Author: Young Cho

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Young Cho: History, Forms, and Impact of Instant Noodles in Japan, South Korea, and China

Abstract:

Instant noodles are known for being an inexpensive, quick to prepare, and filling food item. The origin of instant noodles is tied to the introduction of ramen noodles to China through noodle dishes from the Chinese, with origins dating back to the 1660s during the rule of Tokugawa Mitsukuni. Demand for ramen noodles increased in Japan post-World War II, when the United States saturated the Japanese market with cheap wheat flour to compensate for Japan’s poor harvest and Japanese troops were returning home from China. Around this time a Taiwanese-Japanese man named Momofuku Ando discovered instant noodles when he fried wheat-noodles in oil, leading to the creation of the first instant ramen, Chikin Ramen, in 1958. From Japan, instant noodle technology spread to South Korea and China, where they were introduced in the early 1960s and became popular. In Japan, South Korea, and China, instant noodle dishes reflect the tastes and noodle dishes of their respective cultures, which allowed them to thrive in their respective regions. Even though instant noodles have been widely accepted in all three regions, sales of instant noodles fell in China in 2013 to 2016, reflecting the Chinese medicinal values of not eating in one flavor, in this case saltiness. In a study done by South Korean researchers on college students in Seoul, excessive consumption of instant noodles has been linked to an increased risk of cardiometabolic diseases. Instant noodles have appeared in popular culture through television, video games, a museum, and its association with college students.

            Often referred to as the life-blood of college students due to being inexpensive, quick, and filling, instant noodles are stocked in supermarkets worldwide. The concept of having adding boiling water to premade dry noodles and flavoring powder, waiting a few minutes, and having a steaming bowl of noodles is a stark contrast to how noodle dishes are traditionally made, which includes kneading dough to make the noodles from wheat and flour and creating the sauce or broth from scratch, which could take hours of preparation. This study will highlight the history, forms, and impact of this popular noodle product in East Asia, specifically in its home country Japan, as well as South Korea and China, where instant noodles have become just as popular.

            In order to understand the origin of instant noodles, we need to understand the origin of ramen, the noodle dish the first forms of instant noodles were based on. According to George Solt’s book, The Untold History of Ramen: How Political Crisis in Japan Spawned a Global Food Craze, although ramen’s precise origin in Japan is hard to pinpoint, all stories of the start of ramen tie back to China. The earliest one, dating back to the 1660s, is a record from Japanese feudal lord Tokugawa Mitsukuni, which describes a recipe Chinese-style noodle dish that was given to him by his advisor, a Chinese refugee from the Ming dynasty (Solt, 16). Another story links the Opening to Japan event by American Commodore Matthew Perry and his gunships in 1853. As Japan was forced to open port cities, such as Yokohoma, Kobe, Nagasaki, and Hakodate, for trade, not only did Americans and Europeans arrive to trade in Japan, but also Chinese, which made key ramen ingredients, such as pork and wheat, more readily available (Solt, 17-18). Additionally, Chinese traders brought with them their methods of cooking, which included a noodle soup called lamein which consisted of hand-pulled noodles in a chicken soup with scallions (Solt, 18). The Japanese came to call this noodle dish Nankin soba, after the Chinese city of Nanjing. The last origin story, and the one that is generally accepted, is from 1910, where a Chinese restaurant in the Asakusa district of Tokyo sold a dish called Shina soba, which contained Chinese ingredients such as chashu (Chinese-style roast pork) and Japanese ingredients such as nori (Japanese seaweed) and naruto (circular cured fish paste) to match Japanese tastes, resulting in a dish resembling modern Tokyo-style ramen (Solt, 19). As the Japanese already had their own noodles, such as somen and oden, ramen was easily integrated into Japanese cuisine.

            Regardless of its time of introduction, popularity of ramen in Japan increased in the years following World War II. In the winter of 1945, Japan, under American occupation, experienced one of its worst rice harvests in history. As a result, the United States sent cheap wheat flour to compensate for the poor harvest, which, coupled with the return of Japanese soldiers from China in 1950, increased ramen production and demand in Japan (JNTO). Due to the famine, selling food for profit was prohibited in Japan, although wheat did get into the black market. This allowed daring vendors to sell ramen, though at the risk of spending time in jail if caught (Solt, 43).

