Two 'Busan Bansang' table settings developed from 72 B-FOOD recipes

This year's theme: 'A Busan table set by Busan's chefs'

The Busan Landscape Bansang and Busan Nature Bansang table settings [Provided by Busan city government]
The Busan Landscape Bansang and Busan Nature Bansang table settings [Provided by Busan city government]

The Busan city government announced Thursday that it has developed two "Busan Bansang" table settings — a curated meal presentation capturing the city's local ingredients and food culture — drawing on 72 B-FOOD recipes created over the past three years.

The city launched its B-FOOD recipe development project in 2023, building a library of 72 recipes: 23 banquet-style dishes in 2023, 25 bansang-style dishes in 2024 and 24 bite-sized foods in 2025.

This year, rather than adding new individual recipes, the city expanded the project's focus toward developing a complete "distinctly Busan meal" using existing recipes and local ingredients. The goal is to create signature Busan food content that restaurants and tourism programs can adopt.

This year's B-FOOD theme is "A Busan table set by Busan's chefs," presenting a single spread that applies diverse cooking techniques and complementary ingredients to Busan's local produce within the traditional Korean bansang — a full table-setting format.

Sixteen trainees from the "Korean cuisine specialist course for chefs" run by the BCL (Busan Culinary Lab) Academy, a talent-development program of the Busan Economic Promotion Agency, took part in the development. Chefs specializing in Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Western cuisine formed teams to analyze existing B-FOOD recipes and assemble new table settings using Busan ingredients.

Beginning in July, the teams worked through menu planning and cooking practice sessions to develop four candidate Busan Bansang proposals, from which two table settings were selected. After further refinement through tasting and evaluation sessions with officials — assessing flavor, composition and cooking methods — the two finalized Busan Bansang sets are to be presented at the Busan International Food Expo from Friday through Sunday.

During the event, a public tasting and evaluation program will be held to gather feedback from residents. Based on the results, the city plans to distribute and promote the recipes for use in restaurants and tourism settings.

"We will work to ensure that the Busan Bansang — which embodies Busan's local ingredients and the creative cooking of its chefs — takes root as food content that spreads the taste of Busan across restaurants, tourism and other venues," said Cho Gyu-yul, the city's director of public health.


kaf2002@heraldcorp.com