Mac-Adonai Makes History As First Male To Win Hansik Contest

The third time, they say, it’s always the charm. It was more than the charm Victor Mac-Adonai needed to make history as the first male to win the Korea Hansik Contest in Nigeria.

Mac-Adonai won first place at the third edition of the contest, while Oluwasegun Faith and Favour Dajibesh Datiloe placed second and third, respectively.

Established in 2024 by the Korea Culture Centre Nigeria (KCCN), the contest saw a mother and Korean soap enthusiast, Patience Berepele, win the first edition, while Mac-Adonai placed third. In 2025, Deborah Olabelurin won the contest, while Mac-Adonai didn’t make the top three.

But his persistence paid off on his third attempt at the competition. It is not that Oluwasegun and Datiloe didn’t put effort into their meals. Oluwasegun admitted to having a back-and-forth with a Hansik student in South Korea to help her choose her meal at the contest. Mac-Adonai’s experience, informed decision and mindset cinched him the win.

First, tapping into the theme of this year’s contest, ‘the soul of Hansik’, the food influencer with a passion for Korean culture delved into Korean food history to discover ‘the soul of Korean cuisine’: Doenjang, the first Korean sauce ever made.

This sauce (Doenjang) he used in making ‘Maekjeok’, an ancient Korean side dish, and applied the same sauce to his main dish, Doenjang-jjigae. The result was a “concise, balanced taste that is required of any food contest,” said one of the event’s jurors, Chef Godfrey Mario Odoh.

Mac-Adonai’s presentation embodied this year’s contest, “The soul of Hansik”.

The Soul of Hansik is the ‘jang’, the often-fermented sauce consisting of soybean, salt and water.

Contrary to the maiden edition, which explored the fusion potential of Korean and Nigerian ingredients, this edition gauged Nigerians’ familiarity with authentic Korean cuisine.

“When one organises a food contest in another country, the tendency is to focus on fusion food as a creative approach. This year, we wanted to see how much they (Nigerians) have learned about Hansik. People are not that aware about Hansik, and that’s because we don’t have a Korean restaurant in Abuja,” said KCCN Cultural Events Manager, Yunjin Lee.

Unlike in previous editions, the top three contestants deployed the Korean ingredients effectively and efficiently, but “the winner (Adonai) intensive research on Korean cuisine, allowed him to not only utilise the ingredients but introduce other features that represent the contest’s theme,” Mario said.

“I came into the contest with the mindset that I wanted to make history as the first man to win the prize. I had done my research, and I was certain that these were the dishes that would help me make history at the contest.”

As the competition winner, Mac-Adonai won a 340-litre LG Refrigerator. Oluwasegun won a 42-litre microwave oven, while Datiloe took home an air fryer and a blender as the third prize.

Having achieved his goal, Mac-Adonai has set his sights on making history again by creating Nigerian Ramyeon.

Ramyeon is a South Korean version of Indomie. An instant noodle is characterised by curly wheat-flour noodles in a spicy, savoury broth, typically sold in packets or cups.

Post his win at the first edition, he had wanted to start a Korean Food Truck Service. But for insufficient funds, he had had to shelve that dream for the moment to focus on this.

“Half of my winnings in the first edition have been locked away in Piggvest towards that initiative. Right now, I am focused on creating a Nigerian brand of Ramyeon for Nigerians. I have spoken with some Korean Ramyeon brands, including Shin Ramyun.

“I hadn’t spoken to the centre because I wanted to prove myself first by showing my worth in Hansik before I visit the centre with a business plan. This will be my next step.”

Expressing his gratitude to KCCN, Adonai said, “I’m grateful to the centre for this prize and opportunity because, although I am in Nigeria, I am connected to Korean culture. I got into Korean culture out of passion. I am a KCCN honorary reporter. I am not making anything out of it.”

Meanwhile, the event saw the graduation of 15 students from the centre’s first KPop Dance Academy session for 2026, who performed on the sidelines of the contest. Additionally, winners of the KPop Africa Dance Competition 2025, The Xtreme Movement, wowed the audience with their performance of Korean Boy Band BTS’s latest song ‘Arirang’ and its hit song ‘Dynamite’, among other KPop hits.