Known as the “Taste City”, Jeonju is a city renowned for its gastronomy and food industry. With its long- standing tradition in the production of rice cultivated on the Honam Plain, fish and salted fish from the Yellow Sea, fresh vegetables and wild greens from the mountains, Jeonju is recognized as a reference for high quality traditional Korean food.
The city has made continual efforts to protect traditional food culture and develop the gastronomy sector.
To support the development of the traditional food culture, Jeonju offers various traditional food and cooking programmes at universities, high schools and private institutions. The city also created the Creative Culinary Institute of Korea and the Bibimbap Globalization Foundation through innovative partnerships involving the public and the private sectors. Additionally, Jeonju’s infrastructure enables the city to host various food festivals including the Jeonju Bibimbap Festival and the International Fermented Food Expo, thus contributing to the internationalization of traditional Korean food, while also establishing a model for sustainable development for the food industry of the 21st century.
As a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, Jeonju will develop the food industry together with other Cities of Gastronomy from around the world through sustainable partnerships and collaborations based on its rich cultural heritage in traditional food.
Contribution to the network
As a Creative City of Gastronomy, Jeonju envisages:
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continuing to be actively engaged in collaborating and networking with cities around the world to promote cultural diversity and sustainable development
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strengthening exchanges with the Cities of Gastronomy in particular through specific agreements
- participating in international forums and the UCCN’s annual meetings
- continuing to support local culinary masters and chefs to further develop the creative gastronomy sector
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pursuing close collaboration with the private sector in order to host a wide array of forums and symposiums intended to stimulate the implementation of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network’s goals
- strengthening collaborative partnerships among the UNESCO Creative Cities based on the rich experiences accumulated by Jeonju over the years
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Facts and figures
Area:
206 km2 (0.2% of Korea)
Inhabitants:
City 657,293 (Jan 2018)
Temperature:
ø January °C 1
ø July °C 25
Certifications:
Designated Unesco Creative City since 2012
Designated cittaslow 2010 (First Int. Urban Slow City in the world)
Designated unicef chlid friendly cities 2017
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International Symposium on UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy 2013
Consultative Group for Korean UNESCO Creative Cities (6 cities) launched 2015~2016
Jeonju international symposium on UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy 2016
Invitation of Asian UNESCO Creative Cities for exchanges on traditional food and culture 2017
Jeonju World Slow Forum & Slow Award 2017
Jeonju Bibimbap Festival
Oktober 2018, Jeonju’s largest Festival
About Jeonju
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