Korean Cuisine in Spotlight at Victoria and Albert Museum

Guests enjoy Korean cuisine at an event promoting Korean culture at the Victory and Albert Museum in London on Monday. /Courtesy of CJ Foodville

With a history of over 150 years, the Victoria and Albert Museum is the world's largest treasure trove of decorative arts and design.

Advertisement

On Monday (London time), the venue hosted a festival aimed at promoting Korean culture that saw 300 diplomatic, administrative and cultural figures from Korea and the U.K. tuck into popular Korean dishes such as bibimbab (rice with assorted vegetables) and galbi jjim (braised short ribs).

The highlight of the event was a dinner consisting of green-lentil jelly salad, noodles, bibimbab, galbi jjim and pancakes stuffed with brown sugar for dessert. The food drew a positive response from the British attendees for being fresh and healthy.

A team of 60 staff had to cook for 300 people before the event and use electric ovens to heat the dishes up on-site as cooking is not allowed in the museum due to the risk of fire.

Lee Sang-bong's 2009 Spring & Summer collection themed on traditional Korean patchwork wrapping-cloth

Ahead of the dinner, participants were treated to a fashion show of women's clothing by designer Lee Sang-bong. The show was based on the themes of dancheong, or Korean traditional multicolored paintwork on wooden buildings, and patchwork wrapping-cloth.

Foreign models wore dresses and jackets inspired by the colors and patterns of dancheong. Lee also introduced a unique hat with a roof-tile motif.