"Upscale Korean food is something the students can really experience with this event," says Lee, who was outfitted in a black and yellow hanbok, a voluminous traditional Korean dress, that her mother sent to her for the occasion.
This is the second year Drexel has offered the course from Lee and cooking school instructor Adrienne Hall, funded by the Korean government to promote its native cuisine.
And the timing couldn't be better, as, government efforts or not, the cuisine of this Asian country has been inching into the culinary spotlight over the last few years.
Korean-born celebrity chef David Chang has popularized ethnic mash-ups such as Honeycrisp apple kimchi through his group of Momofuku restaurants in Manhattan. He also serves a food-geek-famous fried chicken dinner, complete with Korean-style chicken, that guests clamor for.
On the West Coast, the L.A.-based food truck Kogi Korean BBQ, helmed by chef Roy Choi, started a national frenzy with kimchi quesadillas and Korean tacos (you'll find similar versions all over Philly now at places such as Giwa and Ladder 15).
Both chefs have been lauded in national media. And Korean-based fast-food chains such as BonChon Chicken have been steadily popping up in New York and out West.
"Korean food is something that never really blossomed in the U.S.," says Lee, who came from her native country to the States to get her Ph.D. in food science. But, she said, that is starting to change: "People are always looking for new flavors and it's not just bulgogi and kimchi."
The Korea Agro-Fisheries Trade Corp., a Korean government-owned public corporation with offices in New York City, is charged with spreading Korean flavors Stateside.
