierce flame charcoal produces draws out an intuitive, primal flavour, completing a taste that is sometimes rough but pure. Watching within that flame the process by which an ingredient's aroma and grain are reborn, Chef Kwon sought to convey it intact to his guests. For him fire is not a simple cooking tool but another language, through which he expresses the authenticity and warmth he wishes to hold in his food. His philosophy was ultimately a process of approaching "honest flavour," and this became the core spirit running through all his cooking.

The dish he presented at this Jeju Food & Wine Festival was Jeju Ttokgalbi with Grilled Asparagus and Neungi Mushroom Sauce — one of Kwonsooksoo's signature dishes. The asparagus held the fresh vitality of early-summer Jeju soil, and its own clean aroma was drawn out by grilling directly over fire. The neungi mushroom, holding the scent of deep mountains, came together with the rich flavour of the ttokgalbi to leave a lingering resonance in the mouth. The Jeju ttokgalbi held the centre with abundant juices and a firm grain, and the three elements formed a single chord, creating a moment where tradition and the contemporary intersect.

Chef Kwon has often conveyed to aspiring chefs the message that "the path to becoming a cook is easy, but the path to becoming an outstanding cook is harder than in any other field." This was his conviction that living a life as a true chef requires constant humility and an honest attitude.

His connection with Jeju also remains a particular memory. In Kwonsooksoo's early days he set off for Jeju on a workshop with all his staff, only for their flight to be cancelled in a storm — a hair-raising experience in which they nearly could not return to Seoul. Fortunately they made their scheduled flight safely, but the memory of that day imprinted at once the unpredictable appeal and the tension that this place called Jeju holds.

JFWF 2024 was not, for Chef Kwon, simply an occasion to present cooking. Facing Jeju's ingredients and landscape anew, and the stories held within them, it was a time to confirm once again that cooking is ultimately a bridge joining people, nature and culture.

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Taking part in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), Chef Kim Do-yun did not see this stage as a simple event. He stood here in order to make known to the world the ingredients raised by Jeju's land and sea. As he said — "I wanted to show Jeju's ingredients properly" — his participation was a time deeply connected to the philosophy he has pursued. To reveal an ingredient through cooking, and to convey the story of its land to those who taste it: that was precisely the role Chef Kim wants cooking to play.

His connection with Jeju did not end with participation on a stage. The sea views of Jocheon-eup and the local dishes he encountered at the markets enriched his sensibility further. The vivid seafood he met at the fish market and the root vegetables raised on the farms in particular breathed new inspiration into his cooking. "Jeju's ingredients show the harmony of land and sea better than anywhere," he said, expressing a wish to explore them more deeply someday.

He cannot forget an episode he experienced on Jeju itself. Encountering the story that dairy cattle there are raised on olive feed, he felt anew the potential Jeju's ingredients hold. Not simply products of nature, Jeju's ingredients had become special through the addition of human wisdom, experiment and constant research. Such encounters became another stimulus to his culinary world.

The dish he presented at the event was Baekhwamyeon (White Wheat Noodle). Completed with root vegetables such as bellflower root, deodeok and radish, finished with perilla oil and Taean sun-dried salt, it showed deep flavour within simplicity. With every mouthful came an honest taste that seemed to convey Jeju's earth and wind, and the touch of the farmer's hand. Excluding any special decoration or technique, this single bowl brought out the inherent taste of the ingredients, holding Korean aesthetics intact and leaving a deep resonance.

For Chef Kim, cooking held meaning beyond an occupation. "To make food is, in the end, to make people happy," he has said. What led him to start cooking arose simply from pleasure. Making food and watching someone eat it with enjoyment — the joy of that moment drew him to the kitchen. So he says he does not discriminate between ingredients and likes them all. Each ingredient holds its own individuality and story, and he believes a chef's role is to respect that and find new possibility within it.

The method often used in Chef Kim's kitchen is dry ageing. This technique, drawing out an ingredient's flavour through time, resembles the "flavour with depth" that he pursues. At the same time he holds affection for primal methods such as the cast-iron pan and charcoal fire. He knows well that there are flavours which emerge only from a process of respecting fire and time and conversing with an ingredient.

Chef Kim Do-yun's bucket list is both particular and simple. He wants to travel the world and meet ingredients and cultures he has not yet experienced. For him cooking is an endless journey of learning, and the most candid way of conversing with the world. His experience at the Jeju Food & Wine Festival became another important milestone within that journey.

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The kitchen of Milliue, the French restaurant at Haevichi Hotel Jeju, has always resembled the colour of the sea and the air of the season. For Chef Kim Seung-ryeon, the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival in 2024 held meaning beyond a simple event. Through this stage he sought to show the world both the ingredients grown from Jeju soil and the philosophy of Milliue, where he works. The inspiration he gained on Jeju carried into his cooking as the precision of French fine dining and the island's own flavour, and the festival was the finest opportunity to prove it.

During the event Chef Kim presented at the wine dinner Jeju Organic Vegetables and Jeju Ale Beer Croustade, Jeju Yuzu, Asparagus and White Kelp, and Jeju Octopus and Olive Tapenade Wrapped in Brick Paper. At the gala dinner he prepared Jeju Organic Carrot Râpé with Perilla Oil Dressing and Jeju Ale Beer Croustade, Jeju Sea Bream Som Tam with White Kelp, and Jeju Yuzu and Asparagus Cutlet, expressing to the full the varied possibilities of Jeju's ingredients. His cooking went beyond satisfying the palate to hold Jeju's colours, aromas and stories.

What stands out in Chef Kim's career is his experience of large international events. Taking responsibility for the G20 Summit banquet, the PyeongChang Winter Olympics sponsors' events and the Seoul Food Festival Grand Gala Dinner, he has proved the standing of Korean gastronomy on the world stage. This experience of large-scale settings in particular became his own strength in unfolding the locality of Jeju within an international context. His ability to translate the potential of Jeju's abundant produce into the language of gastronomy was equally apparent at JFWF 2024.

What led him to the path of a chef was simple. He began working life early in difficult circumstances, but among many kinds of work he had the conviction that cooking was the one thing he could do well. That instinct proved right. Life in the kitchen was never easy, but he accepted it not as a simple livelihood but as a stage for expressing himself and a means of making the value of Jeju known.

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Taking part in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), Chef Richard Takeda regarded the experience not as a simple stage but as a journey that expanded him. "I wanted to encounter a food culture I had never experienced before," he said — wishing, through contact with an unknown culture and unfamiliar ingredients, to extend his culinary world deeper and wider.

Chef Takeda presented a dessert built around Jeju's emblematic hallabong and Cara mandarin, together with grapefruit. The balance of dense yet bright juices breathed the light of the season onto the table, while a soft texture and fragrant flavour offered the audience a particular experience. It was not simply a dessert conveying sweetness but a work condensing into a single plate the vitality of citrus shaped by Jeju's nature.

Through this dessert he sought to hold Jeju's nature and its time at once. The gentle acidity of hallabong, the faintly bitter finish of grapefruit and the distinctive aroma of Cara mandarin each held their own character while forming a harmony, calling up the sensation of travelling the island of Jeju. Beyond the pleasure of taste alone, it was a way of holding the harmonious story shaped by nature and human beings in coexistence.

Family influence weighed heavily in Chef Takeda's path into cooking. With a father who worked as a pâtissier, he was always close to the kitchen, and he learned the scents and sounds of that room, and the process of creation, naturally within daily life. In his childhood memory the kitchen was not simply a place for making food but a mysterious stage on which something new came into being at the fingertips. The smell of bread baking as dough rose, the gloss produced by melting chocolate, the sweet aroma of sugar caramelising — every part of the process stirred his curiosity. Within it he learned the joy of creation and the aesthetics of waiting.

The figure he respects is likewise the one closest to him: his father. The Japanese pâtissier Chef Yatsuda was another mentor. Both taught him, through outstanding technique and a craftsman's spirit, the value of "unwavering work." Through them Chef Takeda came to understand that cooking is not a simple accumulation of technique but a philosophy of life completed on a foundation of principle and concentration.

His most beloved ingredients are the agrumes — the citrus family. Citrus goes beyond bright aroma and flavour to harmonise with a wide range of foods and create new possibility. His choice of a citrus dessert for this event was no coincidence: hallabong, grapefruit and Cara mandarin were the ingredients most suited to revealing his culinary philosophy and sensibility.

The citrus dessert he presented on unfamiliar soil at this Jeju Food & Wine Festival was not a simple plate but a result condensing his journey, his philosophy and his learning. "Cooking is, in the end, a language connecting people and cultures," he said, recalling that the experience of Jeju had made his own language richer.

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Taking part in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), Chef Albert Leung came as a chef representing Hong Kong, to share his cooking on new ground and to learn Jeju's ingredients and culture. He described the festival as "a place to share cooking, meet people and experience Jeju's excellent ingredients." The experience was all the more particular for the chance to meet local producers directly and hear their stories.

For Chef Leung, cooking is not a simple occupation but part of life. From childhood the family table always had food at its centre, and the sight of his mother trying dishes from many countries at home left a powerful impression. Every time an unfamiliar dish appeared on the table — from sushi to aged abalone preparations — he sensed intuitively that "the world can be connected through food." He also came to realise for himself that cooking is not simply a process of making food but has the power to change a person's expression and make a day special.

At JFWF 2024 Chef Leung introduced two dishes. The first was Croaker with Sargassum, in which croaker was enriched with saikyo miso, ginger, shallot, sake and citrus juice, and served with sargassum lifted from Jeju's sea. The tender texture of the croaker and the distinctive aroma of the sargassum came together to hold the landscape of the Jeju sea within a single plate. The second was Wine Central Char-Siew. Made with Jeju black pork belly, the char siu was a reinterpretation in Jeju style of the signature dish representing Wine Central in Hong Kong. Grafting local ingredients onto the colour of a global restaurant, the dish left a powerful impression on those who came to the festival.

This experience of holding Jeju's ingredients and local stories also became an occasion for Chef Leung to reawaken his first intentions. He continues to learn amid new challenges, always recalling the figures who have inspired him. The person he respects is the internationally known chef Jamie Oliver — because he deeply sympathises with an attitude that turned cooking into a pleasure anyone can enjoy within daily life, rather than a display of ornate technique. In an era when information about cooking was not as abundant as it is now, Oliver's programmes were an important channel for understanding Western cooking and finding new inspiration.

Chef Leung's favourite ingredient is chicken fat, particularly the chicken tallow obtained from the Chinese yellow chicken. Its distinctively rich aroma adds depth to any dish and brings a preparation close to completion with the ingredient alone. As a cooking tool he names the charcoal grill. "Charcoal isn't simple fire — it's a medium through which you can communicate directly with an ingredient," he says, loving above all the primal, intuitive flavour that fire creates.

JFWF 2024 was for Chef Leung a new challenge and a stage of learning. Sharing his cooking and encountering Jeju's abundant ingredients and stories, he felt once again the power that food holds. At the moment when cultures exchange and lives connect through cooking, the profession of chef goes beyond a simple livelihood and becomes a philosophy in itself.

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Chef Lee Choong-hoo viewed his participation in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024) as a place of new beginnings and exchange. He sought to make known Zero Complex's new vision while at the same time drawing stimulus from the ingredients and culture of this land called Jeju. Experience in unfamiliar places has always been an opportunity for learning and reflection for him, and Jeju was an extension of that.

