In Collaboration with CEAS and the Korea Agro-Fishereies Food & Trade Corporation
On September 26th, the Korean studies faculty successfully wrapped up the final cook-off event of the “Campus Kimchi Masters” scholarship contest. This month-long event was a special collaboration between the Department of East Asian Studies, the Center for East Asian Studies and the Korea Agro-Fisheries Food & Trade Corporation (aT Center Los Angeles). For this special collaboration to promote K-Food and K-Culture globally, aT Center Los Angeles awarded scholarships totaling $3,000 to the winners of the contest.
In the weeks leading up to the main event, U of A students, staff, and faculty entered recipes featuring Korean kimchi—ranging from familiar to reimagined dishes—for a chance to be selected as a finalist to compete in the cook off at the main campus event.
This unique, hands-on cross-cultural exploration of K-Culture was covered by a local journalist in a feature story for the Tucson Sentinel.
The eight finalists were:
Arianne Law – Junior, Operations and Supply Chain Management & East Asian Studies
Ariel Heinrich – Junior, Microbiology, with Minors in East Asian Studies & Molecular and Cellular Biology
Hyunjin Yang – Junior, Exchange Student from Seoul National University, Sociology
Lily Nicole Jones – Junior, East Asian Studies & Religious Studies
Meagan Rausch – Freshman, Political Science & East Asian Studies
Seina Okamoto – Junior, International Student from Japan, Linguistics
Shu-Chien Yang – Graduate Student, East Asian Studies
Syriana Coronado – Freshman, Neuroscience and Cognitive Science & Molecular and Cellular Biology
The main event of September 26th took place in Bear Down Gym and featured special talks by Dr. Wooje Lee from the World Institute of Kimchi, James Beard Award semifinalist Chef Ji Hye Kim, and Chef Richard Park—as well as performances from U of A’s very own K-Pop dance team, UnderSkore.
During the highlight of the event—the cook off—the eight finalists whipped up their best kimchi recipes for a panel of judges that included Min Ho Kim, President of aT Center Los Angeles, our event speakers, Dr. Lee, Chef Kim, and Chef Park, and EAS Professors Sojung Chun, Sandra Park, Jieun Ryu, Joshua Schlachet, and Sunyoung Yang.
The third-place scholarship of $500 went to Arianne Law. The second-place scholarship of $1,000 went to Syriana Coronado. And the first-place scholarship of $1,500 went to Lily Jones.
Congratulations, Campus Kimchi Masters!
