South Africans got a taste of Korean culture at the 2019 Korean Film and Food Festival held in Pretoria on October 19. From delicious food, film, arts, and crafts, and live performances, there was something for everyone at the festival. SHAAZIA EBRAHIM and FATIMA MOOSA were there.
The food market sold delicious Korean foods
Attendees at the festival had a number of different activities to occupy themselves with. At the entrance of the event was the busy food market. A variety of Korean street foods was available for purchase. But there was also Instagram-worthy Korean beauty products on sale, and K-pop merch which had fans in a frenzy. The market was buzzing throughout the day as people bought what was on offer.
Shaved ice with red bean paste known as Pat Bingsu proven popular amongst attendees, especially in the heat. This woman is making hotteok, a variety of filled Korean pancake. Kimchi, a staple in Korean cuisine is a traditional side dish of salted and fermented vegetable. There were many variants of kimchi available to taste, and purchase. Piping hot Tteok-bokki was served. Tteok-bokki are rice cakes cooked in a spicy sauce. A number of drinks were available, including the popular iced Americano. Yachaejeon, a Korean vegetable pancake was also served hot. Usually eaten as a side dish, japchae, stir-fried glass noodles and vegetables was enjoyed by all. Hotteok is a popular street food of Korea.
Decorating Korean fans, trying on hanboks, and other activities
If trying Korean food wasn’t exciting enough, there were a number of activities to participate in. For fans of Korean dramas, there was an opportunity to live out a dream of being a king and queen from the historical dramas. Attendees were also given the chance to try their hand at making Korean flags and fans.
Attendees had the chance to make and decorate their own Korean fans. Not only was the festival fun, there were also plenty of learning opportunities. Attendess were given the chance to try on traditional Korean clothes worn by royalty. Young and old partook in the craft making activities Tons of people lined up to try on hanboks, traditional Korean clothing. Many had fun slipping into the Korean traditional clothing and pretending to be royalty.
Fans treated crowds to K-pop performances
After the food market, the biggest crowds were gathered around the performance tent. K-pop fans were treated to dance and singing performances from their favourite acts. The 2018 and 2019 regional winners of the Changwon K-pop Festival also took to the stage to perform a song by K-pop star Taemin.
Lindsay Setlema, a South African dancer who has showcased his talent in South Korea. The 2019 winner of the regional Changwon K-pop Festival Susan performed along with Setlema. Hanna Lu belted out a song from popular singer Suzy. BTS ARMY in the audience were hyped by the performance of BTS Boy with Luv. Performers delighted the audiences with their renditions of popular K-pop songs like Sunmi’s Siren. The growing fanbase for BTS in South Africa could clearly be seen at the festival with the merch being sold and the performances.
K-pop is coming to SA
Speaking to The Daily Vox during some of the live performances, the Korean ambassador to South Africa, Dr Jongdae Park said he was very happy to see so many people attend the event. “You can see with wide-ranging people from all backgrounds, you have parents coming with babies… I’m very encouraged to see that the fan group is growing every time. [These events] are becoming very popular and it’s very encouraging,” Park said.
Park said as a diplomat, he feels very fortunate to have Korean culture appealing so strongly to many countries, especially the country he is serving. “It’s good because the attraction of Korean culture allows you to be interested in many other things besides culture: language, food, history. It’s a very good way to promote a larger scope of cooperation. We are very fortunate and we are in the process of addressing the demand more and more,” he said
Park told The Daily Vox that K-pop fans don’t have to worry if we’ll ever see a K-pop act in South Africa. It’s not a question of ‘if’, “it’s just a matter of when,” he said. “[The support for events like this] sends a very positive message to our people, our artists and we know that South Africa is a huge country in terms of K-pop fans,” Park said.
“I’m pretty sure in the near future we’ll have K-pop groups coming,” the ambassador said.
