By Priscilla Osaje
An influencer, Mr Victor Mac-adonai, has emerged winner of the third edition of the 2026 ‘Hansik’ (Korean food) contest final round held in Abuja, after beating seven other teams,carting home a 300 and 40 litre LG fridge.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the contest is gradually becoming an annual staple offering of the Korean Cultural Centre Nigeria(KCCN) and this year’s focus lied in promoting the authenticity of Korean dishes and taste among Nigerians.
Korean Hansik contest stands as an opportunity to sharpen the skills of these contestants as a way to bridge skill gap, and the contest is widely celebrated for its freshness, varieties, well-seasoned ingredients, deliciousness and high health benefits.
The contest, which was held on Saturday with the theme:’ The Soul of Hansik’, focused on Jang-based Korean Food and the event also featured Hansik exhibition, photobooth, K-pop, chopsticks challenge, raffle draw, games among others.
The competition, which was organised by KCCN had eight finalists with two teammates and Mac-adonai emerging as winner.
The competition was based on Jang Korean Sauces that featured Korean foods tasting such as Jeyuk bokkeum spicy pork stir-fry), Kongnamul Muchim (seasoned soybean sprouts), Kimchi Jjigae(Reddish Kimchi stew).
Others were Doenjang Jjigae ( soybean paste stew),, Maekjeo(Doenjang-marinated pork) among others by Nigerians that are lovers of Korean culture.
Mac-adonai, who expressed excitement over his victory, said he was so passionate about Korean culture, adding that the cooking competition was amazing starting from the preparatory class.
According to him, the judges selected those that will make it to the final round at the first stage for their Korean dishes which they prepared at home.
He said that for the past two years, women have been the only ones coming first, stressing that his ultimate goal was just to make history by being the first male to win Hansik, because ‘what a man can do, a woman can do it better”.
“I prepared Maekjeok which was a very ancient Korean recipe using Doenjang. I also made Doenjang-Jjigae, which is my main dish and Doenjang-Jjigae is also known as the soul of Kore.
“When I did my research, I discovered that a particular dish will help me make history at Hansik in becoming the first man to win.
“This year was not fusion, it is pure Korean dishes. But the fact that the soul of Hansik is Jang, I decided to work with Doenjang-Jjigae, which is the first Jang sauce that was ever made in Korea.
” My side dish was MaekJeok using Doenjang and then using Gochujang. My focus right now is to start creating a Nigerian brand of Ramyeon in Nigeria.
“The production will be in Korea and then the branding will be in Nigeria,” he said .
He added that being an influencer and a honorary reporter made him to keep making videos on Korean culture and writing articles on Korean culture with passion.
” I just want to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to KCCN for being present in my country my own motherland,” he said.
Ms Faith Oluwasegun, came second, winning 42 litre LG microwave oven while Ms Favour Datiloe who came third, took home a blender and airflyer.
Speaking at the Hansik Contest final round award , Ms Yinjin Lee, KCCN Event Planner/ Programme Officer, said the 2026 edition initially had 20 contestants before the online preliminary courses, where they later explained their passion and show the video of their cooking procedures before the eight best contestants were invited to the final round.
” The 2025 Hansik contest was bigger than this year’s because of the Korean expo, then we had the opportunity to invite more contestants.
” We focused more on the authenticity of Hansik. The theme was ‘ Soul of Hansik’ , which focus on infusion that made creativity basic.
“This year , we decided to do the soul of Hansik by bringing the contestants to actually see how they can come with the actual Hansik , by creating awareness of Korean food due to lack of Korean food restaurant in Abuja,” she said.
Chef Godfrey Mario, Vice President , Association of Professor Chef in Nigeria (APCN)North Central, said they tried to infused foreign ingredients with what they have in Nigeria.
Mario said that the most important thing was the ability of the contestants to utilised all the recipes that the Koreans introduced.
” This is my third time serving as one of the chief judges in this contest, but one of the key things is the team relevance.
“Over the years, we have not heard people utilisng it effectively and efficiently. But in this third edition, the contestants were able to infuse, not just using them.
“But infuse them with some other things that we have in Nigeria in order to promote agricultural produce.
“The first prize winner was able to do an intensive research as regard to the Korean culture. He did not just utilise the ingredient, but tried as much as possible to introduce other future,” he said.
NAN reports that the peak of the event was the celebration of the graduation of Kpop students who had studied for eight weeks.(NAN)
Edited by Joseph Edeh
