Hansik and Hallyu: An Analysis of the Filipino Appropriation of Korean Cuisine as a Function of Imagining Korean Culture

Abstract

Before the year 2000, Korean cooking, let alone Korean restaurants were practically unheard of in the Philippines. It took television, specifically the Korean drama Jewel in the Palace to introduce what Korean cuisine is all about. The gradual opening of Korean restaurants was originally intended to cater to Korean expatriates in the Philippines. However, as curiosity among Filipinos brought them to Korean restaurants, the general shock brought by spicy fermented vegetables or kimchi created the imagined concept that ―Korean food is altogether spicy.‖ While it created an ‗othering‘ exoticisation of Korean culture, it created at least two divergent attitudes among Filipino consumers: (1) dilution, or the search for toned down or Filipinised version of Korean cuisine, and (2) authenticity or the desire for ―authentic‖ Korean cooking. From these attitudes can be derived the opening that Korean culture can be understood through by Filipinos through a sustained fascination towards this foreign culture. Hansik is a product of millennia of cultural ecology in which Koreans created thousands of recipes based on topographic-environmental, religious-philosophical, and socioeconomic realities. This historical reality however lacks the necessary cultural interpretation and explanation. It is at this juncture that this paper explores the transmission and reception of hallyu through food production (cooking), presentation, and promotion in commercial restaurants, popular media, and government agencies such as the Korean Cultural Center in the Philippines and the Korea Tourism Organization. This paper looks at the Filipino imagining of Korean culture through the consumption of Korean cuisine, diluted or authentic.