In Geumsan-gun, the hometown of ginseng, the Festival of Samgyetang (Korea's representative health food) is to be held for three days from July 7 (Fri). Samgyetang is a dish made by adding ginseng to chicken and is especially popular as a health food in summer. In Korea, there is a long traditional custom of eating Samgyetang on the hottest days of the year.
As in Samgyetang, ginseng is the most important ingredient along with chicken, during the Festival, many visitors prefer and enjoy Samgyetang dishes with a variety of excellent flavors added with Geumsan ginseng, the best one in Korea, at a lower price than the market. Besides Samgyetang, new dishes like ginseng chicken pork soup, ginseng chicken meatballs, etc are introduced, and snack menus such as fried ginseng, ginseng chicken skewers, and ginseng takoyaki are to be served through food trucks.
In particular, dishes using sesame leaves, which have recently gained popularity as a special product of Geumsan and boast the highest production volume in the country, are newly presented, and fusion foods such as rice with sesame leaf toppings, sesame leaf jelly, and sesame leaf hot bar are also newly provided.
Starting with the opening ceremony at 7:00 pm on the first day, the performance stage that will cool the summer night is held every day, including the Summer Cool Concert, Geumsan Tropical Night Concert, and the National Summer Song Festival. In addition, there are Samcance (ginseng+vacance) water playground, a family summer culture program, a Geumsan medicinal herbs market, and a Geumsan Samgye cooking class, as well as a night view and photo zone tour.
In particular, the first Samgye Lunchbox National Cooking Contest is to be held with much attention as 20 teams from all over the country compete to develop lunchbox menus that anyone can easily enjoy at convenience stores.
Park Beom-in, Mayor of Geumsan-gun, said, "We will do our best to help visitors take care of their health and have memories through the Geumsan Samgyetang Festival as a representative summer health food festival in Korea." and called for more interest in the diverse menus and products of Geumsan ginseng.
