Troupe starts 2nd o`seas tour to promote Korean dish

A five-member troupe has started its promotion of the traditional Korean dish "bibimbap," or spicy rice mixed with vegetables, at prestigious universities in the U.S. and the U.K. from Thursday over a six-month period.

The project is sponsored by CJ, which has tapped the global market with its Korean restaurant brand Bibigo.

Crossing the U.S. from the west coast to the east, the so-called Bibimbap Troupe will hold a tasting event for the food at American universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford and UCLA. In September, it will attend the Thames Festival in London and hold events at Oxford and Cambridge universities.

In addition to visiting 10 universities in the U.S. and U.K., the troupe plans to hold an event at global companies based in Silicon Valley such as Google.

The troupe held 100 bibimbap tasting events in Asia, Europe and the U.S. for nine months last year, the first world tour for bibimbap promotion on a private level. The project was initiated by young Koreans interested in spreading Korean food abroad.

Troupe members spend their own money on the first tour, but CJ will cover their expenses and food on the second.

A 30-year-old member said the troupe organized the events at prestigious universities "because college students are more willing to accept new cultures than older people," adding, “As students at those universities are likely to become future opinion leaders, we felt the need to introduce Korean cuisine to them first.”

baron@donga.com