SEOUL, 3 November 2016 - The Philippines participated on 2-5 November 2016 in the ASEAN Fair 2016 focused this year on food at COEX, Korea's largest exhibition space, in southern Seoul to commemorate the ASEAN-Korea Cultural Exchange Year and ASEAN Visit Year in 2017.

The annual fair organized by the ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC) rolled out the ASEAN Culinary Festival and ASEAN Trade Fair, as a simultaneous event in order to allow the Korean public to experience for themselves culinary traditions and food products characteristic of the 10 ASEAN member-states under one roof.

Philippine Ambassador to Korea Raul S. Hernandez, who attended the opening ceremony with other ASEAN envoys, thanked the Filipino participants for joining the fair as a way to familiarize increasingly demanding Korean consumers with a broader range of Philippine food products beyond well-known tropical fruits and effectively enhance the country brand.

"Food is a universal language that brings people and cultures together," AKC Secretary General Kim Young-sun said in his opening speech. "I'm certain the ASEAN Fair 2016 will serve as a platform to strengthen the partnership between ASEAN and Korea by connecting the hearts and minds of the people and creating a bond over a 'shared meal of diversity."

In congratulatory remarks, Thai Ambassador Sarun Charoensuwan, who currently heads the ASEAN Committee in Seoul, the grouping of all ASEAN ambassadors based in Korea, referenced the popular Hallyu or Korean Wave in Southeast Asia by expressing hopes that the "ASEAN wave will slowly and steadily reach the shores of Korea through culture and food."

ASEAN Culinary Festival featured celebrity chefs all 10 ASEAN countries presenting three dishes each for a total of 30 diverse dishes, which were chosen for their suitability to Korean tastes and at the same time to showcase the eclectic flavors and food traditions throughout Southeast Asia, including the preparation of halal food in Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The Philippines was represented by Joyce L. Sandoval, Culinary Director of Mama Sita Foundation, who gave a 30-minute live cooking show on how to prepare pork adobo (vinegared stew in soy sauce), sinigang (sour soup), and champorado (chocolate rice porridge) for the audience at the ASEAN Culinary Booths Zone in COEX Hall 3 on 3 November.

AKC officials said the audience of 200 people at the Philippine cooking demonstration exceeded the average 50 spectators or so who normally attend the event, boosted by culinary major students from Daelim University College, a private technical institution in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province.

ASEAN Trade Fair featured 100 ASEAN companies from the food and beverage sectors, 10 from each country, to exhibit their products. In the last year's Fair, about 2,000 business meetings were conducted between ASEAN companies and Korean buyers.

Eight companies from Metro Manila and two from Rizal and Negros Occidental provinces offered a variety of Philippine tropical fruit products, including from mangos, pineapples, calamansi (calamondin), citrus, soursop, mangosteen, as well as organic teas, banana chips, coco sugar, jams and spreads, civet coffee, all-natural vinegar, sea salt and spices.

According to the Embassy-based Philippine Agriculture Office in Seoul, almost 90 percent of all bananas sold in Korea, and roughly 30 percent of all mangoes and pineapples in the market are of Philippine origin.

The ASEAN Fair 2016 was held at the same time as the COEX Food Week Korea, the largest international food exhibition in Korea, to allow for greater impact and attention with the Korean public.

The opening ceremony was highlighted by a Pad Thai cooking exhibition by Nooror Somany Steppe, founding partner and director of Blue Elephant Restaurant & Cooking School in Bangkok.

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