▲ Photo:Jeju Food & Wine Festival

The festival on the tastes of Jeju, the ‘Jeju Food & Wine Festival (JFWF)’ will be held for three months until November 30 at 200 restaurants offering delicious cuisines all around Jeju-do.

This event in which Jeju citizens and tourists enjoy the gastronomical culture of Jeju first began in 2016 and is now celebrating its sixth year. This year’s event that kicked off on the first of last month will release various online contents via YouTube (channel name JFWF) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No large-scale event for big crowds will be held due to the social distancing rules. However, the ‘Jeju Gourmet Festa’ that selects and promotes 200 of the best restaurants of Jeju will be held like previous years.

Fifty restaurants of Jeju were featured in 2016 and 2017, and 80 in 2018 and 2019, and the number was increased to 200 since last year. The number of selected restaurants was raised to help restore the dining market industry of Jeju that had slowed down since COVID-19.

▲ Photo:Jeju Food & Wine Festival

Selection of restaurants were not only among restaurants famous among Jeju citizens and tourists, but also focused on discovering restaurants offering unique options using ingredients from Jeju. In order to make it easier to find the restaurants, Jeju Province was divided into a total of six zones such as downtown Jeju and downtown Seogwipo, while cafes, bars and hotels were categorized separately. The organizers stated, “We categorized the venues by type of food, price range, etc. using big data, and received recommendations from food and culture experts and the consent of the corresponding restaurants to choose a total of 200.”

Visitors to participating restaurants can receive various benefits such as discounts, free drinks, or special menu prices by showing them that you are ‘subscribed’ to the ‘Jeju Food & Wine Festival’ YouTube channel. The list also includes information according to the current trends such as whether pets are allowed, available vegetarian menus, etc.

In addition, the ‘Student Chef of the Year (SCOTY) 2021’ contest where college students around the nation majoring in culinary arts test their skills will be held as an offline event. This event is sponsored by Jeju-do and co-hosted by the Jeju Tourism Organization, Korea Food & Wine Festival, and Jeju Halla University. Other sponsors include Hyundai Motor, Dongwon F&B, The VIN CSR, Haevichi Hotel & Resort, and Bonte Museum.

http://jfwf.kr/en