JAKARTA, Indonesia, Dec. 12, 2023 – K-Seafood Vaganza 2023, jointly organized by Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation, Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and K-Fish Korean Seafood, is a Korean seafood festival that took place in Jakarta, Indonesia from August 20th to December 3rd, 2023. This festival aimed to promote and expand the market of Korean seafood in Indonesia.
Held at Main Atrium, Korea 360 Collect Town, and Cooking Studio of Lotte Mall Jakarta, the event featured various engaging activities, such as K-Seafood product exhibition, retail booths, cooking demonstrations, culinary classes, and special attractions and performances. To enhance the festival’s excitement, various interactive activities such as Stamp Games and Wheel of Fortune, along with competitions such as SNS Photo Competition and K-Seafood Eating Contest which were highly popular among visitors, were organized. All of these events provided attractive prizes for those who participated, such as tablet, smartphone, smartwatch, special merchandises, and many more.
During the festival, attendees had the chance to sample and taste a diverse selection of Korean products featured in the K-Seafood product exhibition in the program dubbed ‘Pojok Icip-Icip’. Various Korean food vendors such as Korinus, Mu Gung Hwa, STC Natural Indo, and Daesang Agung also participated to showcase and offer their range of products, allowing visitors to try out and purchase Korean seafood products that they can enjoy at home such as seaweed, seafood-based crackers, canned tuna, and many others. A survey was also conducted among the visitors to ensure that their expectations of the festival were met and they had a chance to voice their opinions regarding K-Seafood in general.
Cooking demonstrations were also featured in the event, led by Chef Joe and Chef Okky from Master Chef Indonesia Season 9, showcasing a variety of homecooked meals using Korean seafood ingredients in ‘Cooking Show’. Another cooking activity the visitors could participate in was Cooking Class, which received warm response from the visitors. These classes, led by esteemed Korean chefs Chef Kwon and Jun Chef, allowed participants to learn cooking techniques and gain insights into preparing diverse meals, focusing on various dishes with Korean seafood as its main ingredients. Participants who took part in these cooking classes also stood a chance to win a Smart Cooker through a lucky draw. The festival’s ‘Cooking Show’ and ‘Cooking Class’ offered attendees an E-Recipe cookbook accessible through a QR code scan, allowing them to easily access and try cooking these recipes at home.
To gain even more attention from the visitors, the event also presented some great performances on weekends throughout the four-month period at the Lotte’s Mall Main Atrium. In August, there was a special event featuring Chef Devina, a renowned chef, author, and cooking instructor, creating a massive Gimbap Tower. It was followed by a special music performance by Reza Dharmawangsa/RZD, an Indonesian singer and content creator with over 1 million followers on TikTok. From August to December, a variety of Korean dance performances were also held to energize the visitors who came to experience the festivities. In December, visitors were greeted with the special karaoke night by Friday Noraebang, the ever-popular Korean songs karaoke group, that successfully gathered a massive amount of crowd.
The event has been deemed successfully in gaining many interests from hundreds of visitors in the four-month period, with positive responds based on the conducted surveys, sales reports from the participating vendors, and the overall participation in all the presented activities and performances. This encouraging result is expected to eventually push the effort to expand the reach of Korean seafood in Indonesia even further.
