Local delicacies whet appetite of ‘early tatsters’

A 32-year-old office worker is planning to leave for Anmyeon Island with friends Friday afternoon. Though rain is forecast, he and his friends do not care because the only purpose of their trip to the island is to taste jjukkumi (baby octopus). “It’s best to taste food in the season at the place where the food is produced. No famous restaurant in Seoul can compete,” he said.

The number of “early tasters” has been increasing recently. Early tasters refer to those traveling to the food-producing place in the right season to taste the food earlier than others, just like early adopters do the same for digital gadgets. People’s interest in good restaurants has evolved into an interest in food material.

“If the first generation of gourmets used to be satisfied with eating at good restaurants, the second generation gourmets now try to eat food in the season, which involve more stories to find out," said Lim Hui-yoon, an agro-fisheries buyer at Galleria Department Store in southern Seoul. "Young farmers also endeavor to lure early tasters by making stories regarding their produce as they preserve sweet potatoes in underground tunnels or get paprika to be exposed to sea breeze.”

These days, bicycle and motorcycle groups are embracing consuming seasonal food at its producing area as their itineraries to increase participation from members. “(Our motorcycle group) will travel to eat jjukkumi on April 26," said Shin Beom-joon, an employee of Honda Korea who is a member of a motorcycle group. "In summer, we go to Hongcheon for naeng-makguksu (cold noodle) and in fall, we go to Sokcho for lance fish.”

Famous food producing regions are crowded with tourists in the season. About 520,000 tourists visited Yeongdeok for a crab festival, which was held from March 28 to April 1. Many food festivals are scheduled to be held at a variety of places nationwide this month alone.

The early-taster fever is spreading swiftly as the information on food and producing region is easily shared on the Internet and through smartphones while producers and local authorities strive for quality food with unique stories. "The movement to consume local food and people’s interest in safe food have been partly affected by the 2010 tsunami and earthquake in Japan," experts say.

Major department stores and high-end restaurants in major hotels have already put in place strategies to attract early tasters. The quality food sector Gourmet 494 of Galleria Department Store sells seasonal food, which is delivered directly from local producers, at an exclusive corner. Its seasonal food these days includes cherry oysters (oysters looking like cherry blossoms under the sea) from the downstream of the Seomjin River where freshwater meets the sea water, cheonhyehyang (big oranges that have the name meaning “strong scent wafted a thousand miles up”) grown in the soil mixed with compost in which mackerels and milk are fermented and paprika exposed to sea breeze in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. Red-root spinach from Tongyeong was sold out as soon as it was put on the shelf early last month," according to Galleria. Gourmet 494 provides customers with the service that delivers seasonal food directly from the farm.

Buyers of Westin Chosun Hotel travel across Korea to buy seasonal food at the growing places, including black cattle on Jeju Island, wild greens and perilla oil on Mount Jiri, pine mushroom in Yangyang, bakdal snow crab in Yeongdeok, damselfish in Tongyeong. These food materials are used in the hotel’s Japanese, Chinese and Western restaurants. “Until three to four years ago, guests were happy to see a message, saying, ‘This is from France by plane` at a restaurant.’ But now we have to say `we make food with seasonal food from local producers` to satisfy our guests,” an employee of the hotel said.

kimhs@donga.com