■ “I learned it at the dining table” Korean affection (情) The Korean dining table that has captured the taste buds of people all over the world! Meet the diverse flavors and our unique affection that has melted into the dining table! For the missionaries who first arrived in Joseon, our dining table was a new world. The mountain-like piles of rice and the various side dishes on small plates were unique, but the most impressive thing was the affection of the Joseon people contained in the food. The tradition of welcoming guests continues to this day, and with the addition of the Korean Wave, the number of foreigners who love Korean food has increased remarkably. Some are into the fermented soybean paste culture, such as doenjang, gochujang, and soy sauce, while others are into kimchi. They explore unique tastes with curious eyes and share a dining table with people they meet in Korea, becoming immersed in the unique affection and culture of our people. This week’s [Korean Dining Table] sheds new light on the value of the Korean dining table through the eyes of foreigners. This week’s broadcast will be narrated by actress Kim Min-ja, wife of Choi Bul-am, who has gone on his first vacation in 14 years, following last week’s episode. She, who watches [Korean Table] without fail, said that she was able to understand our table more deeply through narration. She said that she read the script of the broadcast carefully, pressing down on each character, just like rice that becomes sweeter the more you press it. Since this program talks about the affection of Koreans through the table, we are looking forward to that fantastic combination even more. ■ Learning about the affection contained in the table! - Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do We met Les Timmermans (43 years old), who is busy with farm work from early in the morning in Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do, located 700 meters above sea level. He looks like a foreigner, but his attire is unmistakably that of a Korean farmer. Originally from Canada, he worked as a native English teacher in Korea before meeting his wife, Kim Su-jin (53 years old), getting married, and settling down. 15 years have passed in the blink of an eye. Now that he speaks Korean quite well and has become accustomed to country life, he has planted various crops in his garden, which he says are all for his vegetarian wife, Su-jin. Mr. Les is trying to make potato pancakes that go well with the sudden pouring rain. His secret recipe is to add buckwheat flour to finely ground potatoes. In fact, Mr. Les is a craft beer brewer in the mountains. Mr. Les and his wife head off somewhere with their homemade beer. Their neighbors, Joo Young-jong (76 years old) and Seo Yeon-won (79 years old), warmly welcome them. They have been farming for 20 years and have helped the couple settle down in the countryside. In particular, Joo Young-jong has become Mr. Les’s cooking teacher who loves Korean food. The dish Mr. Les will learn today is pork spine and bean soup, a favorite dish in Pyeongchang! He boils pork bones thoroughly and removes the meat one by one, and carefully boils them with finely ground beans and seasoned cabbage. The pork spine and bean soup dish is so complicated and labor-intensive that you can see the warm affection Koreans pour on the table while cooking. Mr. Les feels more secure because he has a wife and neighbors who can be with him even though he is in an unfamiliar land. We meet a table where the taste is doubled and affection deepens when shared with him. ■ Meet Korea, a country overflowing with affection! – Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul In the past, Korean food was strongly perceived as a fermented food with a strong aroma, but today, along with the Korean Wave, the status of Korean food is also rising. Now that it has established itself as a global food, the love of foreigners for Korean food is growing day by day. At Gyeongdong Market, the largest traditional market in Seoul, foreigners of various nationalities gather with shopping baskets to browse the market. Kim Min-sun (38 years old) leads them. She is a Korean chef who introduces various Korean ingredients to foreign tourists and even teaches them how to cook. After purchasing the ingredients for cooking, they arrive at Kim Min-sun’s cooking lab, where they will hold a cooking class. They can fully experience the taste of traditional Korean food by making fragrant lotus leaf rice steamed with seasonal lotus leaves, japchae, soybean paste stew, and kimchi pancake. For them, Min-sun’s mother makes pickled vegetables on the spot to give them a new taste. From Korean culture encountered in the market to food on the table, what does Korea look like when viewed from a different perspective? We spend time with people who have encountered another world with curiosity. ■ Fall in love with the charm of Korean food! - Tongyeong-si, Gyeongsangnam-do Korean food enthusiasts have appeared in Tongyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do, where large and small islands decorate the