2026 Ulsan Food Culture Festival set for this weekend

The 2026 Ulsan Food Culture Festival, bringing together the city's culinary offerings in one place, will be held over two days — Friday and Saturday — at Section 4 of the Taehwagang National Garden riverside park in Nam-gu.

Organized by the Korea Food Service Industry Association's Ulsan Metropolitan City chapter, this year's festival carries the theme "Ulsan, Delicious!" and is designed to showcase the city's food resources and invigorate its dining industry.

The opening ceremony on Friday at 5 p.m. will feature a performance called "Ulsan Han Ssam," in which hansik master Park Kyung-ok, head of Mama's Home Cuisine, and others will each add a representative ingredient from one of Ulsan's five districts to assemble a single ssam wrap. An awards ceremony for the "Ulsan Representative Bread-Making Contest" will also be held. On the second day, Saturday, the program will include a healing cooking show titled "The Comfort of a Meal: Stories of Food as Medicine," world traditional folk performances, a DK Ensemble concert, and a Ulsan food industry community gathering.

Throughout the festival, local singers will perform on the streets, and visitors can take part in a Ulsan food OX quiz, a blind taste test and a food initial-consonant quiz. Food booths representing all five districts will offer signature local dishes: Jung-gu's cockle bibimbap, Nam-gu's stir-fried webfoot octopus, Dong-gu's gukbap, Buk-gu's handmade pork cutlet and boiled octopus, and Ulju-gun's water parsley and beef yukhoe. Starting at 2 p.m., free tastings from "Ulsan's Most-Queued Restaurants" will be held at each district's booth.

Family-oriented activities will also be available, including body composition analysis and personalized nutrition counseling by the Ulsan Metropolitan City Dietitians Association, a rice cake exhibition and hands-on workshop, a Dubai Chewy Cookie-making session in the shape of Ulsan's mascot "Haewuli," a food culture improvement information booth, an eco-friendly school meal promotion booth, and a health massage experience and rest area.