He believes that "cooking is the most direct way of making people happy." The conviction that a single plate of food can change someone's memory and make an ordinary day special was the reason he chose the path of a chef. So he continually explores new ingredients and methods, valuing not only the result of cooking but the learning gained within the process itself. For Chef Lee, cooking was a vast current connecting ingredients and people, time and space. This conviction showed even in small daily attempts, and those who visit Zero Complex could always taste new inspiration alongside their meal.

At this Jeju Food & Wine Festival he presented Jeju Tilefish, Potato and Mussel Sauce (with Korean mint). With tilefish, the representative fish of the Jeju sea, at the centre, the clean taste of potato and the deep sea aroma of mussel were gently wrapped by Korean mint to complete the dish. Beyond a simple combination of flavours, it was a work holding a landscape particular to Jeju, in which the island's sea, its land and a local herb came together. Through this dish he demonstrated directly his philosophy that "I trust the power seasonal ingredients hold."

Chef Lee named Chef Inaki of Le Chateaubriand in Paris as a figure who inspired him. Inaki broadened his field of view in looking at ingredients, and proposed new ways of handling them that broke existing frameworks. Beyond the food on the table, he respected the history and context an ingredient holds while dismantling and recombining it to create an entirely different experience. Even for a single seasonal ingredient he considered dozens of approaches, moving between tradition and contemporary technique to draw out its potential. The philosophy received from Inaki went beyond simple respect to become the foundation of the culinary attitude Chef Lee still practises every day.

The tool he uses most is the knife. It appears simple, but the knife was the bridge connecting his fingertips and the ingredient. The book he always keeps beside him is The Third Plate, a companion offering new perspectives and inspiration. He stressed that in cooking, humility matters as much as knowledge. "Only when you approach with humility can you properly hear the story an ingredient holds" — that was his conviction.

Asked about his goal as a chef, he named three Michelin stars without hesitation. It was not an achievement to be won at a stroke but an expression of the intention to improve a little each day. He also holds the bucket-list wish to travel the world and experience varied ingredients and cultures. For him cooking was endless learning, and a journey that makes life richer still.

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Following her participation in JFWF 2019, JFWF 2020 and JFWF 2021, the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024) was a fourth challenge of new meaning for Chef Cho Hee-sook. She has regarded it as a place where the flavours held by Jeju's nature and the depth of Korean food can be shown together. "Jeju's land and sea hold a particular flavour you cannot obtain in any other region. Depending on how you look at those ingredients, an entirely different world opens up."

As a chef who has protected the essence of Korean cuisine over long years, JFWF 2024 was for Chef Cho a journey beginning from her roots and moving out toward the world. At the centre of that change there is always a "Korean essence." She believes Korean food is not simply a way of preserving old things but a living culture that joins generations. Food must change, she thinks, but the colour within it must be protected if we are to convey our own flavour within the world.

Korean food often involves trimming ingredients into forms convenient for chopsticks, and in many cases the touch of the hand matters more than a machine, so she favours a finely honed knife. Her preferred ingredients are spring greens. Seeing the thirty or forty kinds of spring greens that push up through winter gives her a fresh sense of challenge each time, and within them she finds another path for cooking. Jeju in particular, she feels, has a distinctive flavour in its ingredients thanks to its geographical condition as an island bordering the sea. She added that vegetables grown in volcanic soil hold more moisture and a stronger sweetness, so that the same ingredient differs in taste and aroma from other regions. She also expressed a wish to research food on Jeju, a place rich in legend and story.

The Jatjuk with Abalone and Caviar presented at JFWF 2024 held the flavours of the sea — abalone, whiteleg shrimp, scallop — within a nutty pine nut porridge, expressing a traditional Korean restorative dish in contemporary form. And the Pomegranate Dumpling filled with Jeju Vegetables Bibimbap, built on rice and buckwheat rice, held in a single mouthful the varied mountain and sea ingredients Jeju contains: deodeok, new-season bracken, salted hijiki, seashore hogfennel, chwinamul, water dropwort and shiitake. The vegetable bibimbap packed neatly inside a crimson pomegranate skin was, beyond the palate alone, a symbolic plate holding Jeju's abundant story.

Chef Cho Hee-sook's soul food is the gamtaeji her grandmother used to make — a dish made by fermenting gamtae seaweed, whose aroma and flavour touch the memories of childhood. It is the food that taught her that inexhaustible flavour and memory can come even from a simple ingredient.

For her the Jeju Food & Wine Festival went beyond a simple festival to become a place for experimenting with the future of Korean cuisine and communicating with an audience. "Jeju gives the gift of new ingredients and new stories every year. That this festival continues steadily is itself remarkable, and I hope it becomes a good cornerstone for further development to come," she said of taking part. As a bridge joining tradition and the contemporary, the local and the global, Chef Cho's cooking was showing new possibility for Korean gastronomy.

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Taking part in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), Chef Takuro Osawa came to the stage representing Pierre Hermé Paris in Japan. "Within my wish to make my cooking known all over the world, Jeju was the ideal stage," he said of his reason for participating. He regarded the festival not as a simple event but as a place to convey his dessert philosophy and to feel Jeju's ingredients with all five senses. His conviction in particular that "food should be enjoyed with the five senses" shone all the brighter on site.

Chef Osawa described his experience on Jeju as "a succession of new discoveries." In the moments of meeting local producers directly and learning the strength of ingredients that Jeju's soil and climate create, he said, he felt the potential of ingredients as original as any in the world. The stories of local farmers and fishermen also broadened his perspective on ingredients. Those who have raised the same produce on the same land over long years knew better than anyone the subtle differences it holds. Explanations of how carrots grown on the slopes of Hallasan differ in aroma and texture from carrots grown in Gujwa, and of how the colour and texture of sargassum change with the depth of the sea, gave him a deep resonance as a chef. Within such conversations he realised once again that "an ingredient is not simply material for cooking but a medium in which the stories of nature and people are condensed."

Jeju's ingredients were themselves both a challenge and an inspiration. Unlike the ingredients commonly used in Europe, Jeju produce drew out entirely different combinations of flavour thanks to the character of its climate and soil. Chef Osawa accepted that difference positively, saying that it in fact became the force enabling him to make new attempts. He reaffirmed the thought that "when facing an ingredient, a chef is not simply someone who cooks but an interpreter and a storyteller." This experience instilled in him a sense of mission to go beyond simply learning Jeju's food culture and to introduce it in his own way.

From childhood Chef Osawa felt joy in making something with his hands. Offering food to his family and discovering surprise and happiness in their expressions awakened in him, as a child, the essence of cooking. "If someone has experienced a wonderful flavour," he says, "it is my duty to convey it." For him dessert was not simply "a sweet indulgence" but a medium for conveying emotion.

The dish he presented at the Jeju Food & Wine Festival was a Mille-Feuille with Jeju Strawberry and Apple Mango. Layering Jeju strawberry and apple mango, this dessert went beyond simple flavour to hold the story of a season and a land. The mille-feuille, bringing together crisp pastry, cream and fresh fruit, conveyed Jeju's colour and aroma in the most refined way. "Strawberry is a special ingredient to me," Chef Osawa says. "It's simple but has a deep flavour, so you can always try new combinations." He added that strawberries on Jeju in particular have an intense aroma and sweetness, making them a perfect fit for the canvas of dessert art.

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What led Chef Kim Jin-rae to take part in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024) was the wish to make known Jeju's beauty and the diversity of its ingredients. Working on restaurant consulting on Jeju for four years, he had fallen deeply for the appeal of the island's nature and produce. This festival was an opportunity to share what he had experienced on Jeju and to make it known to more people.

What he looked forward to most was meeting local Jeju guests and exchanging with other chefs. "I wanted to share ideas about how each of us handles Jeju's ingredients." For Chef Kim, cooking is an experience made together rather than alone. Within the exchange of discovering new ingredients and viewing them from a different perspective, the depth of cooking expands.

Before this event Chef Kim had taken part as executive chef at the Seoul Gourmet Festival held at the United Nations headquarters in New York in 2010. In a setting gathering diplomats and international figures from many countries he presented Korean food, and it became the occasion that instilled in him the conviction that "Korean food is more than competitive in the world." Through that experience he realised that cooking is not simply an act of conveying flavour but holds the power to convey culture and identity. Afterwards he came to hold the larger goal of "globalising Korean food" more concretely, and in running restaurants and consulting he has always considered "a way of starting from what is Korean and communicating with the world."

At JFWF 2024 Chef Kim presented Grilled Jeju Octopus with Spinach and Tomato. The common octopus grown in Jeju's sea is springy with a deep savour. To this he added the clean taste of fresh spinach and the bright acidity of tomato to realise a balanced flavour. "The common octopus is an ingredient that shows the identity of the Jeju sea. By bringing it into harmony with spinach and tomato, I wanted to hold the story of Jeju's sea and land within a single plate." He also placed his philosophy in this dish: to draw out the maximum flavour with fire, time and simple method, without damaging the essence of what nature has given. This is precisely the essence of cooking as Chef Kim believes it.

He thinks of cooking not simply as "making" something but as giving someone a memory. If a guest can recall that flavour and experience long after eating, he believes, that is the greatest value cooking holds. Chef Kim's bucket list is clear: to open a farm-to-table restaurant on Jeju. He wants to establish a restaurant on the island that holds nature and land, sea and season just as they are, and to share Korea's dining culture with the world.

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"In a space filled with the things I love, I find reward in giving someone joy." This is how Chef Kim Tae-min described the reason he began cooking — that the essence of cooking is not simply making food but the process of conveying happiness to others through space and experience. So he waited for his participation in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024) with more anticipation than anyone. "I wanted to cook using Jeju ingredients. And I looked forward to the chance to exchange with other chefs," he answered when asked why he was taking the stage. Exploring the abundant ingredients and possibilities this land called Jeju holds, and sharing that experience together, is beyond precious for a chef.

The figures he respects are not particular famous chefs. Rather they are the owner-chefs who walk their own path quietly in unnamed places. "I used to admire famous chefs abroad, but as time passed I realised I only knew fragments of them. Now I respect people who are excellent in character." His view of cooking — prioritising an attitude faithful to essence over a brilliant name — shows through here.

Chef Kim's culinary philosophy is to hold the sincerity of an ingredient. "Cooking is not simply a technique for producing flavour but a way of conveying the story an ingredient holds to the guest. The ingredient I especially enjoy using is fruit." He uses fruit — commonly thought to belong only in dessert — freely in starters and main courses. The gentle sweetness of a peach, the acidity of grapefruit or lemon, the vivid aroma of seasonal berries add a refreshing balance to protein-centred dishes. He has described these as "the finest sauce nature has made."

His respect for seasonal ingredients runs deep too. Vegetables and seafood that change in flavour and texture with each season are an endless source of inspiration for a chef. Spring's wild chives and shepherd's purse bring delicate aroma; summer's corn and tomato a dense sweetness; autumn's mushrooms and chestnuts a deep flavour; winter's citrus and seaweed a clean aroma and minerality. "An ingredient holds the season within itself. Cooking is, in the end, the work of holding a season."

The ingredients he meets on Jeju in particular stir a cook's imagination. Damselfish lifted from the Jeju sea, nutty tilefish, the citrus and Cara mandarin that grow from the land, the wild grasses and herbs found on the oreum — they turn an ordinary plate into a special experience. On the JFWF 2024 stage he presented Red-Banded Lobster Tartare with Kara Mandarin and Endive. The red-banded lobster has a distinctive savour and delicate texture found only in the Jeju sea, and the Cara mandarin is well known among Jeju citrus for its deep aroma and sweet flavour. To these he added the gentle bitterness of endive, seeking to express the diversity of Jeju's ingredients harmoniously within a single plate.

