Paco, the most famous Frenchman among the cast of 'Welcome, First Time in Korea,' visited Jeonju's pastry street with his friends.
On the 9th, the MBC every1 variety show 'Welcome, First Time in Korea' aired scenes of Paco, Jamil and Max visiting Jeonju. Jeonju Hanok Village, consisting of about 700 hanok houses, is taking the lead in protecting tradition with measures such as restrictions on English signs and bans on franchise stores. France's cultural heritage system has a rule that 'within 500 meters of medieval buildings, keep similar building exterior colors,' and an expert explained the similarity by saying, "In France, even if it's my own house, I can't renovate it however I want."
Jamil said, "This Jeonju Hanok Village is totally Paco's taste," and expressed amazement as soon as they entered the street. Max agreed, saying, "They still keep it traditional and preserve that."
Among them, Paco greeted citizens and took photos with them. Citizens approached saying, "Paco the Frenchman!" and "Paco, why are you so handsome?" Those who already knew Paco recognized his fluent Korean, vocabulary skills from selling at the Eiffel Tower in France, and the familiarity he shared with Koreans. One citizen even handed Paco a hand warmer.
Paco greeted in Korean, saying, "I came here with other French friends. Thank you."
Paco, who had shown deep interest in Korea's history and traditions in previous episodes, took on learning pansori, which can be experienced in Jeonju Hanok Village. They learned 'The Song of Love,' one of the most famous passages from Chunhyangga, using the lead-respond style, and found the rhythm more difficult than the pronunciation.
The pansori teacher suggested, "Someone try singing a chanson once," and they soon sang "Champs-Élysées." After listening to the chanson and matching that rhythm, teaching them 'Sarang-iroguna' fit right into their ears. The pansori teacher explained the musical features by saying, "It's okay if your throat gets hoarse. Pansori singers' throats get hoarse and then recover, and through that the voice improves. So pansori is a sound of fermentation. Later you must be able to imitate ghost sounds, bird sounds and sounds of nature."
Max immediately asked, "May we visit the teacher's home?" and the teacher took them home to serve real homemade Korean food. Paco said in anticipation, "If you see the meals prepared by Korean mothers, you will truly meet Korea," and he seemed to have had that fully satisfied.
Next, they visited a famous bakery in Jeonju and tasted Korean breads. After being drenched in various sweets such as twisted doughnuts and chocolate conch bread, they soon looked serious when they saw a baguette. In particular, Jamil and Max continued a discussion about traditional baguettes and what makes a good baguette.
However, they guessed that the baguette price would be a problem. The actual price range for baguettes sold in Korea was 4,000 won or more, nearly double that of France. Fabien explained, "Baguettes are 1 euro, at most 1.7 euros even if very expensive; if you raise the price above that, a revolution will happen. That's absolutely not allowed." DinDin, puzzled, asked, "If a three-star Michelin chef made it and raised the price a bit?" Fabien used a perfect analogy to make them understand, saying, "What if in Korea you charged 5,000 won for a bowl of rice?"
[Photo credit] MBC every1 variety show 'Welcome, First Time in Korea'
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