CULINARY

Bukchon is an area between Seoul's two principle palaces that was once reserved only for nobility. You will learn the history and distinctive features of the beautiful traditional wooden courtyard homes here. For lunch you will be introduce to royal cuisine. Developed mostly during the neo-Confucian Joseon dynasty (1392 - 1910), this is a self-contained food style in the traditional canon. Its highly refined dishes are imbued with deep symbolism echoing a wide range of traditional thought. After lunch, we visit the National Museum. Its ceramics collection displays not only earthenware fermentation jars used from the dawn of Korean civilization, but also the exquisite celadon porcelain designs, developed towards the end of the first millennium that continue to underpin the Korean dining experience. Our dinner this evening is very relaxed. Under the tutelage of our food expert, we head to Gwangjang market to sample some delicious street food. Here you will learn that not all rice cakes are created equally!

You will start the day with a pleasant stroll along the wide paths of the gently hilled royal family's secret garden. Less well known is that this ornamental garden was originally designed with vegetables patches to cultivate food for the royal kitchen. This is the fare that incorporates our temple lunch where you will sample Buddhist vegan food that, like Royal Cuisine, contains much symbolic meaning. In the afternoon, you will be introduced to our selection of tableware shops. In Korea, ceramics lie on the border between fine art and homeware as seen by some shops containing private museum areas with restricted access. This level of sophistication will be evidenced in our evening meal at a highly-rated Michelin restaurant.

We arrive at Jeonju, home of the bibimpab dish and widely acclaimed as country's gastronomical capital. This is primarily for the quality of the ingredients, particularly the fermented sauces. The hanok or traditional village lying in the city center is where master artisans and chefs are based. After a tour of the artisans in this area, including the manufacture of alcoholic beverages such as soju and makgeolli (different forms of rice wine), you will be taken for a kimchi -(fermented cabbage) making lesson in a traditional courtyard building. What else could there be for dinner but bibimbap.

This morning you will learn from a Jang Master to make three of the fermented sauces that lie at the heart of Korean cuisine, namely doenjang (soybean paste), gochujang (chili paste), and ganjang (soy sauce). For lunch you will enjoy a hanjungsik meal, a traditional and plentiful repast with a wide variety of banchan (usually vegetable side-dishes). After lunch, you will drive to Busan, Korea's modern coastal city.

Haenyeo Female divers emigrated from Jeju island to other coastal areas in Korea and even as far as Russia. There are a group near Busan whom you will meet to learn about this unique traditional profession where the women gather seafood from the ocean floor while their husbands mind the house. After, a local chef will tour you around Korea's largest seafood market introducing the various foods and inviting you to choose your own delicious seafood lunch there. On a famous coastal, cliff-hugging hike you will be able to admire the ocean cliffs, sand beaches and small islands that comprise this handsome, modern city. In the evening, you will sample a local pork soup delicacy at a Michelin restaurant.

On the way to Gyeongju, the capital of a unified Buddhist Korean kingdom in the first millennium, we will stop at Bulguk Temple to admire one of Korea's most famous stone Buddhas. Once in Gyeongju you will have a chance to eat at a beautiful restaurant set in a traditional garden that incorporates the royal recipes of the Silla dynasty (57BCE to 935).In the afternoon, you will stroll through the 23 royal Silla tombs, entering the one that has been excavated, and then go to see their precious gold artifacts in the local museum. For dinner this evening, you will have the opportunity to taste abalone in two popular forms; in a subtle rice porridge (one of Korea's most popular comfort foods) and barbequed.

Your multiday tour of Korea has introduced you to the country's main cultural sites as well as the extensive range of culinary canons within the body of local Korean cuisine. You will have tasted the fermented sauces of the first millennium in Gyeongju, had a lesson in the popular sauces developed in Jeonju, eaten two different eras of royal cuisine and enjoyed Korean fusion food in Seoul amongst other fun culinary experiences.