The most memorable moments as a cook come not from brilliant attention but from small things. "There have been guests who left a thank-you letter on a napkin after their meal. You can feel the sincerity, and that memory stays a long time." It is only a small note, but the heart within it becomes a reason for a chef to keep cooking.

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The reason Chef Park Ju-eun took part in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024) was not simple participation in an event. It carried great meaning for her that she could contribute to developing Jeju's food culture and, in the process, practise giving as well. As an opportunity for the social contribution a cook can make, and for making local ingredients and culture widely known, she felt something particular in simply standing here.

What she anticipated most at JFWF 2024 was the encounter with Jeju's ingredients. "I had the hope that I might come to know Jeju's local produce more deeply." For Chef Park, the ingredient is both the beginning and the end of cooking. Her reason for loving the cabbage family in particular is simple: their crisp texture and sweet finish show well the value of a basic ingredient.

Family influence weighed heavily in her choice of the culinary path. The sight of her father running a side-dish business taught her as a child the power food holds. Beyond a simple means of livelihood, food was a medium that gathers people, moves hearts and sometimes offers comfort. On the foundation of that memory she made cooking her lifelong profession. The figure she respects is Chef Cho Hee-sook. The attitude of not giving up until the last moment while conceiving a new dish, and a serious frame of mind in handling food, touch on the posture Chef Park pursues. It always reminds her that what completes a dish is not simply technique but constant reflection and diligence.

The dish she presented at JFWF 2024 was Jeju Imjasootang. Imjasootang is originally a traditional dish centred on sesame and chicken, but she varied it in contemporary form to hold a new story. The ingredients she used were bracken, kohlrabi, carrot, asparagus, shiitake, garlic chives, chicken tenderloin, sesame and pine nuts. The bracken symbolises Jeju's local character, while the kohlrabi and carrot added a bright sweetness. Asparagus and shiitake deepened the flavour, and garlic chives gave a fragrant finish. The chicken tenderloin supported the whole dish with its tender texture, and the sesame and pine nuts completed the nutty flavour in three dimensions.

Imjasootang was not simply a bowl of food. Inheriting tradition while unfolding Jeju's ingredients and culture in contemporary form, it was the result of creating new value within harmony with the Jeju Food & Wine Festival. "Imjasootang was, for me, not simply a bowl but the work of connecting Jeju's ingredients with the roots of Korean food."

Going forward, Chef Park wants to explore new possibilities in Korean ingredients and convey the taste of Korea through her restaurant, Jueun. At the same time she dreams of a world food journey with her family, and plans to present the inspiration gained on that journey again in her own cooking. Drawing inspiration from Jeju's nature and people and traditions, she is writing a new story of Korean cooking in her own way, today as well.

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Taking part in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), Chef Park Ji-ho said he felt there would be varied cultural exchange. With Jeju as his stage, he wanted to share ideas through exchange with other chefs and discover new possibilities. The many different ways of handling Jeju's local produce in particular were an important source of inspiration for him.

Chef Park has explored Jeju's ingredients on foot more than anyone. Travelling all over the island — sea urchin and mussels from Chujado, chicken and pheasant from the mid-slopes of Hallasan, carrots from Gujwa, octopus from Sinchang, herbs and vegetables from Hallim — he sought out ingredients and learned the story each one holds through direct communication with its producers. There were difficulties at times. Having gone to Chujado to see and buy sea urchin, he was once stranded for three days when no boats sailed. But he says even such experiences are learning as a chef and a deep connection with Jeju.

"There was no special occasion that made me a chef. It's simply that the act of cooking seems to have dissolved naturally into my life." His answer is plain. But within it lies a philosophy of accepting cooking as "part of life" rather than an "occupation." The figure Chef Park respects is Chef Akihiro in Paris. Still taking sole responsibility for five tables at no small age, preparing fish and handling seafood himself, he is the crystallisation of a craftsman's spirit. Chef Park sees a resemblance to himself in that attitude. "I too like the time spent handling fish and seafood best. Because they're ingredients that lose their lustre in a moment if you don't put care into them, they need concentration and sincerity. Like Chef Akihiro, I value that process most of all."

This philosophy is held within MAT's cooking too. What is conveyed to guests is not simply a plate of food but the result of the time and concentration an ingredient and a chef have accumulated. Like Chef Akihiro's life, Chef Park is quietly building authenticity in his own kitchen.

The dish Chef Park presented at JFWF 2024 was Abalone Mille-Feuille with Parsley Sauce. Abalone is an ingredient like a symbol of the Jeju sea. Slicing it thinly and layering it in the mille-feuille manner held the abundance of the sea and a sense of care at once. The gently cooked abalone gave a different texture in each layer, and the fresh parsley sauce wrapped the taste of the sea in brightness. "Abalone is an ingredient holding the identity of the Jeju sea. Unfolding it in the mille-feuille manner, I wanted to express the many-layered appeal Jeju has." This dish was not simply a technical variation but an attempt to unfold the diversity and potential of Jeju's ingredients in the language of world dining.

His bucket list is to open a deeply romantic street food stall in France. Instead of running a restaurant on the world stage, it holds the wish to communicate more closely with guests in a small space and share the inherent pleasure of cooking. Through MAT he creates new flavours even at this moment, preparing the future of his cooking with the inspiration gained on Jeju. Like the abalone mille-feuille, experience and story layered one upon another are ultimately held in a single plate and passed to the guest.

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Taking part in the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), Chef Lee Jae-chul wanted to make Jeju's flavour and value known to more people through fresh seasonal ingredients and local specialities. Because Jeju Sun, a hotel restaurant, operates with tourists as its main clientele, it was a somewhat unfamiliar space to Jeju residents. Chef Lee hoped that this event would be an occasion to make Jeju Sun known and to let more people experience Jeju's gastronomic culture. He recalled that during his time at Lotte Hotel he had run an event similar to JFWF 2024, after which the restaurant became livelier and many people came to visit.

What led him onto the chef's path came from a warm memory. In his high school years he watched a television programme, made the dish himself and served it to his parents — and they smiled with satisfaction. That smile gave the young Lee Jae-chul a powerful feeling, and made him resolve to convey the same feeling to more people someday. That resolve has not changed with the years, and still breathes within his cooking.

The figure Chef Lee respects is Akira Back (Chef Baek Seung-wook), active internationally. The tenacity and effort of Akira Back, who became the first non-Japanese executive chef at Nobu, were values Chef Lee wanted to emulate. Emphasising that "cooking must hold tenacity and ceaseless effort beyond simple technique," he too has sought to practise this in the kitchen every day.

The ingredient Chef Lee holds dearest is Jeju black pork. Because each cut has a different texture, it is highly versatile on a menu, and when handled with care it becomes a dish of high completeness. At JFWF 2024 he presented Steamed Black Pork Jowl with Daejeong Garlic. Cooking garlic from Daejeong-eup together with black pork, he let the fragrance of the garlic seep into the juicy jowl. "Black pork is an ingredient that represents Jeju and a source of Jeju's pride," he says — and his dish was a plate holding that pride in full.

He still tries to keep learning without pause. Recently he has taken an interest in molecular gastronomy and ingredient analysis, studying with books such as Alinea and Modernist Cuisine beside him. Saying that "cooking is a profession in which knowledge accumulates through experience," he stressed to those coming after him that they should approach cooking with enjoyment rather than obligation.

Chef Lee's bucket-list item is to speak English as freely as a native speaker. It held the wish to break down the language barrier in order to gain more experience on overseas stages and exchange smoothly with a wide range of people.

At JFWF 2024 Chef Lee placed his weight not simply on using Jeju ingredients but on conveying feeling to his guests. For him cooking was, in the end, sincerity turned toward people. If a plate of food remains as someone's memory, and that memory touches the landscape of Jeju again, that is the finest result Chef Lee dreams of. Today too he is quietly building his own path in the kitchen as "a cook who moves hearts with the taste of Jeju."

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Born and raised on Jeju, Chef Lim Seo-hyung met the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024) with a particular feeling. This event was not simply a place to present cooking but a precious opportunity to make Jeju's food known and to exchange thinking with a range of chefs. For a Jeju native, reinterpreting the flavours of home and introducing them to other chefs and to an audience carried great meaning. Following the JFWF 2019 gala dinner and participation in JFWF 2022 online content, this was her first time as a garden dinner chef communicating with a larger audience, and she took it on with all the greater responsibility and anticipation.

What led her onto the chef's path happened in New York. Chef Lim had originally studied Korean cuisine in a traditional cookery department, then studied traditional Korean food more deeply at the Institute of Royal Court Cuisine, and was naturally considering a path toward teaching or research. But while studying at culinary school in New York, taking part as a volunteer in food-related events and experiencing stages at renowned restaurants changed her thinking. Three months at the world-famous restaurant Per Se in particular were a turning point. Witnessing directly how one chef's philosophy defines the character of an entire restaurant, she resolved to unfold Jeju's food through a philosophy of her own.

The figure Chef Lim respects most was Chef Alan Wong. They first met and formed a connection at the first Jeju Food & Wine Festival, and that connection later extended to Hawaii. During a period when she was thinking deeply about the identity of Jeju food, she stayed a month in Hawaii and spent time with Chef Alan Wong. The founder of Pacific Rim Cuisine, he created creative and original dishes grounded in Hawaiian ingredients and made Hawaiian food known to the world. On the basis of this experience she came to hold the conviction that she wanted to make Jeju cooking, using Jeju ingredients, known.

At JFWF 2024 Chef Lim presented Jeju Hanwoo Hanger Steak Marinated in Fish Sauce. Adding eoganjang, a traditional fermented sauce, to the rich meaty aroma of Jeju hanwoo, it was a dish of deep, concentrated savour. She served seasonal vegetables alongside so that the flavours of Jeju's soil and sea would come into harmony within a single plate. "Jeju hanwoo and eoganjang are the most symbolic combination for showing the strength of Jeju's land," she explained.

A particularly memorable moment came during the years she ran a one-table restaurant. The world-renowned chef Gaggan Anand made a booking — and the day before, a record typhoon struck and the entire area lost power. The refrigerator and the lights all stopped, and only the gas range remained as a hope. She lit candles, stood in the kitchen, and reworked each available ingredient to compose a menu. Amid the tension she calmly completed the food, and fortunately the guest fell deeply for the appeal of Jeju's cooking. After the meal Chef Gaggan expressed his thanks, saying, "Not losing its light even in a situation like this is exactly the power of food." In that moment she was able to confirm again a chef's unwavering posture in a crisis, and her pride in Jeju's food.

Chef Lim's bucket-list item was world travel. She wanted to meet new countries, new foods and new ingredients and gain a wider field of view. Her wish to communicate with the world through cooking will one day lead to another bridge running from Jeju out to the world.

