A Brief Analysis Of Korean Modern Diet Culture In Dietary Documentary "Korean Table"

It is fair to say that the 21st century is a golden age of diet programs. TV shows are inundated with diet-related materials whenever turning on a television. So, in the 21st century, what are the reasons for the incessant appearance of diet programs in media? And, what influences have diet programs generated and how they impact our lives? Since the late 19th century to the early 20st century, Korean dietary culture had experienced many changes that it became enriched by learning from other nations, in addition to China, Japan and western countries. Under this background, the current paper is to study Korean dietary culture based on Korean Dining-Table, a documentary broadcast on KBS since January,2011.It is more accurate to define food consumption as a behavior showing personal or national identity than regard it as a behavior to satisfy physiological needs. It can also be seen as a behavior that differs communities. Changes in dietary habit provide clues to understand changes in relation between other cultures and the society. In history, a new food or cooking method should experience a process from being discovered to being promoted and popularized. But this process is obviously accelerated due to globalization.To analyze dietary culture, it must, first of all, to know when and how diet programs have appeared. What kind of influence had diet programs in each period brought to Korean? How did they arouse Korean people’s health consciousness? There are many types of diet program, but a same diet or food would carry different meanings if it is cooked in different ways. On this basis, the present study tries to analyze Korean Dining-Table by using Levi-Strauss’culinary triangle, a analytical method of structuralism.Since 2000, programs related to diet have appeared on TV as they appeared on newspapers and websites. With growth in the living standard, people are no longer to be satisfied being crammed but begin to emphasize quality and culture of diet. This is also reflected in diet programs. When watching a diet program, people are not only to get information about the diet but also to find, personally, the restaurant or the cate introduced in the program. The development of Korean diet program is promoted by learning lessons from America and Japan.Korean Dining-Table, among other documentaries, can be called as an experience-type documentary. Not several but one food material is selected for every episode of the program, in which, the time when the material was imported to Korea, its history and culture, and different dishes cooked based this material, are introduced. The information is disseminated with what the host has seen, heard and felt. To begin with, the basis of the selected theme is presented, and new meaning is given to the theme by introducing representative dietary culture. This is the composition of the program. Its characteristics:first, the narrative is started from the view of first person; second, diet appeared in the program is endowed with story. The combination between diet and story is so called as "storytelling", or, "telling a story", by which, one’s personal experience is shared with others. Storytelling here means that "I" exchange information with "others". In accordance with different regions, seasons and food materials, the program of Korean Dining-Table also has different narrative structures. In the program, the most commonly used is the region-based narrative mode, which is better for us to know about local food and culture. A local food is one that can only be made in local place and by local methods, and therefore can be seen as a representative of this place. In general, a local food is valued with significance if it contains local history and culture. A food with local characteristics can be called as local food only if it is combined with local historical and cultural traditions,In every piece of the program Korean Dining-Table, a raw food material that may grow in/on mountain, sea, land and river is selected to convey the theme through introducing the material and local dietary culture. The central theme as well as the place and food material are revealed by the title of each piece of the program. The central theme can be classified in accordance with homeland, nature, time and retrospect. A homeland-related program is to express homesickness, yearn, memory, warmness and nostalgia. This is same emotion of most Korean thinking of their homelands. Meanwhile, it can express the memory of the affection for those disappearing foods as well as for the taste from mother or homeland. A nature-related program is to illustrate food features in different seasons to express, for example, the theme of On Geojedo:Auspicious Snow to Greet Guests. The meaning of "nature" is equivalent to wealth and vitality. The time-related program is mainly to narrate diet changes and social phenomenons during the "625 War", a special period of colonization by Japan. The intrinsic meaning of time here is sorrow for country, hope, custom, tradition and yearn. Though being similar to the nature-related program, the retrospect-related program is to express its theme via