▲ Chef Laurent Dallet, second from left, patissier Lee Hyun-hee, second from right, and their culinary teams demonstrate how to cook the creative dishes they prepared for the JFWF during the Grand Kitchen with Masters, a program for students, at Halla Unive

The Jeju Food and Wine Festival (JFWF), which was held for the second time this year, is an offspring of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival (HFWF) that is entering its seventh year.

The JFWF was inspired by the Hawaiian festival, adopting and emulating the same format -- inviting overseas chefs to cook with local ingredients. It also donates its proceeds (from ticket sales) to Halla University and several culinary institutes, the way HFWF donates its profits for the development of the culinary arts in Hawaii. The two islands have been sister islands since 1986 and last year celebrated the 30th anniversary of their sisterhood.

The JFWF plans to continue with the same format -- fostering culinary talent, promoting Jeju's food and ingredients and expanding the culinary horizon.

"Persistence and sustainability are keys to the direction of the JFWF moving forward," Chung Moon-sun, chief director of JFWF, who is the vice president of Hyundai BNG Steel, said. "If we thought we would do this as a one-time event, we wouldn't even have started. What's important is to sustain, develop and continue the event. It's important that the festival stays faithful to its function."

Chung was the key figure in establishing the event.

"I want the festival to play a positive role in the community and in the region," he said. "I hope the festival will positively influence the culinary industry as well as help promote the region and foster young talent."

When asked whether he thought the festival had contributed to invigorating the regional economy, he said: "It depends on how you view it, but the festival involves a vast amount of local producers, restaurants and hotels."

But rather than gathering a huge crowd, Chung envisioned the festival settling as a strong identity, slowly getting known by word of mouth and lasting for decades. 

"We're thinking about it in a systems perspective," he said. "We want this to last like many of the world's food and wine festivals that have continued for decades. We invite noted chefs because they're opinion leaders who can spread the word.

"It can't be evaluated with short-term achievements, but the reaction this year is different from last year. Sponsors are responding differently. Despite the fact that I used my personal connections to attract sponsorship last year, I had a hard time explaining the event.

"But seeing last year's event and getting an idea of what the festival is like, they easily agreed to sponsor this year's festival. It's like a snowballing effect. In the beginning, the snowball is small and rolls slowly but as it gains momentum, it grows larger quickly."

Initially, the JFWF was planned as a local festival unique to Jeju. But would there be any chance of moving it? Chung said yes.

"Of course that wasn't the initial plan," he said. "We still have areas to improve and develop here in Jeju. But after holding the festival, we thought it would be great to hold it in other locations as well. We have the know-how, but we don't want to limit it to Jeju. But it wouldn't be Seoul because there are so many similar events in the city. It wouldn't be meaningful. We need to discover regions that need to be promoted."

An important factor in choosing the location is the availability of ingredients and the surrounding environment. One of the candidates is Gangwon Province.

"Gangwon Province has great natural produce and many good restaurants, along with great tourism resources," Chung said. "It suits well with the purpose of the festival which is to promote local ingredients and improve the quality of travel.

"Gangwon Province needs more content like this. Also, it's a destination which is seasonally affected. The number of visitors peaks during the summer and autumn season, but in between, it doesn't do much. It would be great to hold this festival during the off season.

"We wanted to hold the festival there this year with the upcoming Olympics in mind, but with the political turmoil in the country last year, we decided to hold back. If we want to hold it there next year, we need to start preparing this year. It takes time because we need to get the local government's support. But it could happen."