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Chef Jeon Se-gye leads Île de Cheongdam, the restaurant in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul. Taking the stage of the 9th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2024), he said: "A place like an island always holds a new story. Discovering that story on Jeju is the greatest meaning of this festival." As the name Île suggests, he has always been interested in the relationship between islands and ingredients. For someone who has explored the produce of many of Korea's island regions, Jeju is not simply a destination but an inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Chef Jeon noted that the image Île de Cheongdam holds and the direction it pursues aligned well with the concept of JFWF 2024, and that it would be a meaningful occasion and a good experience for him as a chef. Captivated by the distinctive ecosystems and ingredients that islands hold, he has unfolded them in his cooking at Île de Cheongdam. "Île means island in French. We often use produce from Korea's island regions, and we have a great deal of interest in it. This time I wanted to broaden my understanding of Jeju's local ingredients and, through exchange with local producers and people in the industry, work toward better development."

He has a particular memory connected with Jeju too. "I once stayed on Jeju for three months. During the day I hiked along the oreum, and in the evening I spent my time fishing. It was the most peaceful period of my life so far." For him Jeju is not simply a place to travel but a space that restores balance and calm to life.

At JFWF 2024 he completed a particular dish that drew great attention: Jeju Agar Seaweed. With umutgasari agar seaweed lifted from the Jeju sea at its centre, he served a range of pickled ingredients alongside in order to express its flavour more deeply and in more dimensions. The ingredients used were dried agar seaweed, Jeju horned turban conch, pickled aubergine, pickled beetroot, pickled kelp and pickled celery, each carefully tuned for its own taste and texture. The dried agar seaweed condenses the savour and sea aroma distinctive to seaweed, while the pickled aubergine, beetroot, kelp and celery add their own colour and texture to breathe flavour into the dish. "Agar seaweed is one of the ingredients that best shows the identity the Jeju sea holds. Combined with pickled vegetables, the scent of the sea and the texture of the land come into harmony on a single plate."

Chef Jeon explained that through this dish he sought to express Jeju's sea and land, and the time and care held within them, on a single plate.

Among cooking tools the one he favours most is the knife. In his cooking, grounded in Japanese method, the knife is the most honest tool of all. "A knife isn't simply a tool for cutting an ingredient — it's a medium that connects the ingredient and the chef's sensibility directly." The book he keeps beside him is likewise Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, which explores the essence of cooking. Dealing with science and aesthetics at once, it adds depth to his work.

Chef Jeon's bucket list is clear. "I want to move into overseas markets." On the themes of islands, the sea and seafood, he intends to widen his stage to the world and make Korea's ingredients known within global gastronomy.

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Standing on the stage of the 10th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025), Chef Kim Jae-seon carried more than the responsibility of representing a single hotel — he carried a sense of mission as an ambassador for Jeju's culinary culture. "This festival was more than an occasion to make our hotel's name known," he said. "It was a chance to look again at the abundance this land called Jeju possesses." The project, which involved every chef in the hotel, was not simply a collaboration but a "story of Jeju" completed as one team. Throughout the preparation period he went to the market at dawn each day with the younger chefs to choose seasonal produce by hand, and in conversation with growers he relearned the vitality that lives inside an ingredient.

Chef Kim recalled that during the years he worked in Seoul and elsewhere, he rarely had the chance to handle Jeju ingredients directly. "Once I actually came to Jeju and started cooking with them, my affection for their taste and aroma deepened. The greatest reward is knowing that when I use Jeju ingredients wholeheartedly, I can leave guests from the mainland with a fine impression of this island." He prepared three amuse-bouches and a dessert, arranging each component with care so that even a single small bite would carry the sense of Jeju.

The first dish, St. Isidol Ranch Bocconcini, was built from garlic and garlic scapes grown in Jeju's clean fields, together with fresh mozzarella from St. Isidol Ranch. "Mozzarella tastes different depending on the air and the humidity of the day," Chef Kim explained — just as Jeju's nature wears a different expression at every moment, food too changes within the temperature and wind of a given day. The dish stood as a symbol of Jeju's purity and delicacy.

The second dish, Jeju Gueom Chicken, drew out the distinctive flavour of Jeju's native fowl. The chip made from chicken stock and the rillettes made from its meat were not merely an emphasis on the taste of chicken; they were an attempt to reinterpret the roots of a Jeju food culture carried across generations. "Gueom chicken is an ingredient that holds Jeju's time and memory," he said, seeking new possibility inside tradition. For this dish Chef Kim visited local farms repeatedly to see the rearing conditions himself, and worked with the producers to bring out the savoury depth particular to Gueom chicken.

The third dish, Croaker Marinated in Jeju Beets, emphasised the harmony of colour and aroma. The vivid crimson of honey-cured Jeju beetroot echoed the island's soil and sunlight, while the tender croaker held the calm grain of the sea. The contrast in texture where the two met, and the subtle sweetness between them, expressed the dual charm of Jeju as a place. "Food is not simply something you eat," he said. "The story begins the moment you see it." Within a single plate he wanted to deliver visual feeling and gustatory depth together.

The final offering, Cara Mandarin Mousse with Jeju Apple Mango, formed the festival's luminous finale. "I wanted to leave a good impression of Jeju, so among the seasonal citrus I chose Cara mandarin, the sweetest of them all. I added Jeju apple mango at the height of its season, so that the feeling would remain right through to the last moment of dessert." The bright fragrance of the Cara mandarin met the sweetness of the apple mango, and each mouthful seemed to carry Jeju's sunlight. He called this dessert "a dish of gratitude." "A festival is, in the end, made by human hands. It was a dessert like a tribute — to Jeju's farmers, its fishermen, its producers, and to every cook in the hotel."

Chef Kim also said the festival taught him a great deal through exchange with other chefs. "We connected quickly through the shared language of food. A single plate became a bridge. Cooking is never completed alone. Safety and hygiene are the baseline, but a dish is only finished when there is a heart turned toward people. The view held in the heart matters more than the technique in the fingertips." For Chef Kim Jae-seon, the Jeju Food & Wine Festival was not merely an event but a field of cultural exchange mediated by cooking.

His ultimate dream is simple and warm. "Someday I'd like to build a small farm somewhere on Jeju. To grow the ingredients myself, cook with them, and spend that time sharing with guests. That is the final form of cooking that I dream about." As he says, cooking is a journey without end. And at the centre of that journey, Jeju has always stood.

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Taking the stage at the 10th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025), Chef Kim Jae-hoon put it briefly: "To cook with Jeju ingredients is to hold Jeju's air and time along with them." He went on: "I was grateful to be invited and to be able to cook, and I gave it everything. In the course of gastronomy's development, the very fact that this event has continued for ten years carries great meaning. I hope it goes on for twenty years, even a hundred."

As his words suggest, the festival was not simply an exchange of cooking but a place where the identity of a region and the sensibility of a chef intersected. In preparing for this stage, Chef Kim set understanding Jeju's ingredients as his foremost aim. "On the mainland it isn't easy to obtain good Jeju produce. So this time I wanted to see for myself how those ingredients are distributed, and by what process they reach the table." For Chef Kim, Jeju's ingredients were not merely materials but "the origin of flavour" and "a record of time." Reading the environment in which an ingredient grew alongside the story of its land is his method.

The dish he presented was Jeju Red-Banded Lobster with Horseradish Cream. "Red-banded lobster is an ingredient that represents the sea around Jeju. To preserve its raw, fresh quality I prepared it cold, and paired it with a horseradish cream whose heat seeps in gently, along with a bisque sauce made from the lobster itself. Nasturtium and pickles finish the palate cleanly." He spoke of an unusual affection for Jeju produce. "I think Jeju's ingredients are special even within Korea. Beyond the red-banded lobster there is truly excellent seafood and a wide range of agricultural produce here. Among them, the red-banded lobster is one of Jeju's signature ingredients, so I felt it was the one I could express most deliciously."

The colours on the plate were simple, but the structure was exacting. The firm grain of the lobster met the soft texture of the cream in contrast, while a faint scent of lemon zest lingered afterwards. A small quantity of dill oil and finely grated citrus peel built the layers of aroma. Visually it was completed with a plating that echoed the curve of a gentle wave, and at the first spoonful the salinity, the acidity and then the lingering heat of the cream arrived in sequence. "There are two things I consider most important when I make food. First, that it be genuinely delicious. Second, that although the ingredient is familiar, it should feel new at least once. That, I think, is what a chef must do."

"Cooking," he says, "is not a combination of ingredients but a tuning of the senses." To reveal oneself without clashing with the others — that subtle rhythm is the core of Chef Kim's cooking. He adjusts the balance of temperature and seasoning so that the sweetness of the lobster is not submerged beneath the heat of the cream, and refines the consistency of the sauce finely so that it does not interfere with texture.

The figure he respects is Chef Hiroshi Manaka, from the restaurant where he worked in Australia. "He taught me not only cooking but attitude. He always reminded me that cooking is, in the end, something people do. I try to work with my team in the same happy spirit." Perfectionism and humour coexist in his kitchen. Even amid intense service, the laughter among colleagues never stops. "Without the pleasure of being together, cooking becomes dull. A kitchen is not a battlefield — it's a place where each person's colour gathers to complete a palette."

His expression brightened most when he spoke about Jeju. "The view of Seongsan Ilchulbong always settles my mind. Cooking is connected, in the end, to the state of one's heart. When I see nature as quiet and solid as Jeju's, I return to where I started." For Chef Kim Jae-hoon, cooking is not technique but attitude — a mirror that reflects the self. "A chef should be a person who holds questions rather than certainties." A tension of inquiry always runs through his kitchen. For him cooking is endless research and a conversation with himself, and ultimately a process of completing who he is.

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Chef Louis Han regarded the 10th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025) not as mere participation in an event but as another journey given to him. "In 2019, while I was working at Meta in Singapore, I took part in JFWF as a member of the team. That experience was so vivid that I always wanted to come back someday. This time I'm standing here representing the restaurant I founded and run myself, so it feels quite different." He spoke with a quiet smile — a smile holding both the humility of not forgetting where he began and the confidence of a chef who has matured. "Six years ago I came as a sous chef; this time I returned as the chef, which made it a truly precious experience. It was a joy to prepare dishes and communicate alongside the students."

This stage was also a point connecting his past and present — the moment when a culinary journey that began in Singapore was completed once more on the particular island of Jeju in Korea. "There's an energy specific to this place in Jeju's air, its light and its ingredients. That gives me the inspiration to look at cooking anew." He describes Jeju as "the best teacher a chef could have."

At JFWF 2025 he presented Abalone with Rempah Potato. "For this dish I cooked Korean abalone slowly to bring out a tender texture. I served it with a range of vegetables — Jeju asparagus, onion and potato — and finished it with a butter sauce using rempah, a Singaporean spice paste." He wanted to use as much Jeju produce as possible. "Since the event takes place on Jeju, I wanted to express this island's fine agricultural produce in a new way. Jeju abalone is springy with a deep sweetness, and when it meets the varied spices of the rempah sauce — lemongrass, galangal, turmeric — the flavour comes alive."

Chef Louis Han explained that the rempah butter sauce is a somewhat unfamiliar combination of spices in Korea, but with butter and a touch of acidity it creates an entirely different appeal. "Eaten with the sauce, the springy texture of the abalone and the crispness of the potato and vegetables come together, completing a harmony of savouriness and creaminess." He described this contrast as "the point where Singapore's vitality meets Jeju's honesty."

At the festival he treasured the time spent sharing philosophies with fellow Korean chefs. "Conversation with other chefs is always stimulating. I also wanted my team to experience Jeju's food culture and ingredients directly. Touching an ingredient, smelling it, feeling its texture with your fingertips — that's study you can't get from books."

