KOREAN DISH may cure bird flu. South Korea's spicy fermented cabbage dish, Kimchi (pickled cabbage in hot chilli marinade), could help to cure bird flu, according to chers," a BBC news report announced in March this year. Ever since eating conscientiously me a trend, Korean food is certainly having its share of the limelight. The history of the internationalization of Korean food is in fact quite short, exporting and globalization spans a mere 20 years. Ever since, Korean food has been introduced at the Olympics, the 2002 World Cup and other international events.
Just how well is Korean cuisine being introduced to the international public today? What methods and policies are required to improve the international status of Korean food? W
hat steps need to be taken to make it a strong favorite among international food lovers? For this month's "International," The Yonsei Annals takes steps to find out the true position Korean cuisine is upholding in the world.

Efforts made

Currently in Korea, the government and many other private or public institutions are taking steps to internationalize Korean food. One good example is SIFE (Seoul International Food & Trade Expo) which opened from April 6 to 10 for five days at COEX (Convention & Exhibition Center). Sponsored by numerous government departments such as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, this expo was devised to introduce Korean food to the world and establish it as another means of diplomacy. Three main themes of SIFE were food, clothing and tableware. Based on the world wide trend of "slow food" and "well-being", exceptionally healthy Korean foods were prepared on specially made Westernized traditional Korean china by chefs wearing Korean hanbok inspired gowns. This expo showed that food is not merely fuel for the body, it is a "culture" that should be presented in all sorts of dimensions.
Efforts do not merely stop here. The Institute of Traditional Korean Food is host to the "Foreigners Experience Program". This venue, which started in 2002 enables foreigners to learn about Korean food, culture and a whole lot more. So far the reaction has been electric; more than 2000 people have participated. The program starts with learning about the basic concepts of Korean food at the Museum of Tteok and Traditional Tableware in the same building. Foreigners wear hanbok and learn how to make traditional food the original Korean way. The class, consisting of 20 foreigners, follows the instructors' guides to making tteok and other traditional dishes. "Most of the foreigners are very enthusiastic about our program," said Yoon Sook-ja (Founder and director of the Institute of Traditional Korean Food). "There aren't many places to learn and make Korean food, especially traditional food, in Korea so we get many applications." The Institute of Traditional Korean Food is also a pioneer in the area of developing traditional Korean food for exporting. Specializing in making tteok such as strawberry tteok cakes, yoghurt tteok cakes, the institute has been inventing new kinds of such rice cakes and helped internationalize Korean delicacies.
Korean restaurants are also playing a role in internationalizing Korean cuisine. The owners of these restaurants are mostly Korean immigrants who started their small restaurants in Korean town areas. However, due to strict restrictions made by the Korean government, these immigrants had to follow regulations of restaurant size, investment amounts and so on. Only in 1992, when the government lifted the rule, were big famous Korean restaurants able to make branches overseas.
For a while it was a way for Korean restaurants to serve mostly Koreans living abroad. Also in major cities, the main customers were Korean tourists, hungry for food from their native land in a foreign country. However this trend is changing, Korean food is finally becoming "hip". In upscale New York, there are fashionable Korean restaurants styled like exquisite bars. Recommended for dating or other such intimate meetings, Korean joints are a new thing. Places such as "Kori" and "Mandoo Bar" are good examples. Kori has a spectacular line of cocktails, all devised from traditional Korean beverages. Mandoo Bar has a slightly more casual atmosphere. Like the name suggests, mandoos in all different colors, are made in fusion style so that the average New Yorker can enjoy.

