DAEJEON, KOREA — The WACS 2012 Daejeon Congress Organizing Committee (Chairman: Mayor Yum Hong-chul of Daejeon Metropolitan City) announced today that the WACS 2012 Daejeon Congress will be held from May 1 through May 12, 2012 at Daejeon Convention Center, KOTREX and Expo Citizens Plaza in Daejeon.
Under the theme of ‘Hand Taste of Korean People!, Appetite of World Citizens!,’ the large scale food-related Congress will be held for 12 days, attended by more than 30,000 prominent chefs, sommeliers and cooks from over 97 countries including Korea.
Through the Congress, Korea will publicize attraction of traditional Korean foods and beverages to the world by introducing Korean foods and traditional rice wine, ‘maggoli.’
Major event of the Congress is the 35th biennial general assembly the World Association of Chefs Societies, the organization of chefs around the world. As the third congress to be held in Asia following those in Singapore and Kyoto, the general assembly in Daejeon is expected to be the largest event in its history. The general assembly will be held under a united theme, ‘How to Feed the Planet in the Future,’ and it will adopt the ‘Daejeon Declaration.’
Along with the WACS general assembly, major programs of the Congress will include the ‘Global Chef Challenge,’ one of food contests organized by the WACS for senior chefs, and the ‘Hans Bueschkens Young Chef Challenge’ for junior chefs with ages younger than 25 years. As the first contest, ‘Hans Bueschkens Young Chef Challenge’ will be the final match among representatives of 7 countries who are selected through preliminaries. These two contests will be held on May 3 and 4 on the first floor of the Daejeon Convention Center, respectively.
Between May 6 and 9, the Association of Sommelier International (ASI) will hold its general assembly and the Second Competition of Sommeliers in Asia and Oceania. It will be the ‘Sommelier Olympics’ in its real sense with attendance of more than 500 wine specialists and sommeliers from 45 countries.
In particular, the Second Competition of Sommeliers in Asia and Oceania set to be held in Daejeon is significant as the city was selected as the venue after heated competition with Hong Kong and Singapore following the first competition held in Osaka, Japan in 2009. At the competition, 23 representative sommeliers who are selected in 12 Asian and Oceania countries through fierce competition in their respective countries are expected to boast their talent and skills.
In addition, the 2012 International Food Fair-Korea (IFK), the first international-level food contest in Korea accredited by the WACS, will be held between May 1 and 5 at the Daejeon Convention Center. A total of 909 teams in 39 fields will vie with a large variety of foods.
At the same time, the Daejeon International Food Industry Exhibition will also be held at the same venue to provide chances of exchanging knowledge on foods and cooking of countries around the world, and introducing Korean foods through the Korean Food Pavilion.
The WACS 2012 Daejeon Congress is not a festival limited to chefs but also an arena of diversified and complex cultures that unites world's citizens into one with foods by providing them chances of enjoying best foods cooked by contest participants, performances of culture and arts of many countries, including Korea, and various experiencing activities.
The Congress will be hosted by the Daejeon Metropolitan City and Korea Cooks Association and organized by the WACS 2012 Daejeon Congress Organizing Committee, and its admission is free.
Videos related to the Congress are available on YouTube (http://youtu.be/O0vdcrVb8o8), and more detailed information on the Congress is available in the Website (http://www.wacs2012.org/).
