My Second Visit to the Daegu Chimaek Festival

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My visit this year to the annual Daegu Chimaek Festival marked the second time visiting this hugely popular event and, I have to say, it was bigger and better than ever.

Cheers to another successful Daegu Chimaek Festival!

For the first time, our Embassy had a booth at the festival distributing fried chicken and waffles.  The booth featured a demonstration of how to cook U.S.-style fried chicken by the talented American chef, Sarah Labensky.  The sweet and savory combination of chicken and waffles is a popular dish in the United States, particularly in the South, and has been passed down from generation to generation.  Today it is often served in specialty restaurants all around the country.  Our booth space was also shared with Budweiser, the U.S. Egg & Poultry Council, and the U.S. Potato Association of Korea.  This year I noticed a good number of Americans who came to enjoy the festival, which means that word is getting out about this great event.

Our U.S. Booth at the Daegu Chimaek Festival

This is how a simple chicken & waffles dish looks like!

The turnout at our booth was immense, and we could hardly keep up with all of the food orders.  But people were willing to wait in long lines, despite the sweltering summer heat, for the chance to sample the U.S. offerings.  Last year, I wore a suit to the festival, but I decided this year to wear something more appropriate for the hot weather and I’m very glad that I did!  But despite the soaring temperatures, I had a great time meeting new people and enjoying the delicious food.

I was also able to visit several other booths, including Tang Tang Chicken and KyoChon Chicken.  Our good friends from the Philippines had a booth at the festival as well, which was great to see.  I also got to meet the K-pop group Sistar, and had a great time with Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin who is a good friend of mine.

Having fun at the Daegu Chimaek Festival

Thank you Mayor Kwon (in the middle) for the invitation!

I want to thank everyone at the Embassy booth for all of their hard work and congratulate the festival organizers for its huge success.  My best regards as well to all of the chimaek fans out there who attended this year’s festival.  It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity for both Koreans and Americans alike to connect over their shared love of chicken and beer! 


2 comments:

  1. The world community is deeply concerned about the levels of cruelty of South Korea with the illegal trade in dogs and cats.

    Please talk to Korean authorities to end this macabre practice... We must put pressure across South Korea!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was good to see hometown again on new perspective!

    ReplyDelete

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