Problems

Though the situation may look bright, many problems still exist for Korean food. Korean food still has that sense of "any Korean can make the food" quality. There are still few professionally trained chefs in the area of Korean food, the majority of Korean cooks spread around the globe are merely ones with only experience backing them up. "Students in cooking school mostly prefer to major in Western cooking as a more secure payment is promised," says Bae Eun-suk (Curator, Museum of Tteok and Traditional Tableware). "Spending a career in researching and developing Korean food, especially traditional, is not the best option," she adds. Also adding to this limitation is the precious few investments placed in the area of food development. Currently among the entire expenditure for research and development, food barely takes up one percent. "The research on tteok done at the Institute of Traditional Korean Food was mostly done with private funding alone" says Yoon. According to Bae, although all staff work at the Institute of Traditional Korean Food due to their passion, the lack of support from the government can be discouraging at times.
There are still many limitations in promoting Korean food to the international public. The government is publishing various guidebooks about the food found in Korea and its eating culture, but where the books are much needed abroad, they are nowhere to be found. Korean is still rather unknown to many foreigners, many Korean immigrants own Asian    restaurants instead of Korean" restaurants. Such examples are Korean-Japanese restaurants or Korean-Chinese restaurants. People surfing the Internet can quickly find that Korean cuisine is not even among the categories of world cuisine and foreigners are still in the dark about Korean. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is not fully carrying out their responsibilities so more effort in introducing Korean food is needed.
For foreigners who do know about Korean food, many are confused by the difficult names. There are no regulations on how to write the names of Korean dishes in English. The situation is worse when it comes to traditional food. "One time at this food festival a dish was incorrectly written as 'a small octopus with three feet', when it should have been 'a small octopus with thin tentacles' instead" says Yoon. Most of the time, the English labeling is just a hasty translation. This means that the same dish may have multiple names.

Looking to the future

Recently it has been proved that the non-greasy Korean diet is extremely healthy compared to its other Asian counterparts. For Westerners interested in healthy food, understanding foreigners' taste is another important issue. Although the key goal is to promote Korean food to the world, it is crucial to develop food that is wanted by the public. "Many foreigners dislike the Korean method of "sharing" all the food from one dish. To many it is extremely unhygienic," claims Yoon. "Korean food also tends to be too hot and salty for many foreigners' taste, and the usage of ingredients such as fernbrake which is never eaten by humans in Western countries, is puzzling to many people," she adds. It is essential to understand what the world wants and present cuisine according to this taste.
Development is another crucial matter, although institutes such as the Institute of Traditional Korean Food are taking such steps in developing tteok as an international delicacy, the menu needs to be broadened to other popular dishes. Traditional food also needs to be placed in perspective. Instead of attempting to simply make Westernized Korean dishes, new upgraded menus based on traditional Korean methods need to be developed. "Creativity is another key issue in developing Korean food," says Yoon. Making new kinds of rice dishes using ingredients such as chestnut, or Chinese herbs is an example that Yoon suggests. In order for such development to happen, more interest is required by both Koreans and foreigners. Koreans need to have more love for their food and the idea that Western food is more profitable than Korean needs to be abolished. More professionals in the area of Korean cuisine need to be brought forward.
Development is not the only project given, advertising Korean food is yet another mission. Korea needs to use its food as a means of showing the world the true nature of Korea. This starts with the proper labeling of Korean food. At the moment there are no regulations on how to write Korean dishes in English. A strict guide needs to be constructed straight away. Presenting Korean food to the world is another key issue. There are many ways of doing this and participating in international food expos is a good example. Statistics show that in the past, every time Korean chefs and companies took part in such events, profits in the food business rose significantly. Other than such programs, new marketing methods need to be presented. "Food must be understood as a culture. In order for food to be internationalized it must be developed together with other cultural events," says Bae. Such examples are travel packages for understanding Korean cuisine which are available for foreigners today. Once Korean food takes its place firmly amongst food lovers across the world, the spotlight will spread to other aspects of Korea.

International Korean food

Korean food still requires a lot of research and development and many investments need to be made in this area. In order for Korea to become an international country, the food that is eaten by its people needs to get recognition by the whole world. It is important to remember, internationalizing Korean food does not merely stop at selling a few more products of tteok or Kimchi. It is the step to globalizing Korea.

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