Experiencing Korean culture through its food is one of the great joys for visitors to the both the peninsula and Korean restaurants around the world. Korean food’s diverse flavors and superb presentation come from the focus on balancing yin and yang, spicy and cool, sweet and salty. Its remarkable nutritional value reflects the Korean people’s firm belief that food is medicine. Korea is roughly the size of Greece, but incredibly, owing to the isolation caused by the mountainous environment, each region has unique specialty dishes, which use ingredients local to that area. The more you sample regional specialties, the more intriguing Korean food becomes. Luckily, you can explore Korean food without going too far, as Korea hosts a wide selection of food festivals throughout the year. Here are some events featuring traditional Korean food as well as a wide range of international cuisines. The Hoengseong Hanu Festival is held to promote the excellent quality of Hoengseong hanu, a breed of cattle raised in Korea. Hoengseong’s hanu enjoys a nation-wide reputation for strict quality management. The highly prized meat with a tender texture and an excellent flavor is typically used in pricey beef dishes. However, visitors to the festival can taste a variety of hanu dishes at special prices as well as experience the rural farm culture that is unfamiliar to most city folks.