Winners have emerged at the second edition (2025) of the ‘Hansik’ (Korean food) contest final round held on Saturday in Abuja.
While Miss Deborah Olabelurin, clitched the first prize of N1 millioj and a trip to Korea, the first runner-up position went to Ms Igbayilola Olowu with N700,000 cash prize and Mrs Patience Berepele went home a cash prize of N400,000 for the first runner-up position.
HammerTimes reports that the event was organised by the Korea cultural Centre in Nigeria (KCCN) in collaboration with Korean Food Promotion Institute (KFPI), and support from the Embassy of Korea in Nigeria.
Speaking to Journalist after collecting her prize, the visibly excited Olabelurin said words alome were not enough for her to express her joy as the winner.
She further explained that what gave her the motivation was the extension of the deadline, stressing that she almost gave up contesting in the 2025 edition.
” Since I love cooking, I just said to myself that there is no harm in trying and here I am a winner.
” In this year’s contest, I decided to use more of the Korean ingredients, compared to 2024 where I used a bit of their ingredients.
” Since I have an Instagram cooking page, I will work more on the page inorder to push out more cooking content, as well as collaborating with KCCN to build community that will grow with food, ” she said.
The first runner-up, Olowu who is a student said the competition made her to love Korean culture more, adding that she is excited.
“I want to say a big thank you to KCCN for coming up with such initiative in Nigeria that had exposed us to their culture for good. I will start preparing Korean food for my family,” she said.
The first runner-up who won maiden edition of the competition in 2024 expressed gratitude to God for making it to the top three and getting a prize. She also appreciated KCCN for giving her another opportunity to participate.
Meanwhile, The Director of KCCN, Mr Kim Changki , said the contest was aimed at promoting Korean culture.
Changki said that the initiative had brought synergy between Nigerians and Koreans in many aspects, especially in their food culture.
He said that the Hansik contest would continue even after his tenure, stressing that the Korean Government was aware that Nigerians love their culture.
” We want Nigerians to enjoy Korean culture, the reason we allowed only them to participate in the competition and such will help to create job if we decide to have Korea restaurant in Abuja.
” Over 40 teams participated, but 12 teams with two teams that have teammates were able to reach the final round of the competition,” he said.
Similarly, Miss Yunjin Lee, Event Manager of KCCN, said that KCCN coming up with K-pop in this Hansik contest was to ensure a remarkable event that Nigerians could enjoy alongside with Korean food like Ramyun, Dakgangjeong, Japchae among others.
” In the 2025 edition, the participants are competing with the theme of ‘Jang’, which is the UNESCO related cultural and the Jang Korean dishes were prepared by the contestants.
“Korean food is not only with a good main dish, but we also eat together with a good side dish. Our winner, as well as other contestants did a good job in the competition.
” The Jang taste of the winner was really authentic, not only satisfying for the Korean people, also satisfied the judges who comprised of the Korean Ambassador, KCCN director, embassy chef and Nigerian chef that agreed with Olabelurin”s winning,” she said.
