Arirang TV is premiering a four-episode food and travel series designed to convert international interest in Korean cuisine into inbound tourism for Gyeongsangbuk-do province, with the first episode airing October 14 at 9:00 a.m. KST.
The series, titled "K-FOOD: Gyeongbuk Edition," runs every Wednesday for four weeks on Arirang TV and is simultaneously distributed via the BeMyKorea YouTube channel. Each episode is anchored in a separate city — Mungyeong, Pohang, Gyeongju and Andong — and structured as a "taste road variety" format that pairs regional signature dishes with heritage sites, natural landmarks and hands-on tourism experiences.
The Format
Six cast members divided into two teams travel each destination and document their experiences as social media content, a production approach explicitly engineered to reach younger global audiences through platforms they already use. Team A consists of broadcaster Kwon Hyuk-soo, singer Yujeong and Harin; Team B pairs Super Junior's Shindong with actress Lim Do-hwa and singer Seungwoo. The dual-team structure and social-content angle reflect a broader trend in food-media production: leveraging celebrity creators as distribution channels rather than relying solely on traditional broadcast reach.
Dishes and Destinations
The episode lineup maps specific dishes to each city. Mungyeong's episode features spicy freshwater fish stew and Yakdol pork alongside the Mungyeong Coal Museum and Saejae. Pohang's episode centers on snow crab and mulhoe — a chilled raw fish soup — paired with Yeongildae Beach and Jukdo Market. The Gyeongju episode covers the National Museum and Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond while exploring the culinary heritage of the ancient Silla capital. The Andong finale spotlights heotjesatbap, salted mackerel and jjimdak, set against Hahoe Folk Village and Andong Old Market.
This episode-by-episode mapping of dish to place is a deliberate strategy: the series positions food not as standalone content but as a gateway to regional tourism — a model increasingly adopted by destination marketing organizations in Asia competing for post-pandemic visitor spend. The K-food wave, which has accelerated alongside the global popularity of Korean pop culture, has historically concentrated economic benefit in Seoul; programming like this attempts to redistribute that attention to secondary cities and rural provinces.
Industry Implications
For food and beverage operators and tourism stakeholders in the Gyeongbuk region, the series represents low-cost global marketing at significant scale. Arirang TV broadcasts to more than 100 countries, and simultaneous YouTube distribution extends the series' reach beyond traditional broadcast audiences. The social-content element — cast members producing platform-native video and photos during filming — is designed to generate organic amplification beyond the show's own distribution.
The production model is also notable for what it signals about the maturation of K-food as a marketing category. As Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked, Korean cuisine has moved from niche interest to mainstream global category over the past decade, creating commercial opportunity for regional producers, exporters and foodservice operators well beyond the peninsula. Series like "K-FOOD: Gyeongbuk Edition" function as destination advertising with food as the primary hook — a format with proven traction in Japan and Southeast Asia that Korean broadcasters are now systematizing.
For importers and foodservice buyers monitoring consumer trends in Asian cuisines, the series offers a useful window into which regional dishes are being positioned for international audiences — and which local food producers are likely to see export inquiries as a result.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
