Chapter 3. Strategies and Efforts of South Korea’s Gastrodiplomacy: Making Hansik Popular
3.1. Implementation of South Korea’s Gastrodiplomacy
Chapter 3. Strategies and Efforts of South Korea’s Gastrodiplomacy:
Making Hansik Popular3.1. Implementation of South Korea’s Gastrodiplomacy
WWhen we talk about South Korean gastrodiplomacy, we need to know about the Global Hansik Campaign. The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MFAFF, changed its name to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs [MAFRA] in 2013) officially launched the Korean Food Globalization campaign or Global Hansik Campaign in April 2008 during Lee Myung-bak’s presidency with the objective of promoting Korean cuisine to the world. In 2009, the Korean Food Globalization Committee meetings discussed the establishment of the institution for the first time. Particularly in May 2009, the promotional plans were finalized under the Hansik Foundation Act and the Hansik Globalization Development Agency, which comprises 36 members from governments, academic institutions, and food industry CEOs (Pham, 2013), with the MAAFF and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism being the primary ministries supporting the plans (Lipscomb, 2019).
The campaign is seen to be aligned with another political goals of president Lee Myung-bak program, namely the ‘Global Korea’ (Lipscomb, 2019). Aware that South Korea’s national brand among the international community was not as strong as the capacity of a developed economy, the president was eager to raise ‘Korea’s global image and make it a more respected country’ (Markessinis, 2009). The National Branding Committee was then established in 2009 with an annual budget of 8 billion won ($5.8 million) designated to manage the development of international cooperation, information technology and corporate, culture and tourism, international community, and coordination (Ibid). Such branding strategy can be seen as one way of helping the country build up its national strength by expanding soft power.
‧
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
The Global Hansik Campaign (hereafter GHC) was designated as the state-sponsored food promotion of South Korea under the Korean Food Foundation (KFF) established in March 2010. KFF was recognized as a nongovernmental foundation aimed at globalizing Korean food through promotional programs and activities. Yang Il-sun, the first chairwoman of KFF, further stated, ‘the Korean Food Foundation aims to foster appreciation for Korean food culture around the world and spur growth in related industries, such as agriculture, food service, and tourism’ (KFPI News, 2013). The improvements made through these sectors aim to help to boost the image of South Korea. The Ministry announced the vision to realize this agenda by increasing the number of Korean restaurants overseas to 20,000 by 2017 and running consultations with existing Korean restaurants abroad. A plan to enhance the quality of Korean food and make it one of the five most popular cuisines in the world was also included at first, but the MAFRA replaced it with make Hansik ‘an internationally beloved cuisine’ (Oh, 2010). The MAFRA invested $77 million in the campaign to accomplish these goals until 2017 (Pham, 2013).
In October 2017, the foundation developed its role and was renamed Korean Food Promotion Institute (KFPI). According to their website, www.hansik.or.kr, KFPI is further designated ‘to match the growth of global food market and produce more tangible results, including agricultural exports, overseas market entry of foodservice companies, and job creation’ (KFPI News, 2017).To promote their product globally, ‘as a public institution, KFPI promotes Korean food (Hansik) through various projects such as overseas promotion activities and support for local Hansik promotion projects using Foreign Korean restaurant’s Consultative Groups in major regions’ (Park Seung-kyu).
KFPI has concluded the three purposes of its establishment, which are divided into three groups of responsibilities.
First, KFPI generates Korean food’s legitimacy. The task requires research on the historical and cultural aspects of Korean food as well as discovering, recovering, sustaining, and developing its authentic form. Second, KFPI organizes Korean food industry promotion. The task concentrates on sustaining and developing the
‧
competitiveness of Korean food and restaurants in the global market and developing the basis for commercialization. Third, KFPI aims to spread the trend of striving for the globalization of Korean food. The activities included are aimed at making Korean food appealing to global palates and making Korean products globally recognized.
To realize such purposes the core primary role of the organization is divided into four groups of tasks:
A. Sophistication of Korean food infrastructure. This task includes programs such as improving the accessibility and utilization of contents, developing the contents and the creation of databases, supporting research on domestic and overseas Korean food, as well as establishing the Korean food statistics system.