Asked what led him to become a chef, he said: "From childhood I loved creating new things. What drew me was that through this profession I could make people happy." Researching the food cultures of many countries, he came to understand the importance of attitude over technique, and sensibility over knowledge. Of Chef Ahn Sung-jae at MOSU, with whom he worked before Nae:um, he recalled: "His attention to detail and level of finish became the standard for my own culinary philosophy."

His favourite ingredients are spring onion and onion. "They're basic, but they let you build deep layers of flavour. They're the most honest taste for holding an ingredient's flow together." Because Chef Louis Han trusts the power of these fundamental ingredients, he places equal weight on solid fundamentals in method. He handles nearly all his cooking on a single French top, drawing out the essence of an ingredient in its most natural form.

What he loves most about Jeju is the sea and the volcanic rock terrain. "The colour of Jeju's sea, the texture of its stone, the smell of its wind — they stimulate my senses as a cook." He particularly recommends black pork and grilled abalone. "Abalone holds the memory of the sea; black pork holds the scent of the land."

To aspiring chefs he offers this advice: "Don't lose your focus, and protect your identity." For him this Jeju Food & Wine Festival was not simply a festival but a journey back to his beginnings, refining himself once more. "Not forgetting the first intention, and continuing to make new paths — that is my goal as a chef."

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On the stage of the 10th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025), Chef Bang Ki-su presented an aesthetic of Korean cuisine grown deeper still. For him the event was not a mere festival but the work of translating into food the time and the stories this land called Jeju holds. "Jeju has always been a land of gratitude to me. The ingredients here have a different vitality, and the people hold a humble attitude toward them." In Chef Bang's voice was the reverence learned across long years of cooking.

He named direct experience of Jeju's ingredients and connection with their producers as the most precious part of taking part. Seeing and feeling for himself the seaweed and abalone the haenyeo divers gather from the sea, and the winter radish grown in volcanic soil, gave him fresh inspiration. "Jeju is not simply an island of ingredients — it is an ecosystem in itself, made where people and nature coexist. From a chef's point of view, Jeju ingredients are like welcome rain. Not only the abalone I used today but the beef and the vegetables — everything that comes from Jeju always gives us a gift like treasure."

Chef Bang recalled his time at the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival in 2013 and 2014. "That experience made me look again at 'myself as a cook.' Chefs from different cultures interpreted local ingredients in many ways, but the shared philosophy was one: a heart that respects the ingredient." That experience became the driving force behind the cooking he presented on the Jeju stage, attuned to the rhythm of the natural world.

The first dish, Steamed Abalone with Seaweed Porridge, expressed the scent of the sea in its purest form. Live Jeju abalone was steamed gently at low temperature to preserve intact its characteristic springy texture and deep savour. Enriched with geu-u (abalone innards) and seaweed, the dish held the temperature and the breath of a clean sea just as they are. "Abalone is a precious ingredient and a symbol of Jeju. To keep from losing its texture and aroma, I minimised every stage of cooking." He regarded abalone not simply as a product of the sea but as a presence that inspires the chef.

The second dish, Jeju Black Beef Sirloin Grill, was a bowl holding the energy of the land. Top-grade black beef prepared specially for the event was aged, then seasoned with a soy sauce he makes himself. To maximise the flavour of this exceptionally savoury beef, he adjusted the strength of the fire and the timing with precision. "Black beef is a complete ingredient in itself. Rather than adding artificial flavour, I think my role is to open up its character with fire and time." He served the beef with grilled deodeok root, Jeju onion, baek-kimchi and a fresh-tossed geotjeori to add layers of taste. "The more you chew, the more the nutty flavour of the black beef comes through, and it meets the slight bitterness of the deodeok, the acidity of the baek-kimchi and the freshness of the geotjeori. With wine it becomes a truly perfect combination." Within a single piece of meat, the scent of Jeju's fields and the touch of human hands had dissolved together.

When composing a dish, Chef Bang often thinks of the soybean. For him the soybean is more than an ingredient. "Soybeans don't draw attention, but they form the foundation of all Korean cooking. Doenjang, ganjang, gochujang — they are the starting point of all those flavours. I always respect them as a presence that holds the centre of flavour from somewhere unseen." Even within Jeju's air and sea scent, he considers how to make the clean flavour of the soybean shine. Only when the saltiness of the sea, the sweetness of the land and the quiet taste of the soybean meet, he says, is "balance" completed. His favourite cooking tool is the pressure cooker. Where most chefs regulate their cooking by the feel of the flame, he concentrates on the rhythm of time that a pressure cooker holds. "A pressure cooker is more honest than fire. Because it maintains a constant temperature and pressure, it reveals the nature of the ingredient better than the cook's hand does. Watching a tough ingredient turn tender is like watching the cycle of nature." He regards even a cooking tool as part of nature, valuing the meaning of the process above technique.

Chef Bang said that through this JFWF he once again returned to first principles. "Cooking must, in the end, face toward people. If I can return the inspiration and gratitude I received on Jeju to my guests, that's the greatest reward a chef can have." As he says, the cooking Chef Bang unfolded on the Jeju stage was a bridge joining nature, people and heart. Through food he shaped Jeju's time and memory once more, and that moment remained not as mere food but as a form of story and gratitude.

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On the stage of the 10th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025), Chef Xu Kun Lei held "the essence of Ningbo cooking" and "the purity of Jeju ingredients" within a single bowl. "Yong Fu's cooking does not simply convey the taste of China," he said. "It is a language that makes a region's sentiment and history understood. At this event I wanted to combine Ningbo's delicate technique with Jeju's fresh ingredients — to show how the culinary cultures of two regions can be brought into harmony."

For him Jeju was not merely a venue but "an island of inspiration." "Jeju's ingredients are fresh and full of energy. The distinctive flavour made by its wind, soil and sunlight resembles the seas of southern China, yet has an entirely different grain." Beyond presenting his own cooking, this stage allowed him to learn through collaboration with other chefs. "An event with this many different chefs isn't easy, but we were able to respect each other's methods and work together. I drew a great deal of inspiration from the other chefs' philosophies too. It was a place where we could grow together."

For the gala dinner he prepared three Chinese dishes, sourcing every ingredient directly from Jeju. "The most important thing in making good food is the ingredient. Fresh produce is the beginning of every dish."

The first dish, Complex Flavor Yellow Croaker, is an aromatic croaker preparation pursuing a harmony of layered tastes, characterised by crisply fried wild yellow croaker coated in a sweet-and-sour sauce. The second, Handmade Fish Cake, is made by grinding croaker flesh finely, adding aromatics, steaming it and then frying it once more to complete the texture. Within the fine-grained fish cake sits a gentle savour tuned with cheongju, mihyang, sugar and salt, lifted by sweet peas served alongside. The last was Crunchy Radish, a refreshing side dish that preserves the firm texture of Jeju white radish and adds depth with fragrant oil and pickled chilli. The radish, cut into bite-sized pieces, is matured in the pickling sauce for at least eight hours to maximise its characteristic sweetness and crunch.

Chef Xu Kun Lei's culinary philosophy is "the aesthetics of essence." He values the purity of an ingredient and harmonious balance over complex technique. "The essence of cooking lies in the ingredient itself. The chef is merely an assistant who draws out its potential. You must not over-decorate the flavour — you must let the ingredient speak naturally." This philosophy is also why he calls cooking "a conversation without sound." Between ingredient, chef and guest there flows a communion that needs no language.

Chef Xu believes cooking resembles the person who makes it, and reflects their character. In his kitchen, attitude matters more than technique, and sincerity more than speed. To complete "the most precise plate" he concentrates on every moment as though recording it. He remembers the temperature of the flame, the breath of the ingredient, even the sensation in his fingertips, repeating the same movements hundreds of times a day. That is not simple labour but a discipline and a philosophy. "Cooking must not be shaken by the day's condition or mood," he says. "Even the same dish should be completed with fresh care each time."

He names as the figure he most respects Ambassador Yeung Koon Yat (杨贯一), the Hong Kong master of abalone cookery. "He was not simply a chef of outstanding technique — he was someone who proved a whole life through the art of cooking." From him Chef Xu learned "the weight of a single bowl": that a plate is not merely the outcome of a meal but a world in which a chef's life and attitude are condensed. So each time he presents a new dish he asks himself, "Does this dish resemble my character?" A philosophy beyond technique, a respect beyond ingredients, and a harmony of tradition and the contemporary — that is the essence of the cooking he pursues.

"Jeju is a clean and quiet island. Cooking here purifies the mind and fills you with new energy." Through Jeju's ingredients he felt again human humility and the origin of cooking. For him cooking is ultimately "learning from nature" — joining the flow of ingredients, the cycle of the seasons and the human heart into one. Without unnecessary ornament, completed only through flavour and balance, his plate leaves a quiet but powerful resonance, like an old poem.

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Invited to the Jeju Food & Wine Festival for the first time, Chef Aaron Silverman described it as "a festival where a new culture and gastronomy meet." "I think I speak to the world through food. When that language meets another country's table, an entirely new story is born. My wife is Korean-American. When I visited Korea for the first time last year, I fell for the food, the people and their warmth. The moment I heard about the invitation to the Jeju Food & Wine Festival, I accepted without hesitation."

Calling Jeju "an island where nature and flavour converse," he said he regards this visit as a new chapter in his life. "The ingredients were truly excellent. Cooking with Jeju produce, I think everything came out far better than usual. And the students who worked with me were remarkable. They worked so hard, they were kind, and they helped enormously. Without them I couldn't have done it. I'm genuinely grateful."

At the gala dinner Chef Silverman presented The Pork and Lychee Salad — a signature dish that has never once left the menu since he opened his restaurant twelve years ago. More than a million portions have been served to date, and it is built from some twenty ingredients including pork sausage, lychee, coconut and habanero. "The most delicious way is to mix everything together like Korean bibimbap," he said, laughing.

On the Jeju stage he reinterpreted this recipe with Jeju ingredients, using Jeju black pork and Udo peanuts as the main components to bring out the local flavour. "Jeju black pork has a deep flavour without being salty, and Udo peanuts are crisp with an outstanding nutty aroma — they make a wonderful match." The black pork was cooked slowly at low temperature to hold its juices, then given brightness with a lychee purée and lime vinaigrette. Finally, coconut chips and coriander leaves completed a balance of Asian aromatics. "Coconut is my favourite ingredient. When that aroma enters a dish, the food softens — and so does the expression on the face of the person eating it."

The lychee salad was not simply a fusion dish but the work that best demonstrates the "cooking of emotion" Chef Silverman pursues. He values "emotional connection" above the combination of ingredients. The softness of coconut stands for warmth, the acidity of lime for vitality, the deep flavour of black pork for stability. Within that contrast, he believes, cooking is ultimately a tuning of emotions.

"The ingredients on this island are fresh and their aromas are distinct. Even seafood from the same waters differs subtly in scent and texture. Every time I notice that difference it fascinates me." Chef Silverman said he felt anew how alive and varied Jeju's ingredients are.

He also placed great meaning on exchange with the other chefs. "A chef can't grow alone. Trading perspectives and learning new ideas is the essence of this work. I learned a great deal from the chefs I met at this festival too." He stressed that "joining person to person" through cooking is a chef's true role. The figures he respects most are "all the grandmothers of Italy and Korea." "There's love in their cooking. Cooking for family, taking the time, putting care into it — that heart is the essence of cooking." Reinterpreting a grandmother's touch with contemporary technique, he has made "cooking for people" his lifelong subject.

