[UPGRADING KOREAN CULTURE (7)]Global demand grows for Korean food
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This is the seventh in an eight-part series of articles that looks into the country's cultural and entertainment sectors and explores ways to help sharpen their competitive edge. - Ed.
By Lee Yong-sung
Major U.S. newspapers have recently been dedicating column inches to Korean food, reflecting the ever-growing popularity of the country's cuisine.
The New York Times, in its Feb. 7 edition, introduced Korean-style spicy and garlicky fried chicken gaining popularity in the Big Apple. The Los Angeles Times, on the same day, assigned the front page of its food section to popular kimchi restaurants in the city, which has the largest ethnic Korean population - more than 200,000 - in the United States. Apart from Asians, L.A'.s kimchi restaurants are frequently visited by Latinos and Caucasians who have long been Addicted to the pleasantly pungent smell of various kimchi dishes.
On March 28, the New York Times once again used part of its dining section to introduce Korean food - this time, Korean "pajeon" (or pajun, as the daily spells it), a seafood-topped scallion pancake which, according to the daily, is "fun and easy to handle". It also attached a brief recipe for vegetable pajeon at the end of the article.
Standardization of recipes is urgently needed to make Korean culinary products rightly appreciated.
"Traditional Korean food is becoming popular as health becomes an increasingly influential factor in consumers' choice of what they eat", Han Young-sil, food and nutrition professor of Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, told The Korea Herald. The massive popularity of Korean pop culture in Asia is helping draw unprecedented attention to traditional Korean food in Asia - most notably in China, one of the world's culinary powerhouses. Han, who has been working on introducing traditional Korean recipes to foreigners, however, emphasizes that there must be professional efforts from the government to make Korean culinary products rightly appreciated.
"It's good that kimchi is getting more and more popular, internationally, but (without the efforts) it could be Japan that sells kimuchi (Japanese way of pronouncing kimchi) or China, the cheapest provider of kimchi, that will get lion's share", Han added.
Although its popularity is on the rise, Korean food is still a minor player in Europe, dwarfed mainly by Chinese and Japanese cuisine (there are more than 2,000 Chinese restaurants in Paris alone while the number of Korean restaurants is about 3,800 worldwide). The biggest problem, though, is not the content, but how it is presented.
Near the Paris Opera - the epitome of the decorative French Beaux-Arts style architecture located in the heart of the city - is St. Anne Street, which is also known as "Japanese Street" because of Japanese-style noodle houses and sushi bars lined up along the street.
Though not many, there are Korean restaurants too, but the lunch-hour crowd here tends to be Koreans, or Westerners who are attracted to the cheaper sushi menus, rather than Korean dishes. Considering the neighboring Japanese restaurants are appealing to French customers and travelers alike with a few core dishes at reasonable prices such as sushi and ramen noodles, Korean restaurants are struggling to manage their long lineup of dishes, many of which are not explained - except for bulgogi (Korean-style barbequed beef) and bibimbap (mixed vegetables and meat over rice with hot sauce).
Making matters worse, it is often too expensive to dine at a Korean restaurant in Paris compared to a Japanese restaurant. A bowl of yukgaejang (spicy beef soup) is 18 euros (about 23,000 won) at a regular Korean restaurant, while a bowl of ramen noodles is 9 euros.
"They really need to standardize their menu. My foreign friends seem to always be at loss about what to choose whenever we go to a Korean restaurants in Europe", Kang Won-kyu, a Korean car designer at BMW's headquarters in Munich, Germany, told The Korea Herald. What is more urgently needed than standardization of menus is, however, standardization of recipes, according to professor Han.
"McDonald's global popularity cannot be explained by its cheap price or quick service alone. The point is that you can expect food to be of similar quality and taste wherever you go", said Han.
"Standardization of recipes doesn't mean delocalization. Standardization of recipes is needed even within local food culture, therefore even strangers to Korean food make Korean food the traditional way with a recipe when they return to their countries", she said.
With increasing numbers of people being attracted to cooking Korean dishes, food critics and journalists are calling for culinary institutes specializing in Korean cuisine. "There are increasing numbers of Chinese people who are interested in Korean food, but there are few such institutes specializing in China, which I think is why there are so many different variations within a single Korean dish in the country", Yang Hyang-ja, president of the World Food Culture Center, said.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a plan to support competitive Korean restaurants, which includes inviting their chefs for an education program to be run by the ministry to give them certificates as "top Korean chefs" at the end of the course. What is also important for the success of the plan is, according to food critics, nurturing more specialists in the field of culinary business.
