SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – DECEMBER 17, 2025: Contributors Jung Ho-young, Hudukjuk, Monk Sunjae, Son Jong-won, producers Kim Eun-ji and Kim Hak-min, Yoon Jumo Yoon Nara, French Papa, Chinese language Delicacies Witch, and Child Beast pose throughout a press convention for the Netflix sequence Culinary Class Wars: Black and White Chef Season 2 at JW Marriott Dongdaemun Sq. in Jongno-gu, Seoul. (Picture by iMBC/Imazins by way of Getty Pictures)
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South Korean Netflix present “Culinary Class Wars,” which concluded its second season on Jan. 13, has been making waves within the meals business.
Reservations and waitlists for contestants’ eating places elevated by a median of 303%, 5 weeks after the present’s second premiere in comparison with the 5 weeks earlier than, based on a report from restaurant reserving platform CatchTable launched by means of South Korean media.
“Culinary Class Wars” categorizes cooks into “Black Spoons” (hidden masters) and “White Spoons” (elite) cooks, mirroring the dichotomy between road meals and Michelin-starred experiences, and viewers have been desirous to style from each ends of the spectrum.
That is notably true for millennials — these born between 1981 and 1996 — and Era Z, born in 1996 or later, who wish to expertise cultures aside from their very own, based on Euromonitor Worldwide’s Asia-Pacific 2025 way of life survey.
Culinary tourism curiosity
Daybreak Teo, chief working officer of Singapore-based resort and restaurant developer Amara Holdings, stated that reservations for eating places featured on the Netflix present had been “not possible” throughout a visit she made to Seoul final October.
The present’s impression “makes folks sit up and take discover,” Teo stated.
South Korea’s Ministry of Tradition, Sports activities and Tourism introduced a shift to incorporate meals tourism in its 2026 technique, it stated in December — and the nation is not alone on this elevated curiosity in meals from vacationers.
In Singapore, meals was one of many major drivers of file tourism spending between January and September 2025, based on the Singapore Tourism Board. Vacationer receipts for meals and beverage elevated by 15% when in comparison with the identical interval in 2024, regardless of solely a 2.3% enhance in total guests.
And in Japan, round 82% of vacationers reported that consuming Japanese meals was one among their journey expectations in 2024, up from about 70% in 2015.
Meals is a approach for vacationers to expertise genuine tradition, based on Erik Wolf, government director and founding father of the World Meals Journey Affiliation.
“It is much less in regards to the journey and extra in regards to the tradition in every single place on this planet. Particularly after the pandemic, persons are eager to go to extra rural areas, secondary and tertiary areas. They wish to get to know folks, and in a real approach,” Wolf advised CNBC throughout a name.
Connoisseur-street meals dichotomy
Resorts are equally responding to this rising culinary curiosity.
Practically 1 in 5 vacationers particularly sought out new eating places or culinary experiences, with 60% of luxurious vacationers prioritizing resorts with good meals choices, based on Hilton’s 2025 Developments Report.
“Eating places right this moment in resorts can’t [just] be resort eating places. They must be eating places as eating places [in their own right], or venues as venues,” based on Candice D’Cruz, vice-president of Hilton luxurious manufacturers Asia Pacific.
For customers, the main focus needs to be on all the expertise, from seasonal produce to the place glassware is sourced, D’Cruz added. “If I am going into Japan, I wish to have the white peaches throughout peach season. I wish to have the strawberries and the white strawberries throughout [the] season,” she advised CNBC in an interview.
In Singapore, Amara Holdings goals to satisfy this want for cultural experiences by offering guided excursions of hawker facilities and native markets, near its flagship resort in downtown Singapore.
It should not be thought of a loss if “a visitor is not consuming with us for breakfast, lunch or dinner, if they’ll one other close by Zi Char place or hawker middle for meals,” Amara’s Teo stated — Zi Char refers to cheap road meals.
Moderately, it needs to be thought of a win when resorts are in a position to present proximity to genuine cultural experiences, Teo stated.
Clients take a look at fruits at a road market stall in Singapore, on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026. Singapore’s tourism receipts rose 6.5% year-on-year within the first three quarters of 2025 to a file S$23.9 billion ($18.8 billion).
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Wolf identified that most individuals do not continuously eat at high-end or gourmand eating places once they journey, suggesting that Michelin-starred eating places would possibly put folks off a vacation spot since they may affiliate it with excessive prices.
Whereas Michelin options luxurious experiences in its information, it additionally highlights native hawkers or cheaper stalls. Hawker Chan, a former Michelin-starred restaurant, had a $3 hen rice dish on its menu when it was awarded the accolade in 2016.
But for Eric Neo, culinary director at resort Capella Singapore, “tremendous eating is extra about intention, storytelling, whereby we’re given the chance to work together, curate an expertise for the visitors,” whereas informal eating is extra about “velocity,” he stated throughout an interview.
Capella’s tour by means of native markets has cooks perform as guides, main visitors by means of the method of choosing substances and bringing them again into the kitchen to create a dish.
Neo additionally extends invites to cooks exterior Singapore, a part of a want to “convey up a studying tradition between two totally different international locations,” Neo stated. Such experiences aren’t solely for resort visitors, but additionally for the cooks to increase their horizons, he stated. Capella introduced Korean-American chef and “Culinary Class Wars” contestant Edward Lee to Singapore to create a celebration dinner in August.
It is also vital to not lose sight of the historic cultural influences behind the meals we devour, Wolf stated, “particularly the affect of ladies in defending culinary tradition” and “the seeds of delicacies in agriculture.”