B. Strengthening of competitiveness of Korean restaurants . This task handles the activities of overseas restaurant consulting groups, manages the certification system for Korean restaurants, provides training programs for employees of overseas restaurants, provides private group support systems, and supports food ingredients for overseas export.
C. Cultivation of specialists. This task supports educational institutions in regards to Korean food, educate domestic and overseas food specialists, and advance job creation.
D. Spreading of Korean food domestically and internationally. This task is designated for establishing online promotional programs, supporting the industrialization of culinary tourism, vitalizing international exchange programs in relation to food, and expanding the infrastructure of Korean food culture. Particularly toward foreigners, online promotional activities are strengthened through the establishment of The Korean Healthy Food Supporter, as well as KFPI’s own websites and multilingual social media services (KFPI News, 2017).
As such, GHC is the state-sponsored food promotional program of South Korea.
The increasing global popularity of Korean food is hoped to enhance South Korean tangible brands in the international community, such as agriculture, tourism, and export, through which the positive image of the country can improve. Park Seung-kyu, the auditor of KFPI (2019), said, ‘ KFPI strives to enhance the national brand by enhancing the status of Korean cuisine in the global market and securing its competitiveness by promoting Hansik among Korean culture’.
South Korea is aware that all initiatives to globalize national cuisines require concrete objectives based on analysis of research, markets, and policy. First, a contact with foreign diners and building impression are necessary moves. In the beginning of KFPI’s active days, Kim Yoon-ok, the wife of president Lee Myung-bak who also served as the first chairwoman of KFPI, served Pajeon (Korean Pancake filled mainly with green onion) to Korean War veterans in the United States. She did this to share a positive and delicious experience with the veterans for their memories as an introduction to ‘a new taste of Korea’ compared to the poorly served food in the war era (Moskin, 2009). Since then, the official practice of serving Hansik to the global palate started.
The following are six strategies South Korea has employed in its gastrodiplomacy implementation.
The first is embedding a culinary identity to raise awareness of national identity by highlighting culinary characteristics. In its practice through GCH, the government initiated an approach to globalize Korean food by embedding Korean cultural elements in its promotional activities. ‘ Localizing Korean food to promote it in the global market and associating Korean cuisine with Korean culture to a sufficient degree’ are the major key factors of GHC (Suk Hoo-yoon, KFPI News, 2012). Every food has a story, and so does Korean food, and every Korean food represents authentic cultural elements in its story. KFPI publishes a series of guide books, brochures, and videos as well as live activities in the associated restaurants, media, and the website. In addition to recipes and nutritional facts, all these media act as tools to spread information about Korean food and its connection to Korean history and culture.
‧
KFPI refers to Korean food or Hansik as the food indigenous to Korea that was passed down by Korean ancestors through generations, and traditional Korean food has ingredients that are different and unique to Korean food. GHC embeds a message of
‘harmony and balance’ in all the food that it promotes. The government decided to introduce Korean food as the representation of a healthy dietary culture. These characteristics of Korean food are visualized in the KFPI logo, shown in Figure 3 below.
The trigrams in the logo represents the image of ‘harmony and balance’ relationship between human and nature (the balanced elements of the universe: air, water, fire, and earth). The warm colors for the logo itself are designed to symbolize Korean food as food made of healthy products whose ingredients are harvested from nature. The colors also imply a message that Korean food is in harmony with beautiful colors and in balance with highly nutritious ingredients (KFPI News, 2017).
Figure 3. KFPI’s logo structure.
Bibimbap, for instance, is promoted abroad. The name bibimbap ( 비빔밥 bibim-bab) is derived from the verb bibim, which means ‘mixing all the ingredients’, and bab, which means rice. Bibimbap is one of the most famous Korean foods abroad that combines ingredients such as rice, various vegetables, kimchi, meat, egg, gochujang (Korean chili paste), sesame seeds, and sesame oil in a hot stone bowl and is eaten using a spoon or chopsticks.
‧
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Figure 4. Bibimbap
A bowl of bibimbap is proven to provide a balanced combination of nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein, and fiber, which are derived from the elements of Korean food culture of fermented food such as jang (sauces) as well as kimchi and seasonal Korean vegetables. Corresponding with GHC’s promotional goals, bibimbap symbolizes harmonious colors and balanced nutrition (Bibigo, 2015). The same goes for kimchi.
kimchi is well known and branded as a healthy food that ‘makes you stay young’ (KFPI News, 2017).
