Experience Korean culture personally or in group, touring the local wholesale market and making various Korean dishes such as street food, home-cooked meals and temple food, so you can prepare your favourite dishes back at home. Learn the basics and ingredients used of Korean cooking, prepare traditional dishes and gain insight into the role food plays in Korean society.
Today, one-day cooking classes tailored to foreign tourists have risen as an immersive travel activity in Seoul. Have you thought of organising a delightful culinary team building program in this beautiful city? This educational and interactive edutainment programme helps to facilitate teamwork through discussions with team members and enhance the understanding of all members about their food culture. It is a fun and interesting way for your team to foster good working synergy, effectively aiding efficiency and productivity in the office.
In the team building programme, you will be divided into groups and given a step-by-step demonstration by the chef, with fun activities to boost your teamwork. After food culture lectures and demonstrations given by professional chefs, each team is invited to create new cuisine based on the offered ingredients and cooking tips. It is a great way for team bonding, where you get to cook and savour what you have made together with team members, satisfying your mouth and stomach as well.
Cooking class’s menu typically consists of simple Korean dishes that are both filling and can easily be prepared abroad, such as kimbap (rice rolls), tteok-bokki (spicy rice cakes), mandu (dumplings), kimchi (spicy cabbage), bulgogi (Korean grilled beef), bibimbap (rice and vegetable bowl), japchae (stir-fried glass noodles) and Korean fried chicken.
The classes go beyond cooking to offer a space where people of different cultures can interact and talk about the food culture in their countries. Let’s explore some of the available cooking classes in Seoul!
O’ngo Food Communications, known for its culinary tours of popular eateries for tourists, offers an array of Korean cooking classes for beginner, intermediate and advanced cooks, as well as special dietary choices such as halal, vegetarians and vegans. O’ngo also provides team building and educational classes for companies or schools that are seeking innovative incentive programmes that are different from the normal dinners or long trips.
O’ngo presents some of the most fun and distinctive team-building programs in Korea that are unlike traditional team meetings at dining tables. This culinary activity is designed to strengthen teamwork, promote collaboration and foster better communication and mutual understanding among colleagues, while discovering the authentic side of Korean culture and cuisine.
In addition to the team building cooking classes, O’ngo also organises regular food tour for those more comfortable at the table than at the stove, offering great networking in some of Seoul’s lesser known but highly praised culinary corners. A group night dining tour with one guide and a maximum of ten people is available. The food tour will focus more on hidden places where locals would go after work, visiting four to five places for sampling instead of only dine in one spot.
I Love Hansik, a lovely cooking studio that offers cooking classes and food tours in various foreign languages by multinational experts in Korea, Japan, China and others. The program is specially tailored for international visitors who would like to have hands-on experience cooking popular Korean dishes such as bulgogi, japchae, pajeon, bibimbap, tteok-bokki, gimbap and more.
The ingredients could be customised and also the programme can be specially designed to accommodate halal and vegans. Classes can be varied upon the consultation with the group or the company based on different preferences. There are two studios capable of holding the maximum of 10 and 24 each and the class is available in various languages.
OME Cooking Lab, a friendly place for locals and international tourists to learn the traditional Korean recipes in Seoul. OME represents 5 tastes, namely sweetness, sourness, bitterness, saltiness and spiciness, also offering visitors a superb Korean cooking experience with its 5 tastes of Korea and 5 kinds of fun. There are several cooking classes from Korean dessert classes to Korean street food classes for you to choose from.
The OME’s programme is one day cooking class that starts with touring the biggest wholesale market in Korea such as Gyeongdong market and Yangnyeong market, and speaking in Korean to shop for your own fresh ingredients. The chef will give you a brief lesson on Korean in advance, and the shopping time will be a great chance to practice it.
After that, make your way to a traditional style Korean house where you will learn how to cook famous local cuisines under the guidance of professional chefs. Here, you can create a delicious 5-course meal and enjoy it with teammates or friends.
