Jeonju declaration on Korean-food: creating value and sustainability

Jeonju was selected as Korea’s only UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2012. Jeonju food has been attracting attention as ‘sincere foods’ that is likened to a mother’s cooking and bricolage foods since ancient times. Jeonju is a representative of K-food as a city with the recognition of being a ‘hometown of taste’ and the ‘pride of taste’ in Jeolla-do. The global interest in K-food is based on a ‘healthy image’, and it is expected that the international interest in K-food will continue to rise in the future due to its health benefits. K-food contributes to the promotion of human health based on scientific research on its various aspects such as ingredients, recipes, and diet composition. The fact that K-food contains a lot of vegetables and fermented foods can be considered as one of the factors that can respond to the climate crisis. The Jeonju Declaration gather numerous values to lay the foundation for the direction in which K-food should be served. Therefore, this year 2022, to mark the 10th anniversary of the UNESCO City of Gastronomy, Jeonju City specified the K-food hub and declared the following ‘Jeonju Declaration on K-Food: Creating Value and Sustainability’ on June 16, 2022. Declaring that Jeonju food is K-food, we intend to promote the continuous globalization of K-food by creating various values such as national, historical/culture, commercial/industrial, and health/nutritional values.