These efforts indicate how the South Korean government attempts to standardize the characteristics of Hansik. An effort to standardize Hansik abroad is also shown in other activities. For instance, the government added gochujang (Korean red pepper paste), doenjang (soybean paste) and ginseng to the international list of food-related standards and guidelines under Codex Alimentarius in 2009 (Oh, 2010). Moreover, the government launched standardized English names for Hansik menus and distributed them to Korean restaurants in several countries such as the United States, Japan, and China (Ibid).
Creating impressions by using a distinctive slogan is also seen as an important plan in GHC. Unlike Malaysia, Thailand, and Peru, who use the phrases ‘to the world’
or ‘of the world’ in their slogan, South Korea uses ‘Taste of Korea’ as its
‧
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
gastrodiplomacy slogan to create an impression of being different from others because South Korea tries to introduce a different palate of tastes and textures. Park Seung-kyu, the auditor of KFPI, justified that ‘in order to enhance Korea’s national brand, we will use Hansik content to recognize it as a healthy and universal food’. Embedding such a message also seems to be appealing to the current global dietary trend of supporting health-conscious food as a way to fight against unhealthy food. For instance, bibimbap and kimchi are well accepted abroad, especially in the United States, and are considered to be a delicious food for fighting obesity (KFPI News, 2013).
The second strategy is expanding overseas restaurant chains to reach locals and expand the market. In such an agenda, ‘ various Hansik promotion activities, overseas Hansik education, and support to enhance the competitiveness of overseas Korean restaurants have expanded opportunities for overseas consumers to experience Hansik’
(Park Seung-kyu).
‘National food globalization can be achieved through the development of food culture industries’ (Choi, 2012). Restaurants are the essential culinary contact zone a country can provide or support to transmit their cultural knowledge to foreign consumers (Farrer, 2015). Overseas restaurants are also seen as the closest entry a foreigner can experience to learn about a country’s food culture. South Korea is aware of this matter and includes it in its strategy for quadrupling the number of Korean restaurants as well as helping them move and extend the food supply chain abroad. Through GHC, KFPI also has a list on their website of recommended restaurants that are worth a visit. The role of KFPI here is to support them in ways to improve the packaging, shipping, and storage of the products based on research. They do this to standardize the recipes of Korean food around the world.
The third strategy is seeking engagements with international partners to develop food talent. According to KFPI, globalizing Korean food means creating a new culture.
‘If one country wants its culture to be accepted and adopted by another, research efforts
accepted by people around the world. To do so, the food needs to suit the palates of people from different places in order to ‘ make everything easier for foreigners’ (KFPI News, 2013) and create a sense of familiarity. The government launched a program to seek engagements with international partners to develop so-called specialists in Korean cuisine. The New York Times reported that the government set aside approximately $10 million to spend in 2009 for supporting the campaign, such as providing aid grants and funding Koreans to travel and study culinary skills and arts (Moskin, 2009). In line with such an agenda, ‘Korean Food Promotion Institute has registered as a career experience center at the Korean Food Culture Center ‘Dream Road’ in 2018 and held a policy forum for Korean food industry development as well as a briefing session for the distribution and promotion of food tourism products in connection with regional food resources’ (Management Planning team of KFPI).
South Korea’s gastrodiplomacy campaign also currently advocates the involvement of not only private but also public food-related sectors and building a long-term agenda with foreign governments of four other countries after France: Italy, Sweden, the United States, and Australia. Likewise, South Korea is establishing an educational program with its international partners (Lee, 2017). This program is aimed to enrich the knowledge of local food culture before trying to promote Korean food to the locals.
For instance,bibimbap is seen as a very foreign dish to Italian palates. Therefore, a team from KFPI joined by chef Roberto Petza of Michelin-starred S’apposentu created new Korean-Italian fusion dishes: gochujang pasta and chicken stuffed with spinach and kimchi (Lee, 2017). The intention behind this is to both introduce Korean food and increase the interest of people in Italy in buying Korean products like gochujang (Korean chili paste) and kimchi found in the fusion food.
‧
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Figure 5. Gochujang pasta (left) and chicken stuffed with spinach and kimchi (right)
The fourth strategy is the utilization of events inside and outside the country.
