ABU DHABI // The smell of ginger, spring onion, chili powder and fish sauce mixed with the salty ocean breeze on Friday as visitors to the Korean Festival learned to make kimchi along the Corniche.
Organisers estimated that the festival, which began last month and continues until November 11, has attracted about 10,000 people to date.
“It’s been great. This year is the biggest year,” said Eunjee Kim, spokeswoman for the Korean Culture Centre, which hosts the festival along with the embassy of the Republic of Korea.
In earlier years, the event was confined to the National Theatre, but its growing popularity called on organisers to offer activities at other venues, including the Corniche beach, UAE University in Al Ain and Intercontinental Abu Dhabi.
“We organised more outdoors activities, workshops that people can try, which have a more festive feel, like games,” said Ms Kim. “Even the food, we have different stations so people feel like it’s street food.”
Popular dishes included dakgangjeong – crispy fried chicken balls with sweet and spicy sauce – and teokbalbi, barbecued beef ribs marinated in a sweet and salty sauce.
For dessert, the pan fried Korean sweet pancake, hotteok, doused in a sweet syrup sold, well, like hot cakes.
But before satisfying their tastebuds, visitors worked up an appetite trying the activities. Dozens lined up at the hanbok tent where they got to dress up in traditional Korean formal wear, consisting of a short jacket and long wrap-around skirt.
“Everyone wants to try it because you don’t find it anywhere else in the UAE, this is the only chance they get to try the hanbok,” said Najla Al Aydoors, an Emirati university student who volunteered at the festival helping guests tie on hanboks.
“It’s a good experience, now I know another tradition and I can teach it to other people. It’s not my tradition, but I know how to wear it, fix it, everything. It’s so pretty and it’s elegant.”
Aysha Al Mansoori, a young Emirati who volunteered at the Korean calligraphy stand, dipped a long wooden paintbrush into a dish of thick black ink then slowly stroked the brush on a white sheet of paper.
“You need to focus on it because you need to keep your hand steady,” said Ms Al Mansoori as she wrote visitors’ names in the Korean alphabet.
“It’s really an art, and I love to do art.”
Nearby, a crowd of spectators roared as a wrestler pulled his opponent’s body to the sandy ground securing his victory at the ssrireum, or Korean wrestling, demonstration.
In another game, called tuho, children given five wooden arrows to throw inside one of three narrow wooden buckets. The game is an ancient tradition, having been a part of Korean culture since the 12th century, organisers said.
Eunhye Kim, a Korean who lives in Abu Dhabi said, the festival offered her and other Koreans a chance to reconnect with their culture.
“For me, I wanted my daughter to experience Korean culture,” Mrs Kim said of her two-year-old daughter, Claire. “She is wearing a hanbok costume and she sees the same costumes over there and she gets very excited.”
Helena Houle, a Canadian friend of Mrs Kim, said she went for the food and festive atmosphere.
“It’s definitely more accessible for people at the Corniche, and you’re outside, you have the sun coming down, it’s really nice,” said Mrs Houle. “There are a lot of options of Korean food, and I love it.”
The festival resumes at 4pm on Sunday at the UAEU in Al Ain and 2pm November 10 and 11 at Intercontinental Abu Dhabi.
rpennington@thenational.ae