personal stories, which, for example, is reflected in sub-themes of "A Taste Immersing in Memory" and "Sweet Memory", etc.The so called Levi-Strauss’culinary triangle is a concept involving three types during cooking a food:raw, cooked and rotten. Levi-Strauss made use of cooking codes hidden in diet symbols to express ethnic identity. It is Levi-Strauss’idea that the reason why people ate certain foods is "they are easy to be recalled". In Korean Dining-Table, many foods are "rotten (by boiling or roasting)", in which, the highlight of "boiling" underlines, again, the important role of soup in Korean diet. The second feature is that in Korean diet, most thick soups, thin soups, fried dishes and boiled dishes are red. The third feature is that most foods are "raw" or "rotten".The importance of dietary culture has been recognized on the national policy level as it being increasingly concerned in the world. The catering industry, as a result, is supported from many aspects. Dietary culture in Asian countries, such as Thailand and Japan, are now becoming worldwide. Japanese sushi and noodle are sold to the world and Thailand’s dietary culture is also welcomed by people around the world. Under the active promotion by scholars from the Institution of European Dietary Culture as well as by the president Nicolas Sarkozy, some traditional French foods have been identified as world cultural heritage by UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific And Cultural Organization). As described by UNESCO, "traditional French foods have become social conventions for celebrating important moments of a person or an organization, such as birth, marriage and birthday". As being accepted as world cultural heritage, French dietary culture enhances the pride and honor of the country. It can be seen from this event that dietary culture is a culture of both individual and collective vitality.Under the international concern on dietary culture, the Korean government sponsored a foundation for Korean diet to make use of international events to publicize its foods, so as to make them popular in the world. As can be seen from this, Korean dietary culture puts emphasis first on health. It is a global strategy to build a image of healthy foods to embellish the real Korea.The war of diet is also the one of culture and economy. Every country will pursue to develop its own culture when its economy reaches to a certain level. Foods, after being endowed with culture and brand, are exported as commodity to other countries. When the song Gangnam Style swept around the world, the term "anti-Hallyu" appeared in some countries including Japan and China. These countries have no choice but to reject Korean culture in order to protect local culture. A wave of Hallyu arose in China due to the broadcast of Dae Jang Geum, a TV drama that is also favored by a large number of Korean audience. The reason why Chinese people like to watch this drama is that it demonstrates not only traditional Korean foods but also stories contained in each process of making those foods. The drama is a unique "diet program" after it being edited and endowed with images and musics, which attract people so much. The popularization of Dae Jang Geum not only promotes the development of Korean dramas in China, but also popularize Korean diet, which turns people’attention to Korean foods or makes them to take a trip in Korea. A Chinese cultural critic even said that "Korean culture is eroding Chinese culture".In 1970s and 1980s, eating foods is only a means for us to kill hunger. Nowadays, with the development of economy, we can eat at anytime we want. There are plenty of such people who are looking about for gourmet shops to taste good cates. A restaurant will become crowded if it appears in a famous diet program, even for once, and it may become a chain store countrywide even it is an unknown.As is known to all, additional value of foods export can be generated in forms of exchange revenue, employment opportunity and sightseeing tour. In practice, good dishes in a region or country hold a large proportion of tourists’consumption and become an important aspect that tourists want to experience. Dietary culture therefore is a key factor that decides which place is the travel destination. As a result, the so called "gastronomy tourism" marketing appears. It’s also worth noting that in the consumption of foods, tourists can really experience the culture of a new place or country, which forms the impression on this place or country, and, consequently, diet becomes a important tourism resource.Above mentioned issues will be concluded and answered in this part. With taking the diet program Korean Dining-Table as the platform, Korean dietary culture expressed in the program has been summarized in this paper, here are the conclusions:1. Korean people’s emotion such as regret and missing is embodied in their foods.2. Korean people express their feelings through diet.3. Lens is used to arouse the most primitive desire--appetite, which makes people be natural and instinctive.4. Nationalism and localism are the nature of Korean people.5. Korean society, where the pace of life quickens but communication lessens, is questioned through diet.