Let Them Eat Royal Court Cuisine! Heritage Politics of Defining Global Hansik

Abstract

The recent race among nation-states to promote national cuisine as a way to counter globalization has marked food as a resource to reinforce national identity and preserve local food heritage. In 2008, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak joined this “food war” by launching the Global Hansik Campaign to reinforce Korean national identity and enhance the nation's image. The government chose royal court cuisine of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) as the national representative to present a unified and culturally refined image to simultaneously neutralize local differences and project its global desires. Yet, rather than providing a unifying front for Koreans to project nationalism, the selection of court cuisine fomented debates among local, national, and international actors about what constitutes culinary heritage. Exploring how the state navigated domestic, regional, and global power relations demonstrates that debates surrounding heritage remain tethered to global forces that reproduce the hegemonic social order.

The Analysis of South Korean Gastrodiplomacy Towards the Increases of South Korean Kimchi Export

“…The first literature is a journal written by Kim Chi-Hoon titled "Let Them Eat Royal Court Cuisine! Heritage Politics of Defining Global Hansik" (Kim, 2017) that has the same scope of research as the second literature, a journal written by Ratih Herningtyas entitled "Korean Gastrodiplomacy: Strategy to Enhance Country Promotion Toward Moslem Countries" (Herningtyas, 2019). These two journals have the same topic, namely about South Korea in spreading its influence through culture to the world community.…”

Recipe for The Global Plate

“…The South Korean strategy entailed the development of a specific perception of Korean identity. Royal court meal from the Joseon period was chosen to represent Korean cuisine abroad because of their historical significance as a traditional dish passed down through generations and containing ingredients from all regions of the country (C.-H. Kim, 2017). It also appears to be the case for the Thailand program.…”

“…What makes Korean program really different from Thailand, is that it capitalizes on the increasing popularity of the Hallyu wave (Korean wave), which is the global diffusion of Korean pop culture, music, and film/TV (C.-H. Kim, 2017). Simultaneously, the South Korean government invested substantially in the development and export of Kpop.…”