This restaurant is an essential component of the Urban Foodshed Seoul that looks at the future of the city of Seoul through the lens of food—which results from the interaction of water, land, air, and energy—as well as problems surrounding its production, distribution, consumption and recycling. Four of the top chefs from Eden restaurant in Chennai will reside in Seoul during the Biennale, offering vegetarian dishes from southern India at the restaurant. Every Saturday, farmers, botanists, entomologists, soil biologist, environmentalists, administrators, etc. will eat together with visitors and discuss food related issues, such as urban farming, biodiversity, seed sovereignty, farming and climate change, genetically modified food, shrinking bee populations, and sustainable agriculture. 
A variety of dishes from Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine to dishes made with Korean weeds, wild beans, and native ingredients will be prepared for this themed dinners by different chefs depending on the cuisine. 

The number of attendees will be limited for all meals, so you must make reservations through the Biennale website.

On display in the restaurant will be a seed library, videos on various issues related to  food production, distribution, consumption and recycling in Korea and abroad. Among these, a range of alternatives already in practice in India, Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean—namely regions that are already experiencing chronic water scarcity and the severe impact of climate change that Seoul may experience in the not too distant future—will be introduced. And lastly, the garden of box planters, rainwater reservoirs, compost, beehives, and honeybee fountain installed in the front yard of the restaurant will work together to supply some of the vegetables and herbs used in the restaurant. 

Date

Title

Theme

Description

Sept. 1

(Fri)

Indian Night

VIP Reception

Menu : South Indian Finger Foods (Vegetarian)

Host : His Excellency the Ambassador of India

to ROK & Inko Centre

Music : Rushi Vakil Band

Sept. 3

(Sun)

Under the Olive Trees

Agriculture and

Climate Change

Menu : Greek Foods  

​

Talk : Nicolas Netien 
           (Atsas Organic Farm)
 
“Going Beyond Sustainable: The Global Case for Agro-ecology”

​

Host : Melina Nicolaides

            (EM/MENA Project curator)

Interpretation: Kyunghee Lee 

Sept. 16

(Sat)

Forests on the Plate

Alternative Food Source, Food Foraging, Soil Resilience

Menu : dishes made of wild plants 
Host & Chef : Yu Heejung

                          (Principal, Weeds School)

Talk : Kang Byunghwa (botanist) 

“Wild Plants : Soil Regenerators and Future Food Resources"

Sept. 23

(Sat)

 Tofu Summit 

Soybean, GMOs & food resources 

Menu : Stir fried tofu skin (China), tofu sushi (Japan), soybean congee (Korea), Wild soybean milk, etc 
    
Talk : Gyuhwa Chung

         (Agrobiologist, Jeonnam University) 

"Origin of Soybean and Wild Soybean as Genetic Resource" 
  
Host : Hojun Song

Oct. 7

(Sat)

Heirloom Gala

Seed Sovereignty & Biodiversity

Menu : dishes made with heirloom crops & greens

​

Talk : Yunkyung Choi (urban farmer/seed banker),

"Urban Farming for Seed Saving"
 

Host & Chef : Yunkyung Choi

Oct. 14

(Sat)

Urban Herbivores

Urban Farming and Vegetarianism

Menu : Vegetarian meals made with greens from urban farms 

​

Talk : Imbong Song

          (Former Director of Urban Farming Division,            Seoul Metropolitan Government)

​

"Urban Farmers in Seoul"

​

Host : Meehyang Choi (urban farmer) 

Oct. 21

(Sat)

Multinational 
Dinner 

Multinational 
Food & Water Industry

Menu : Dishes made with imported foods available in Seoul 
 
Talk : Amita Baviskar

          (Sociologist, Institute of Economic Growth,              Delhi) 

​

“Consumer Citizenship: The Social Life of Industrial Foods in India, focusing on Maggi Noodle”

​

Host: Rathi Jafer (Director of InKo Centre) &                      Hojun Song (Artist)

Interpretation: Kyunghee Lee

Oct. 28

(Sat)

Spam Commons

Food legacies of the US militarism and security alliance in Asia

Menu : Okinawa Onigiri (Japan), Uijeongbu Army Stew and THAAD melon (South Korea), Pineapple Rice (Philippines). 

Talk : Kyungbum Park (Farmer)
   

"Honey, Melon and THAAD"
 

Host : Suyeon Yun, Matthew Hines

Nov. 4

(Sat)

 Fridge Digging

Food Surplus & Redistribution

Menu : Foods prepared with ingredients salvaged from the biennale restaurant and its garden. So, it depends.

Talk : Eden Chefs, Urban Foodshed Artists and Curator

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Date

Time

Title

Theme

Demonstrator

Aug. 31

11:00am - 1:30pm

Sept. 1

1:00pm - 4:30pm

Sept. 2~10

11:00am - 2:00pm

Solar Cooking

Food and energy

Savvas Hadjixenophontos
(Inventor)

Aug. 31

11:00am - 1:30pm

Sept. 1

3:00pm - 4:30pm

Atsas Oil

Sept. 2

3:30pm - 5:00pm

Tasting & Testing olive oil 

Nicolas Netien  

(Atsas Organic Farm, Cyprus)

Date

Time

Location

Title

Lecturer

Sept. 15

3:00pm - 5:00pm

2F

Bees and the Future of Agriculture 

Dr. Youngsu Choi 

(Honeybee expert, National Institute of Agricultural Science)

Sept. 30

3:30pm - 5:30pm

2F

GMO and Food Sovereignty

Talk : Heesik Jeon
Moderator : Jien Chang

Oct. 20

3:00pm - 5:00pm

2F

Edible Insects

Research in Korea

Dr. Kwangho Choi

(Silkworm expert, National Institute of Agricultural Science)