Spouses of envoys have a rare chance to learn classy Korean New Year foods

Mrs. Mah Manesh Taherian, spouse of the ambassador of Iran, and the spouses of the ambassadors of Laos, Thailand, Ethiopia and a number of other senior diplomats, had a rare opportunity to do justice to their outstanding culinary skills at Korea Occupational Training College in Seoul on Feb. 8, 2017.

It has been known that some of the spouses of the ambassadors do ‘more than their husbands do’ in promoting their countries to Korea and other countries of the world, for that matter. The spouses of the ambassadors and other senior diplomats of Iran, Laos, Thailand, Ethiipia, Bulgaria and Costa Rica just did that on that day fully exhibiting their culinary skills to the president and master chefs of the College during their tour of the College.

As soon as they were ushered into a large conference room at the College that day, President Moon Sang-joo of the College greeted the distinguished ladies courteously and gave his welcome remarks, which substantially introduced the activities of his College.

He said: “Internationalization is taking place at a very rapid pace and in a society affected by this phenomenon persons with competitive ability are given the respect due to them.” Then he said, “New information and technologies are being developed as a result of sustained research and development efforts and the national boundaries are coming down against this backdrop.” (See excerpts from his speech at the end of this article.)

The inspecting madams of the ambassadors and other senior diplomats then were led on a tour of various classrooms of the College, which included different classrooms each of which was used in giving a specialized training the in the cooking and preparation of foods and beverages of the different countries of the world.

Finally, the visiting spouses of the ambassadors and other diplomats were invited into a large cooking classroom where each guest was assigned to a large cooking table equipped with an oven and other cooking equipment and utensils.

Professor Madam Yoon In-ja of the College, a specialist in culinary art, performed a demonstration showing to the madams how to cook the traditional Korean Lunary New Year delicacies.
She and her senior students visited each madam and diplomat and helped them how to make the traditonal Korean Lunary Near Year food and soup.

Menu of the day for the distinguished spouses to demonstrate their skills was the traditional Korean Seollal (Lunar New Year’s Day) delicacies, which consisted of:
Galbi Mandu Guk (short ox rib mandu soup with traditional Korean dumplings)
Seollal Gimchi (seasoned traditional Korean New Year cabbage-radish watery pickle)
Bindae Ddeok (pea pan cake made with pea flower, vegetables and meat)

Wolgwachae (a plate of palace vegetable preparation with squash, beef, mushrooms, glutinous rice and various other vegetables)
Doraji Geongwa Muchim (Mixture of Bell Flower roots with various other vegetables).
The visiting madams and other diplomats were invited to personally make and cook the traditional Korean Lunar New Year Mandu Guk dumplings.
Korean people have an old saying: “You are not one more year old if you do not have the New Year Mandu Soup.”

The distinguished ladies that day, unfortunately, failed to do justice to that traditional Korean old saying and get the invaluable benefit of it, as they, almost without exception sampled the New Year Mandu Soup they made by themselves.
Unfortunately, that day was a very, very busy day for the ambassadors and other diplomats as the day was replete with many important events to which they were invited with their spouses.

For President Moon of the College and Chairman Lee of The Korea Post, it was the worst they as far as attendance of the diplomats at their tours.
However, almost all the Madams favoring President Moon and Chairman Lee with their kind attendance at the tour appeared fully satisfied with their decision to oblige Moon and Lee rather than making happy the hosts of the other events of the day.

President Moon said that he would host another tour for the madams and ambassadors to help them familiarize themselves with the classy traditional Korean culinary wonders taught at his College.

Excerpts from the welcome remarks of President Moon:
Welcome distinguished madams to Korea Occupational Training College!
We are living in an era of unlimited competition in a world where there are no walls or partitions or national boundaries in the area of industrial environment.

In order to tide over the competition in Korea and the outside world in this competitive industrial environment, we need to train fully qualified professionals in the different fields—as well as in the food and beverage and catering service industry.

It is my fixed conviction that new technologies and new skills are a requirement for remaining competitive in the industrial environment.
In order to tide over the competition in Korea and the outside world in this competitive industrial environment, we need to train fully qualified professionals in the different fields—as well as in the food and beverage and catering service industry.
It is my fixed conviction that new technologies and new skills are a requirement for remaining competitive in the industrial environment.

Internationalization is taking place at a very rapid pace and in a society affected by this phenomenon persons with competitive ability are given the respect due to them. New information and technologies are being developed as a result of sustained research and development efforts and the national boundaries are coming down against this backdrop.
We at this College are training students to actively meet this situation and perform the role of leaders in the acquisition of new knowledge and new technologies. The College maintains the highest standard of training and education.

We have been and will continue to train personnel to actively meet the fast-changing environment of the industry and society today and tomorrow.

List of visitors to the College:
Mrs. Mah Manesh Taherian (spouse of the ambassador of Iran), Mrs. Manilath Keodalavong (spouse of the ambassador of Laos Republic), Mrs. Weeree Thitipoonya (spouse of the ambassador of Thailand), Mrs. Mame Hailu (spouse of the ambassador of Ethiopia), Mrs. Snezhanka Panova (spouse of the counsellor of Bulgaria), Mr. Daniel Rupanov of the Bulgarian Embassy and Mrs. Sofia Salas Monge of the Cost Rican Embassy.