On the last day of the festival, looking out at the sunset over a Jeju beach, he said: "Cooking is, in the end, connection. Even when the language differs, laughter and flavour get through. This time on Jeju was a gift that let me feel that again." For him this stage was not merely a festival but a journey that confirmed once more that gastronomy is a language joining human hearts.

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At the 10th Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025), Chef Lee Ji-myung looked forward to the work of unfolding his own language of dessert across the space of Jeju. "I received the invitation as a fine opportunity, and as a hotel pastry chef I had a strong desire to create a new dessert using Jeju's excellent ingredients. Although I work as a pastry chef, I think it's an important part of a chef's role not to be confined to dessert alone but to work freely across varied ingredients and methods, expanding the field. Taking inspiration from Jeju's abundant nature, I wanted to render its appeal as dessert."

His hopes for JFWF 2025 were equally clear. "I want to see the many dishes chefs draw out of Jeju's ingredients, and to learn and exchange the philosophies and stories held within them. Experiencing the taste of Jeju interpreted through each person's individuality and perspective will be a great inspiration to me, and I think this stage will remain meaningful throughout my cooking life."

At the festival he presented a dessert titled Jeju Earth and Fruit. "It's a dessert about the earth and fruit of Jeju Island. I wanted to express the particular air, colour and soil texture of nature that I felt here." Instead of citrus, the fruit most people associate with Jeju, he combined mushroom, ginger, pear and citrus aroma to represent Jeju's earth and fruit symbolically. "The part holding the scent of earth I made with a mushroom flavour, and for the part representing fruit I used Jeju ginger and pear. I hoped guests would experience a new sensation available only on Jeju."

The dessert was visually original as well. The surface was formed into a rounded shape resembling a mushroom, with the components concealed beneath so as not to be seen. "Jeju has many hidden, appealing ingredients. So I made this dessert something you can enjoy like a treasure hunt. When you break the top, the cream and sorbet hidden inside are revealed, and you can taste many different combinations of your own making." He described the experience as "a process of exploring Jeju's nature through flavour."

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Taking the stage at this year's Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025), Chef Jeon Seong-bin said he felt "excitement and responsibility at once." "JFWF is an event I'd wanted to take part in for a long time. When the invitation came, I thought — this time I absolutely have to do it." In his voice were the pleasure of a challenge and genuine feeling. "It was a meaningful time for me, meeting many different chefs on Jeju and having the chance to work alongside student chefs. My sincere congratulations on the tenth anniversary."

The main course he presented at the gala dinner was Jeju Hanwoo Sirloin with Barley Risotto and Laver Sauce. To maximise the nutty flavour of Jeju beef he grilled it at a higher temperature than usual. "Jeju sirloin was leaner but far nuttier than the beef I normally use. I wanted to bring out that quality." To lift the flavour of the meat he added the aromas of seaweed and seafood. Laver sauce set the base, and the risotto was completed with barley, water dropwort and finely chopped trim from the sirloin. Alongside came a sauce blending aubergine skin and meoljeot anchovy sauce, and a rice congee sauce. "Jeju has a strong image of seafood. So I composed it so you could enjoy meat and seafood together. Just as you serve a fermented sauce with meat on Jeju, I wanted it to come together naturally."

Chef Jeon paid attention to the "way of eating together" in Korean food culture. "In Korea we eat a little at a time from many side dishes on one table. I composed my dish the same way, so you can feel a range of flavours and textures within a single plate." The salinity of the laver sauce lifted the flavour of the meat, while the meoljeot and rice sauce carried the direction of savouriness alongside it. His cooking was more than a single meal — it was the result of finely tuning the balance of texture, aroma and temperature.

Asked what led him to become a chef, he said plainly: "I loved eating from a young age. Choosing to be a cook came naturally." It sounds like a simple beginning, but it reveals his sincerity. "To do something you love for a long time, that work has to make you stronger in the end," he says. After choosing cooking he set out to become not simply "someone who makes tasty food" but someone who expresses human memory and emotion through it. Over time, that choice turned into a journey to find "his own language."

The figure he most respects is Chef Kang Min-goo of Mingles. "I learned a great deal working with him. His passion and focus for cooking, and the way he moves toward a goal, still push me now." He says he learned "attitude over technique" from Chef Kang. "There's no single right answer in cooking, but sincerity always gets through. He always showed that in person." Chef Jeon still asks himself: "Can sincerity be felt in the cooking I'm doing now?" That question is the force that steadies his beginnings each day as he picks up the knife.

He named the oyster as his favourite ingredient. "Actually, I can't eat raw oysters. But depending on the method they become an entirely different texture and taste. The ingredient I disliked most became the one I use most often, because the process of creating that change is so interesting." He sees the oyster not simply as a product of the sea but as "an ingredient of transformation." "A cooked oyster has a warm sweetness, and smoking deepens the flavour. A chilled oyster, on the other hand, holds the scent of the sea just as it is."

He doesn't settle on a single cookbook. "All my cookbooks are worn out. I read the same book many times. As your skill accumulates, the same sentence reads differently." He regards books not as "answer sheets" but as "tools of conversation." Sometimes he takes a new interpretation from a classic; sometimes a single sentence inspires a new dish. "There are times when a sentence you didn't understand at first unravels naturally at your fingertips later. That's what keeps me learning to cook."

Chef Jeon said this JFWF gave him time to look again at the essence of cooking. "Jeju always gives new stimulus. That experience will be a great strength in my cooking to come." He intends to keep moving steadily forward, making food that begins with the ingredient and is completed in memory.

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Chef Choi Ji-hyung, who leads Ribangbang (李北方) — a restaurant combining North Korean–style sundae with contemporary cooking — took part in the 10th Jeju Food & Wine Festival and extended his own world of "northern Korean cuisine" onto the Jeju stage. "Jeju's ingredients are excellent in themselves. But the greater significance lies in how you look at them, and how you respect them. An ingredient is not simply a regional product; it holds a person's life and memory within it." With these words he translated the story of this land into his own philosophy.

Throughout the preparation period Chef Choi went round the markets himself and visited farms and fishing villages. Feeling with his fingertips the wild greens on the slopes of Hallasan, the winter radish of Jocheon-eup, the cabbage of Daejeong-eup — Jeju's ingredients across four seasons — he spent time in conversation with them. "Jeju isn't merely a storehouse of ingredients; it's a land holding human warmth." Every time he handled an ingredient, a new memory overlaid it. The sounds of cooking from the kitchen of his childhood, his grandmother's fingertips as she prepared ingredients — all those scenes overlapped with his present self and made him consider again the original form of cooking.

The first dish, Temple Style Jeju Cabbage Dish, was the work in which Chef Choi's inner life and philosophy showed most clearly. "I was raised by my grandmother, and my family was strongly influenced by Buddhism. Temple food was familiar to me." Beginning from that memory, he applied temple methods to create a cabbage dish. Excluding the five pungent vegetables and all animal ingredients, he expressed the texture and sweetness of cabbage in multiple layers. Grilling it, making it into a purée, blanching it to wrap like a thin skin — he added varied experiments in texture to realise "depth within simplicity." "With cabbage set clearly as the subject, I wanted to express the essence of temple food — its plainness and restraint — using Jeju's fine ingredients. A dish that is modest yet has presence: that was the heart of this food." And then, laughing: "This is a dish I made with my pride on the line." In that laugh was the certainty gained at the end of long inquiry.

The second dish, Pyongando Style Mandu Soup with Jeju Black Pork and Winter Radish, showed Ribangbang's identity in its warmest form. "I based it on the mandu recipe I learned from my grandmother, adapting the Pyongan-do method slightly. With Jeju radish and black pork it's a thicker form, with the bite kept alive," he explained. Pyongan-do mandu are large and generous. The clean filling that fills the mouth and the deep flavour of the broth stand for "the warmth of the north." He added the sweetness of winter radish to the nutty juices of Jeju black pork to build the grain of the broth, and within a single bowl the sentiments of Jeju and the north coexisted naturally. "Food is a bridge joining region, people and the memory of generations," he added. "This mandu soup is like a symbol of that for me."

For Chef Choi, cooking is not simply the making of flavour but an art of reinterpreting time and memory. The memory of taste from childhood became the driving force that formed today's Ribangbang. "Food is, in the end, a human story. The cooking I make traces my roots, and at the same time it's a process of holding the diversity present in Korean society now." He regards the work of weaving personal memory, generational sensibility and regional feeling into one as a mission of his own. To compress the world of cooking into a single bowl, and to search for the meaning held within it — that is what he calls "the philosophy of cooking."

"Coming to Jeju always gives me new stimulus. That's not only because of the ingredients but because of the air here, the people, the passage of time. Being able to carry those sensations to my own table through cooking is the greatest fortune a chef can have." Through this Jeju Food & Wine Festival he confirmed the essence of cooking once again. During the event he held deep conversations with local chefs on the subject of ingredients. "There's a person's philosophy in a single ingredient. The real story of cooking begins in the fingertips of the farmer preparing Jeju black pork, in the sweat of the farmer growing hallabong." Cooking, he says, must in the end face toward people. JFWF 2025 was for him not simply a festival but a "journey" back to the starting point of cooking, reflecting again on its essence.

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On the stage of the Jeju Food & Wine Festival's tenth anniversary, Chef Kim Jae-hoon's face carried anticipation rather than nerves. "It's a genuine honour to take part as one member of an event this meaningful and this substantial. I'll give it everything," he said plainly. Running LUMTP on Jeju and building his own language from local ingredients, he took this stage as a new point of departure. "Jeju always returns me to my beginnings. The feeling I had when I first started cooking, the excitement of holding an ingredient in my hand — it comes alive again."

Chef Kim approached the event not with the simple idea of "using local ingredients" but with the intention of "cooking the ecosystem called Jeju." He wanted to hold within a single bowl the ingredients raised by Jeju's wind, its sunlight and its black earth. "To cook is not to cook an ingredient but to cook the time that ingredient has lived, I think. Jeju's ingredients are a narrative in themselves." The plate Chef Kim made was not simply food but a story.

The ingredient he holds dearest is mushrooms. The small mushrooms that grow in Jeju's fields and forests and beneath its shaded stone walls are, for him, the voice of nature and inspiration itself. "Mushrooms give off completely different aromas depending on the environment where they grow. Even the same species changes in flavour according to how much rain fell and how the wind blew. So you always have to look at the ground, smell it, feel the season." Through this fine sensitivity he holds the scent of Jeju in its most delicate form.

The dish Chef Kim presented was Fresh Penne Pasta with Shiitake and Conch Sausage. "With Jeju shiitake and conch as the main ingredients, I added lemon to bring out a bright acidity. Crisp breadcrumbs and soft fresh pasta come together so that you can feel Jeju's air in a single mouthful. I tuned the concentration of flavour and the texture so it could be eaten comfortably before the steak." Smiling, he added: "There are crisp breadcrumbs on top, so don't mix it — try it in one bite."

Valuing the essence of cooking, Chef Kim tends to put that essence ahead of ornate plating. At the centre of this are the fundamentals he learned from his teacher, Professor Jin Yang-ho. "He always emphasised that while understanding food matters for a chef, a correct attitude must come first." That teaching still lives in his kitchen. Through every stage — preparation, cooking, plating — he holds fast to the belief that "the completion of a plate comes from the diligence of the fingertips." This is also why, each time he handles a Jeju ingredient, he returns to his beginnings and tries to feel the grain of the land and the sea with his hands.