By Lee Yong-sung
Major U.S. newspapers have recently been dedicating column inches to Korean food, reflecting the ever-growing popularity of the country's cuisine.
The New York Times, in its Feb. 7 edition, introduced Korean-style spicy and garlicky fried chicken gaining popularity in the Big Apple. The Los Angeles Times, on the same day, assigned the front page of its food section to popular kimchi restaurants in the city, which has the largest ethnic Korean population - more than 200,000 - in the United States. Apart from Asians, L.A'.s kimchi restaurants are frequently visited by Latinos and Caucasians who have long been Addicted to the pleasantly pungent smell of various kimchi dishes.
On March 28, the New York Times once again used part of its dining section to introduce Korean food - this time, Korean "pajeon" (or pajun, as the daily spells it), a seafood-topped scallion pancake which, according to the daily, is "fun and easy to handle". It also attached a brief recipe for vegetable pajeon at the end of the article.
Standardization of recipes is urgently needed to make Korean culinary products rightly appreciated.
"Traditional Korean food is becoming popular as health becomes an increasingly influential factor in consumers' choice of what they eat", Han Young-sil, food and nutrition professor of Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, told The Korea Herald. The massive popularity of Korean pop culture in Asia is helping draw unprecedented attention to traditional Korean food in Asia - most notably in China, one of the world's culinary powerhouses. Han, who has been working on introducing traditional Korean recipes to foreigners, however, emphasizes that there must be professional efforts from the government to make Korean culinary products rightly appreciated.
"It's good that kimchi is getting more and more popular, internationally, but (without the efforts) it could be Japan that sells kimuchi (Japanese way of pronouncing kimchi) or China, the cheapest provider of kimchi, that will get lion's share", Han added.
Although its popularity is on the rise, Korean food is still a minor player in Europe, dwarfed mainly by Chinese and Japanese cuisine (there are more than 2,000 Chinese restaurants in Paris alone while the number of Korean restaurants is about 3,800 worldwide). The biggest problem, though, is not the content, but how it is presented.
Near the Paris Opera - the epitome of the decorative French Beaux-Arts style architecture located in the heart of the city - is St. Anne Street, which is also known as "Japanese Street" because of Japanese-style noodle houses and sushi bars lined up along the street.
Though not many, there are Korean restaurants too, but the lunch-hour crowd here tends to be Koreans, or Westerners who are attracted to the cheaper sushi menus, rather than Korean dishes. Considering the neighboring Japanese restaurants are appealing to French customers and travelers alike with a few core dishes at reasonable prices such as sushi and ramen noodles, Korean restaurants are struggling to manage their long lineup of dishes, many of which are not explained - except for bulgogi (Korean-style barbequed beef) and bibimbap (mixed vegetables and meat over rice with hot sauce).
Making matters worse, it is often too expensive to dine at a Korean restaurant in Paris compared to a Japanese restaurant. A bowl of yukgaejang (spicy beef soup) is 18 euros (about 23,000 won) at a regular Korean restaurant, while a bowl of ramen noodles is 9 euros.
"They really need to standardize their menu. My foreign friends seem to always be at loss about what to choose whenever we go to a Korean restaurants in Europe", Kang Won-kyu, a Korean car designer at BMW's headquarters in Munich, Germany, told The Korea Herald. What is more urgently needed than standardization of menus is, however, standardization of recipes, according to professor Han.
"McDonald's global popularity cannot be explained by its cheap price or quick service alone. The point is that you can expect food to be of similar quality and taste wherever you go", said Han.
"Standardization of recipes doesn't mean delocalization. Standardization of recipes is needed even within local food culture, therefore even strangers to Korean food make Korean food the traditional way with a recipe when they return to their countries", she said.
With increasing numbers of people being attracted to cooking Korean dishes, food critics and journalists are calling for culinary institutes specializing in Korean cuisine. "There are increasing numbers of Chinese people who are interested in Korean food, but there are few such institutes specializing in China, which I think is why there are so many different variations within a single Korean dish in the country", Yang Hyang-ja, president of the World Food Culture Center, said.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced a plan to support competitive Korean restaurants, which includes inviting their chefs for an education program to be run by the ministry to give them certificates as "top Korean chefs" at the end of the course. What is also important for the success of the plan is, according to food critics, nurturing more specialists in the field of culinary business.
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