Jeonju Bibimbap Festival at Hanok Village

Hanji Bibimbap

Dear Mom and Dad,

   So a couple of weekends ago, Natalie, Olivia, Lee and I braved the Jeonju Bibimbap Festival.  Or rather, maybe the festival braved us!?  

"Jeonju Bibimpab"

           We met up at the Iksan bus terminal, which because of meeting being in Jeonju, I have gotten rather familiar with.  I think I confused my ticket lady, because she did a little double take to see me going into Jeonju on Saturday, instead of Sunday.  Anyway she sees me coming on Sunday mornings and I can tell she’s getting my ticket ready!  Well we met and went to get on the bus around 10 AM and realized that a lot of Iksanites were doing the same thing.  The line to the bus was a bit long, so we ended up catching the second bus.  Since this was the 시외버스 shiwae beoseu (coach bus between local cities) we didn’t need to get new tickets, just hop on the next one.  They come every 15 minutes for the closer cities.  

           Well we got to Jeonju and grabbed a cab to the 하녹마을- the Hanok Village, which is a folk village that encourages residents to preserve traditional architecture.  It has a very quaint and comforting feel to it and is definitely a tourist destination/attraction.  It is one of my favorite places in Korea, though, even though I don’t get there very often.

Chef-Artisans

enjoying festival food

           We got to the festival and one of the first things we say was a big tent and a long line, and it looked like something was going on, but it didn’t make much sense and didn’t seem all that interesting so we by-passed it all together.  Turns out it was an exhibit about ‘The Gastronomy of Jeonju”.  Me-thinks I’m glad we passed by.  Next we came to a long table lined with what at first I thought were chefs displaying winning dishes.  And as I passed, I saw that it was.  Except the dishes were the plastic version of the real thing.  They were what we call artisan-chefs.  They design plastic foods.  Plastic food is a somewhat odd-at-first-glance, but thriving niche industry here in Asia, but beyond its strangeness it has come in handy more than a few times.  Restaurants will display plastic food dishes to advertise what they have.  Despite the occasional dust collection along with the food, it is quite common to see plastic foods, especially in museums.  Well, we wandered around and saw the street lined with food stalls.  Not a great many, as this festival seems more about just getting out and enjoying the day in the Folk village.  But that was our destination.  After all, it’s FOOD! 

fried bibimbap in vietnamese wrappers

bibimballs

bibim waffles

Bibim ssam

           Anyway, a little on 비빔밥, bibimbap.  Bibimbap is one of my favorite Korean dishes.  There are as many versions of bibimbap as there are restaurants.  Bibimbap means mixed rice and consists of rice and shoe-stringed vegetables of various kinds, with fern brake and dried seaweed, sometimes including meat or seafood, and an egg. the egg can be fried, cut omelet, or even raw – raw eggs are usually served with bibimbap that is served in a superheated stone bowl.  

Street entertainment

coffee shop stop

           This festival we came across bibimbap in unusual forms.   There was bibim ssam 비빔쌈 – bibim wraps- wrapped in Vietnamese rice wrappers.  Fried bibimbap in Vietnamese wrappers, bibimballs served in a clever two layer cup served with mojitos- technically just lemonade with mint leaves, and a bibimbap waffle served with sweet/sour sauce and mayonnaise.  We tried pretty much everything, which is the point of this festival, since each vendor was about 천원- 1,000\ per item, which is about a dollar. 

Eventually we wandered out of the food zone and into the street seller zone.  This was on the same street that Natalie’s hanji teacher is on, so we stopped to pay a visit.  Her teachers place is quite a nice shop where she sells her hanji and other hand-crafted items.  (some not hand crafted, but touristy trinkets too)  She also runs a workshop, usually for children and was busy with a couple of children when we walked in.  The children were quite impressed that their hanji teacher had a foreign student. 

Lunch time! with Lee and Olivia

           Wandering around some more we decided we were hungry for lunch.  The Hanok Village is the place for lunch in Jeonju.  I don’t think there is a bad restaurant in the area.  Most restaurants however have bibimbap, bulgogi, samgyeoptang or Italian.  We chose Italian.  I think because it was the closest, and we’d had enough bibimbap for the day.  I must say, good choice!  I had a ssssssscccruumtious crab pasta, with real crab… 

Shopping!  Cowgirl Natalie

           We then headed over to Natalie’s favorite hanji shop and all of us found some shopping to do.  Even I came away with some pretty nice hanji.  Now I just need to design a project or two…or three…!

Well, we wandered around a bit more and headed home, tired, full, and pleasantly happy from a low-key, but great day!  Pictures to follow!