At the close of the event Chef Kim said: "My sincere congratulations on the tenth anniversary of the Jeju Food & Wine Festival. I'll work hard so that I can be invited again at the twentieth — I'll keep cooking on Jeju and grow into a chef who makes the appeal of Jeju's ingredients known." Chef Kim's cooking remains very much "in progress." Every day on Jeju is a new attempt, and each plate records Jeju's today.

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In the spring of 2025, amid the heat of the Jeju Food & Wine Festival, Chef Park Jun-woo drew in the air of the site after a long absence and smiled. "This place called Jeju always excites me. To cook on this land where the enclosure of an island and the openness of nature coexist is to wake senses that had gone dull." For him JFWF 2025 was not simply a food festival but a time of meeting ingredients, a place of exchanging people and experience, and a stage on which to confirm his own culinary world once more.

"Jeju's ingredients are always fresh, but I feel that the freshness comes not simply from 'the condition of the ingredient' but from 'Jeju's particular air.' That's a sensation you can only know by standing here." The menu he chose after long deliberation was Jeju Black Beef Sirloin with Asparagus Cream and Canola Flower Pickle — a dish bringing together the rich meaty aroma particular to Jeju black beef, asparagus as a symbol of spring, and the canola flowers that fill Jeju's fields. "This time I unfolded Jeju ingredients in the French manner. The composition may feel unfamiliar, but the process is very simple. Looking at the recipe, you could easily try it at home." It was an attempt to keep Jeju produce as the protagonist while revealing its inherent flavour more clearly through French method.

"I wanted to hold Jeju's colour and aroma, and the temporality of the season, within a single plate. The freshness of the canola wraps the weighty flavour of the black beef, and the asparagus cream completes the texture of spring." His cooking is always composed in layers of sensation. It is not simply a combination of flavours but a linking of colour, temperature and texture as though in conversation. The texture of the black beef as it grills in the pan, the colour the cooked asparagus produces, the balance of acidity the pickle provides — every one of those moments forms a single natural line of a sentence. "Cooking is an art both improvised and systematic. Just as a conversation is completed through emotion and grammar, cooking is completed through the balance of flavour and aroma, texture and temperature." For Chef Park, cooking is a way of conversing with the world through the harmony of the senses.

A gastronomic columnist and traveller before working as a chef, he continually reinterprets in the kitchen the sensibility he gained from seeing and feeling the world's varied food cultures. "Every time I cook I recall the air of that country, the lives of those people. Cooking is, in the end, 'a language of empathy.'" Because he majored in cooking and wine at the Paris culinary school Ferrandi, he feels most settled when recalling French recipes and wine pairings. "When I think about French ingredients and regional wines, it makes me happy. Memories from there remind me of where my cooking began." For him French cooking and wine are the sensory source that revives the warmth of memory.

"For me, cooking comes less from a chef's individuality or the desire for self-realisation than from a persuasive context. That's exactly why I still keep the basic textbooks I learned from at culinary school in France beside me. Tradition and fundamentals don't change. Trends look brilliant, but they're hard to make last." Through this festival he reflected once again on "the value of the classical."

Throughout the event the chef never lost an ease like Jeju's wind. He tasted other chefs' dishes with admiration, and his eyes brightened in conversation with younger chefs. "A cook is also a profession of constant study. The moment you feel you've acquired most of the knowledge you need, the things you have to learn afresh pile up like a mountain." Of the tenth-anniversary event he offered sincere congratulations: "For a food-related event to continue for ten years is never easy. I hope it can go on for twenty years, thirty."

JFWF was for him not simply a festival but a time to look back at a chef's first intentions. "It's been fifteen years since I made cooking my work, but I still try not to forget the tension of completing my first recipe." That tension returns each time he opens the door of Aux Petits Verres.

"Aux Petits Verres means 'small glasses' in French. Inside those glasses is my culinary philosophy. Cooking that is transparent, honest, and can be shared with everyone. That's the gastronomy I aim for." On that day when Jeju's wind was blowing, Chef Park Jun-woo's cooking shone like a clear glass. His food was not art to be appreciated with the eyes alone but something like "Jeju's air," felt with all five senses.

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In the spring of 2025, standing on the stage of the 10th Jeju Food & Wine Festival, Chef Yoo Byung-geon showed the passion of a young cook. This event was not simple participation but "a special stage in his hometown." "As someone born and raised on Jeju, the Jeju Food & Wine Festival holds particular meaning for me. This festival is a place where I can introduce the taste and aroma of my home to the public." Through this stage he reflected again on his identity as a Jeju cook.

Growing up on Jeju, he naturally remembered the tilefish, hairtail and top shells his mother prepared and cooked. "Back then it was simply the scene at the table, but thinking about it now, all of it was the beginning of cooking." That memory remains in the way he approaches cooking: that "cooking is a way of care and love, taking good ingredients and setting them on the table." For Chef Yoo, cooking was sincerity. The ingredients his mother prepared in childhood and the scenes at that table remained naturally in his memory and became the philosophy he holds today.

The dish Chef Yoo presented was Jeju Tilefish Kumquat Toast. "Using tilefish — the fish that comes to mind when you think of Jeju — and fragrant seasonal kumquat, I prepared an aromatic toast that works well as an appetiser." The clean aroma of the tilefish and the sweet acidity of the kumquat come together in a single mouthful to convey the taste of spring. Gently cooked tilefish set on crisply toasted bread, finished with the aroma of kumquat and herbs, makes a mouthful that is clean yet full of life — a single bite carrying Jeju's spring.

Rather than dressing an ingredient up, Chef Yoo wanted to convey the story it already holds. He believes a cook's role is to choose fresh ingredients at the market, prepare them cleanly, and then cook them by the method that best brings out their flavour. Adding care and heart while thinking of the guest is his attitude toward cooking.

The teaching about cooking he received from his first mentor, Chef Park Gi-ppeum, is still the driving force of his kitchen. That learning became the foundation of the food he presents at the Jeju wine bar CAMEO.

The ingredient he holds dearest is seafood. "Seafood shows an entirely different dish depending on the freshness of the ingredient, the preparation and the method. It's an ingredient where a cook's care shows directly." His favourite tool is a mini sauce pot. "It's a tool that lets you deliver the warmth held in a plate precisely. I think the temperature of a sauce matters more than anything." The book he keeps beside him is Daniel Boulud's Letters to a Young Chef. From it he holds close the line that "technique matters for a cook, but attitude matters most."

"The reason I started cooking is simple. One day a single meal became a comfort to me. Now my work is passing that comfort on to others." For him cooking was not technique but "a heart turned toward people." Holding Jeju's wind and sea and the warmth of a single meal, his cooking was not simply food but "a language of comfort." Today too, in that language, Chef Yoo Byung-geon is gently wrapping someone's day.

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For Chef Lee Jae-min, the 2025 Jeju Food & Wine Festival was a time to look back at himself through cooking. "When I work alone the conversation stays entirely inside me, but working with other chefs I learn the world's perspective again. That feels like an expansion of cooking." Sharing the same space and the same ingredients with many chefs, he realised anew that cooking is ultimately an art of relationships.

He named "humility" as the greatest value he learned through this festival. "How you handle an ingredient, the strength of the flame, the layers of flavour — there's no single right answer to any of it. Cooking is, in the end, each person's interpretation. So I always stand in the position of someone learning." Chef Lee does not consider himself a finished cook. Rather, he wants to remain "a cook in progress," moving forward a little at a time through the daily work of the kitchen. "Food begins to change again from the moment it's completed. So a cook must not stop."

At the festival he presented Horse Meat Tartare with Doenjang Namul and Buckwheat Crackers. "Horse meat is a familiar ingredient to people from Jeju, but at the same time it's unfamiliar to outsiders. So I wanted to make food that bridges that boundary. I connected the nutty savour of Jeju doenjang, the green note of spring greens and the plainness of buckwheat into a single flow." Through this dish he sought to reveal the honesty of Jeju's ingredients.

He holds a particularly deep affection for fermented ingredients. "Doenjang, ganjang and gochujang aren't simple seasonings — they're a philosophy of time. There's waiting inside them, and inside that waiting there's life." Calling the world of fermentation "the cooking of patience," he defines the essence of the cooking he pursues as "flavour in which time and heart have accumulated." "Cooking is, in the end, a philosophy of the fingertips. How long and how honestly you can wait determines the flavour."

The tool Chef Lee uses most often in the kitchen is the knife. "A knife isn't a simple tool — it's like a brush that expresses my thinking most precisely." Each morning he hones the blade and settles his mind. For him cooking is an act of polishing the spirit, and a ritual for balancing life. The book he keeps beside him is The Food Lab. "Cooking is an art of emotion, but it's also a science. You have to be able to handle sensibility and logic together to really understand cooking." Calling the world of cooking "the crossing point of feeling and reason," he never stops experimenting.

Chef Lee also learns through conversation with guests, because he sees cooking not simply as providing food but as "a process of exchanging stories." "A foreign guest ate my food and said, 'This is Korean food I've never had anywhere else.' We talked over wine until dawn that night. The language was different, but food was at the centre of the conversation. That's why I love cooking."

His favourite place on Jeju is the sea at Gimnyeong. "At Gimnyeong the colour of the sea is different. When the sunlight hits it, the water turns transparent as glass. Looking at it, every unnecessary thought disappears. It feels like the noise in your mind being tidied away." He wants his kitchen, too, to resemble the stillness of that sea.

His bucket list is not extravagant. "To cook for a long time, without burning out, with enjoyment. My dream is to remain someone standing in front of the flame until the end of the day." There is a philosophy in Chef Lee's food. "Cooking is, in the end, work that warms a person's heart. If that heart comes through, it's fine even if the technique falls a little short. Food is completed, ultimately, by sincerity."

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Chef Jang Han-i leads the Seoul wine bar SAV Seoul, where he presents French cooking. "The Jeju Food & Wine Festival is regarded as a great honour even among chefs, so when the offer came I was excited and delighted. I wanted to make French dishes using Jeju's specialities so that guests would feel, 'so Jeju ingredients can be transformed like this.'" He conveyed a deep affection for the event: "My sincere congratulations on the tenth anniversary. I hope it remains Jeju's representative gastronomic festival through a twentieth and a thirtieth edition."

"Jeju's ingredients have no artifice. You feel the wind, the earth and the scent of the sea just as they are. So the real flavour actually comes out when you handle them less," he explained, describing Jeju as the region with the most delicate grain of flavour in Korea.

The menu he presented at this festival was "Momguk" Cream Sauce with Langoustine and Octopus Confit. Reinterpreting momguk — one of Jeju's representative local dishes — in the French manner, he sought to express "the moment tradition meets the contemporary." A nutty cream sauce made by long-simmering gulfweed and bracken quietly holds the scent of the Jeju sea, and on top of it octopus and langoustine cooked slowly in butter complete the balance of texture. "The protagonist of this dish is the momguk. More than the octopus or the langoustine, the sauce holding the scent of Jeju's sea is at the centre."

Describing cooking as "an alchemy of emotion," he said, "even with the same ingredient, the flavour is entirely different depending on who handles it and in what state of mind." That is also why he closes his eyes for five minutes to settle himself before entering the kitchen each day. "Cooking is an art where your state of mind is transmitted directly. You have to settle your emotions before they reach your fingertips."