Similar to Thailand and other successful countries, South Korea’s official gastrodiplomacy also utilizes promotional events hosted inside and outside the country.
Events in both places have the same goal of promoting Korean food but employing different specific approaches. In 2011, KFPI collaborated with several restaurants in New York City to serve Korean food from a K-Food truck that was driven into the city.
This project was implemented to let locals visit and enjoy Hansik in the form of free lunches (KFPI News, 2017). The same project was also implemented in Milan in 2015 (Limb, 2015). The most recent event, the ‘K-Food Fair 2019’, was held in several big cities such as Los Angeles to cover the US, Canada, and South America; Jakarta to cover the ASEAN region; and Paris to cover the European region. K-Food Fair 2019 is a program organized by aT Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation established by MAFRA aimed to connect Korean food export companies with buyers from these regions. The associated food service companies and chefs join such events to showcase their products and perform their cooking skills. In such events, the MAFRA also emphasizes the promotion of Korean food culture by organizing food fairs catering to local visitors (MAFRA, 2019).
‧
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
At the New York City Wine and Food Festival in 2017, the KFPI celebrated jang, Korean traditional fermented sauce and paste made of ingredients such as rice, fermented soybeans, and salt. KFPI and Korean-American Chef David Lee introduced two Korean-American fusion dishes using Jang as the main ingredient in the KFF booth at the festival: gochujang chicken meatballs and jeyuk-bokkeum-stuffed cannelloni.
Using this opportunity, the KFPI wanted to show visitors the three main characteristics of Hansik: fermented, healthy, and tasty. Following the growing food trend in the US to dip vegetables in various sauces, famous national television Chef Diane Hendericks, further recommended ssamjang as an optional sauce (KFPI News, 2017). This is indicative of how South Korea’s culinary products such as jang can have a way to spread and be accepted by foreign diners.
Figure 6. David Lee poses with his gochujang chicken meatballs (left) and jeyuk-bokkeum-stuffed cannelloni (right)
In the home country, South Korea hosts a number of regional festivals designated to attract tourists from outside and inside the country. These festivals commonly offer various programs such as celebrity and cultural performances, parades, cooking competitions, and food exhibitions. The Ministry of Culture, Sport, and Tourism (MCST) has addressed every festival based on the name of the city to promote the place and its characteristics and cultural and historical attractions and values. Namdo
‧
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Food Festival held as an event to promote various healthy foods from Namdo ecological city; Wanju Wild Food Festival offers visitors a taste of nature and beauty in the wilderness as well as an experience to have eco-friendly food that features Korean agricultural products and wild plants and animals from Wanju City; Seongbuk Multicultural Food Festival held in Seongbuk-dong, the location of 31 embassies in South Korea, was designed to promote diversity in Korea by encouraging foreigner residents such as foreign workers and intercultural marriage immigrants to join as the main participants and interact through food; Sunchang Fermented Food Festival held in Sunchang, known for a city of health and longevity, promotes healthy dietary culture represented by Korean fermented food such as gochujang. 2 To spur benefits in the tourism sector, the MCST also held the General Meeting of the World Association of Chefs’ Societies in Daejeon. This meeting is one of the MCST’s attempts to promote tourism by involving tourists in preparing traditional Hansik with talented Korean chefs (Suntikul, 2017).
The biggest promotional event of Korean food at home is known as the annual World Food Festival. This event offers visitors, foreigners, and local residents the opportunity to experience food from various countries. In such events, the government takes the opportunity to enhance Korean food as the brand of South Korea. For instance, in 2017, the MCST held the World Food Festival with a theme of Food Culture World Cooking in Seoul that was attended by numerous ambassadors and visitors. The exposition invited 50 countries to exhibit their national food. At the same time, the promotion of ginseng is implied by challenging the 50 exhibitors to include ginseng with their ingredients. This was implemented to increase ginseng consumption, considering South Korea is a major producer of the plants.
KFPI also launched a program called ‘K-Food Supporter Alliance’ to invite foreign students living in South Korea who love Korean food to participate in promoting K-Food. Students who join this program are given the opportunity to be in an
KFPI also launched a program called ‘K-Food Supporter Alliance’ to invite foreign students living in South Korea who love Korean food to participate in promoting K-Food. Students who join this program are given the opportunity to be in an