Chef Jang's cooking is not a simple mixture of French and Korean but a "harmonious coexistence." "In France I learned technique; in Korea I learned people. Now my cooking is the process of those two in conversation." His plates are always concise, yet full of life: sauces without excess, textures that flow softly, flavours that linger. "Cooking is, in the end, the work of making memory. If the resonance of a single plate stays long in someone's heart, that's the highest praise for me."

At the festival site he also recalled a particular connection with Chef Park Jun-woo. "The first time I saw him was at a preview screening of the Alain Ducasse documentary. I was there in the audience as a student, and Chef Park was on stage for the Q&A. I couldn't believe that someone who had been in the same room then was now standing with me on the same festival stage."

His experience of becoming closer to the public after Culinary Class Wars also carried naturally into this festival. "On the programme, empathy mattered more than competition. The process of understanding each other's philosophy and respecting different methods made me stronger." That learning shone on the Jeju stage too.

During his studies in France he learned the essence of cooking working alongside many chefs in Michelin restaurants in Paris. "It's attitude over technique. A chef must be able to explain, at every moment, 'why am I using this method?'" That attitude of "cooking with grounds" learned then is the root of who he is now. He still keeps the textbooks of the École Alain Ducasse and the cookery manuals of Ferrandi beside him, repeating the fundamentals. "A cook is a student for life. A technique that's perfect today has to be practised again tomorrow."

His favourite place on Jeju is Panpo Harbour. "It's a place where the mind grows calm. The sound of the waves, the wind and the colour of the sea strike an exquisite balance. That landscape changed the colour of my cooking." To younger chefs he offers this advice: "Cooking is an art of endurance." "These days we measure speed, but in the end the person who lasts is the one who gains real skill. What matters more than technique is consistency." Asked about his bucket list, he smiled briefly and answered: "A happy kitchen rather than a brilliant goal. Cooking together, laughing together, and the moment a guest leaves feeling good — that's my greatest dream."

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At the Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025), now in its tenth year, Chef Jeon Jun-ho could not hide his delight at taking part for the first time. Having attended last year's event as a guest and drawn particular inspiration from a conversation with the world-renowned wine critic James Suckling, he took the stage with the intention of "repaying it with a festival that leaves a good memory." "For a cook, JFWF isn't simply an event but a field of exchange. Jeju's ingredients and people, and the stories joining the two, are reborn here every year."

Chef Jeon said the greatest turning point for a chef is, in the end, "people," and that colleagues who cook and talk together and the guests who taste the food all give inspiration. The varied ingredients he encounters on Jeju and collaboration with other chefs become another occasion for experiment. "Even with the same ingredient, entirely different results come from different hands," he added. "That's the charm of cooking, and its human appeal."

At this festival he presented Snow-covered Hallasan (Buckwheat Ice Cream, Mugwort Cake) — a work paying contemporary homage to the tradition of Jeju's omegi-tteok. On a green genoise made with proso millet, egg, pistachio and mugwort, red bean was added to express the granite texture of Hallasan. Over the cake lies a soft buckwheat ice cream, giving a visual completeness that calls to mind Hallasan under snow. "Jeju omegi-tteok is made with proso millet. I inherited that tradition but unfolded it with Jeju ingredients and French dessert technique. It's a dessert holding Jeju as it is, and also a game of gastronomy."

Wit, depth and warmth always coexist in Chef Jeon's cooking. Even while varying traditional ingredients such as butter, flour and cream in a contemporary register, a human humour is always dissolved within. "Cooking is, in the end, work of emotion. Seriousness alone isn't enough. Laughter and excitement have to be there for the real flavour to come." He is always full of energy in the kitchen too. "Among cooking tools I like the giant spoon best. A big spoon can hold flavour generously. A cook needs some room to breathe as well."

He said he "started cooking to eat delicious food and to learn more." But now he is closer to a writer creating stories together with his guests than simply "a person who cooks." A plate completed at his fingertips brings together the story of an ingredient, the chef's memory and a guest's smile as a single narrative. For him cooking is, in the end, "work that joins people." He smiled recalling a day of heavy snow in 2022 when he drove a guest home from the restaurant himself. "When food creates a connection like it did that day, I like this job as a chef even more."

Chef Jeon's bucket list is a little unusual. "Someday I'd like to open a kid-friendly restaurant. A space where children plant vegetables during the day and parents can enjoy wine in the evening. Food is the warmest language for joining generations."

Chef Jeon says he wants to add warmth to the world through cooking. "Cooking is, in the end, work that changes someone's day. That's why I can keep going in the kitchen." As he says, this Jeju Food & Wine Festival stage remained not simply a festival but a warm story in which people and food laughed together.

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Taking part in the Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025) for the first time this year, Chef Cho Kwang-hyo said it was an honour to cook alongside so many chefs with good ingredients on Jeju. He added that being able to handle Jeju ingredients he had only ever seen in books was itself an education.

The dish he presented was Dongpo Pork with Jeju Black Pork and Tangerine — a menu completed through the combination of Jeju's two most famous ingredients. "The key is layering tangerine aroma onto the fat of Jeju black pork. Paired with sparkling wine or white wine, it goes remarkably well."

Using both jinpi (dried tangerine peel) and fresh Jeju tangerine, he completed an original combination in which the deep savour of black pork is wrapped in bright citrus aroma. "It started from the curiosity of what would happen if I made dongpo pork with Jeju black pork. The clean acidity of the tangerine cuts the richness, and simmering with jinpi makes the aroma far more refined." The juices, arrived at after repeated experiments with ratios, were weighty yet fresh. "The key was that no fat should remain in the mouth while the deep flavour is maintained."

The plating held the resonance of Jeju's sea. Finely julienned tangerine peel was placed over thickly sliced dongpo pork, and a concentrated tangerine sauce spread out like a wave. The aroma arrives first, then the salted soy and the sweet juice come together. "I tuned the heat and the consistency so the aroma and the flavour wouldn't fight each other. It was important that the tangerine scent shouldn't cover the flavour of the pork." This dish was not simply "the taste of Jeju" but the result of the study Chef Cho has built through cooking.

His culinary philosophy is simple but firm. It begins from one question: "Would I be happy to eat this?" The aroma of pork cooking slowly in a pressure cooker, the sweet smell rising from toasted jinpi, even the colour of the tangerine segment placed on last — his cooking is the product of care from the heart more than from the fingertips.

He recalled what led him to start cooking: "Making doubanjiang myself was what made cooking fun. From then on cooking became a game within my daily life." Though he says he is "still learning to cook," he has already built his own world as a cook in full.

Even after drawing attention on Culinary Class Wars he has not lost his first intentions. "Through television I came to see the essence of cooking again — that enjoyment matters more than competition, and sincerity more than display." Though he has become a face known to the public, he says he still has a great deal of experience to accumulate.

Chef Cho names Remy from the film Ratatouille as the figure he most respects. "The way he never stops cooking whatever the circumstances is admirable." He puts those words into practice, standing in the kitchen day after day. Though the setting isn't as cheerful as that of a rat chef in a film, in his own serious way he proves "the joy of cooking."

His favourite ingredients are chicken and seasonal fish. "Chicken looks simple but has a deep flavour, and fish wears a different expression each season." Four times a year, as the seasons turn, he records the changes in his ingredients and tests new methods. For him ingredients are both teacher and colleague.

To aspiring chefs Chef Cho offers this advice: "The answers are in books. But real learning comes when you make those answers yourself." It is not simple advice but the attitude to life that made the Chef Cho Kwang-hyo of today. He always sits at the desk before the kitchen. From a single line of a recipe, from a single sentence of cooking theory, he draws new inspiration, then applies it in actual cooking through repeated trial and error. Some days end in failure, but he calls even that failure "a clue to the next flavour." "Books hold the principle, the kitchen holds the result. What joins the two is, in the end, the human hand."

Chef Cho closed by saying, "My sincere congratulations on the tenth anniversary of the Jeju Food & Wine Festival. Thank you for inviting me," adding that through the event he had learned a great deal and been able to grow further. He conveyed his intention to keep accumulating varied experience and to repay it with better cooking.

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Taking part in the Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF 2025) for the first time, Chef Chae Nak-young said: "Among chefs, JFWF was known as a fun, high-energy festival. I'd always wanted to take part someday, so being invited was an honour." He said the simple fact that "people who enjoy cooking" gather in one place was excitement enough.

For him this event was not merely a food festival but a place to confirm connection with people. "Jeju has good ingredients and beautiful natural surroundings, but in the end food is completed by people. Exchange between chefs, conversation with guests, and moments of laughing together — that's the essence of cooking." During the preparation period he travelled around Jeju checking the growing areas and ingredients for himself. "When you talk with a producer, the expression of the ingredient changes. Jeju vegetables and fruit differ in flavour and have deeper aromas because of differences in soil, wind and climate. Seeing such ingredients directly and cooking with them is real good fortune for a chef."

At JFWF he presented Taco de Pollo — a chicken thigh taco. "Chicken thigh is juicy with just the right amount of fat. I balanced the springy texture of Jeju free-range chicken with carrot, onion and Jeju tangerine juice." Rather than grilling the chicken he cooked it slowly at low temperature until tender, then topped it with a sauce of finely blended Jeju chilli and tomato. "A taco is food that can hold Jeju in a single bite. It's free cooking, and a stage for creativity."

Even a single piece of chicken went through dozens of tests. A difference of just 5 °C changes the texture, and if the acidity of the tangerine juice is too strong it buries the sweetness of the Jeju vegetables. "The smaller the mouthful, the more the balance of flavour matters. Sweetness, acidity, juiciness and aroma all have to be in harmony for the finished taste to come." Before completing a dish he checks the aroma of the ingredients at the tip of his nose and adjusts the viscosity of the sauce by feel. Taco de Pollo was not simple street food but a scene of gastronomy completed with Jeju ingredients. Through this dish, he said, "I wanted to show the free-spirited gastronomic possibility that Jeju holds."

Asked his favourite ingredient, he laughed briefly. "Pork. Every cut tastes different, and depending on the method it becomes an entirely different dish. The price is reasonable too. Isn't that the best ingredient?" He continues his experiments with Jeju black pork, moving freely between frying pan and pressure cooker as he researches new methods.

His favourite places on Jeju are "Ii Gonggong," where he can stay with his dog, and the Nonjitmul coastal path. "They're places where my mind settles even outside the kitchen. Running or walking along the Nonjitmul line clears my head, and new cooking ideas come to me again."

His bucket list is simple but certain. "Someday I want to travel through America, Europe or Japan and run a food truck with a friend. Like the film Chef. I think the happiest moment would be meeting a guest's eyes and sharing food right there." For him a food truck is not simply a mobile restaurant but a symbol of the freedom of returning to the essence of cooking — the most human form of cooking, made not of formality or long recipes but of spontaneous conversation and on-the-spot combinations. "The process of trimming ingredients right there, meeting the guest's eyes and completing a dish on the spot is genuinely appealing. In that moment there's no calculation and no framework — only the heart of sharing something delicious."

Through such travel he wants to feel the world's varied flavours and cultures with his own body: touching new ingredients, walking through markets, talking with local people, and discovering his own cooking again within it. "The local air and smells, the expressions on people's faces, can change the taste of food. All that experience accumulates and becomes my own recipe again."

For Chef Chae Nak-young, cooking is in the end "the temperature of a person." His food is cheerful yet deep, free yet sincere. "There's no right answer in cooking. The flavour simply changes according to that day's ingredients, that day's mood, and the people you're with. That's why every day is new, and every day is something to be grateful for."