            Around this time, in 1958, that a Taiwanese-Japanese man named Momofuku Ando discovered instant noodles. Due to the long wait times to get into noodle restaurants at the time, he wanted to create a noodle dish that anyone could eat at their own convenience (Zhang et. al., 212). After the credit union he worked in filed for bankruptcy in 1957, Ando built a small shed in his backyard to pursue his dream of producing ramen noodles that “can be quickly prepared and eaten at home with only hot water.” One day, he witnessed his wife making tempura, a Japanese deep-fried dish consisting of battered and fried foods such as vegetables and seafood. Seeing as the tempura flour gave off moisture in the form of bubbles, he was inspired to try the same with noodles. He discovered that frying noodles in oil drove off most of their moisture, preventing them from decomposing and therefore being able to be stored for long periods at a time. He also discovered that pouring hot water over the noodles rehydrated the noodles (NISSIN). Armed with this knowledge, Ando created the first instant noodle, Chikin Ramen, in 1958. Contrary to how it is viewed today, back when it was first introduced to the market, one package of Chikin Ramen was over six times more expensive than a bundle of udon noodles, which only sold for six yen. Despite the significant difference in price compared to traditional Japanese noodles, Chikin Ramen grew in popularity in Japan due to factors like the increase in households where both parents had to work, the introduction of Western-style supermarkets that allowed for higher volumes of processed foods, and due to use of television advertisements (NISSIN). In order to prevent imitation products from interfering with sales, Ando filed and won a lawsuit for the copyright of instant noodles in 1960 and filed for a copyright for “chicken soup hand-pulled noodles” two years later. He founded the Japan Hand-Pulled Noodle Industry Association in 1964 and transferred his patent to the noodle industry in order to lower the cost of instant noodles (Zhang et. al., 212). The success of Chikin Ramen prompted Ando and his company, Nissin Foods, to create their next product, Nissin Cup Noodles, in 1971, which added a polystyrene container and dried vegetables and seafood along with the ramen, requiring only hot water to make. As Nissin began importing instant ramen noodles to countries like the United States in the late 1960s, the term ramen has since become synonymous with instant noodles worldwide. Although today Nissin holds the majority of the market share in instant noodles in Japan with products such as Top Ramen and Cup Noodles and has imported its instant noodle products to over 80 countries (NISSIN). Other notable instant noodle companies include Sapporo Ichiban, Acecook Co., Toyo Suisan, and Myojo Foods.

            From Japan, it did not take long for instant noodles to reach nearby countries such as South Korea and China. In South Korea, instant noodles were first introduced by Samyang Foods on September 15, 1963 with the help of Myojo Foods, which supplied Samyang Foods with the technology to make the noodles, such as conveyor belts (Samyang). Then, in 1965, Lotte Foods (now Nongshim) entered the market with Lotte Ramyeon, which served as a precursor for arguably the most popular Korean instant noodle, Shin Ramyeon, in 1986. As noodle dishes such as nangmyeon (cold noodle dish made from buckwheat noodles) and janchi guksu (Korean noodle soup served in an anchovy broth) were already established long before the arrival of instant noodles in the Joseon (1392) and Goryeo (1251) dynasties, respectively, instant noodles were easily accepted by Koreans. The Korean term for instant noodle, “ramyeon,” is considered separate from the Japanese instant “ramen,” which Koreans instead call “Japanese ramyeon.” Ramyeon in Korea became a popular ‘yashik,’ or late-night food, as well as a quick, inexpensive meal for busy businessmen or college students. Ramyeon is eaten so extensively in South Korea, that it is sometimes referred to as, “the food of the people” (Hurwitz). South Korea also has the highest number of ramen noodles eaten per person from data from the World Instant Noodles Association in 2013, at 74.1 packages per capita (Kim). Today, some of the leading instant noodle brands in South Korea include Nongshim, Samyang, Ottogi, and Pulmone.

In China, a country with an extensive history of noodles dating back to the Han dynasty in 206 BC (Zhang et. al., 209), instant noodles were introduced in the early 1960s and became popular around the country in the 1980s and 1990s (Hermesauto). Even before then, Nissin, in cooperation with the International Food Company in Taiwan, introduced chicken soup instant ramen in 1968. Although the initial sales were dismal, after alterations to match Chinese tastes, the instant noodles became the best-selling product in Taiwan (Zhang et. al., 212). In Hong Kong, the Cantonese Yi mien, or long-life noodles, were a form of noodles that were deep-fried before they were dried, a process similar to that of instant noodles. The story goes that a chef from the Qing dynasty, chef Yi Bingshou, who was preparing for his mother’s birthday feast, accidently put cooked egg noodles in a boiling pan. The chef, realizing his mistake too late, fried the noodles in hot oil, and served them in soup. Due to this similarity in preparation, early instant noodles in China had ‘Yi mien’ on their packaging (Zhang et. al., 211). In addition, while Hong Kong based Winner Food Products Ltd imported instant noodles from Japan in the late 1960s and sold them under the name “Doll Noodles” before manufacturing the noodles themselves to meet high demand (Lo). Although Nissin acquired Winner Foods in 1988, instant noodles in Hong Kong are still referred to as “Doll Noodles” by some locals (Lo). Since then, instant noodle production has been handled by major Chinese food companies, including Tingyi, whose Master Kong, also known as Kangshifu, brand of noodles reportedly owned 43.3 percent of the instant noodle market in China in 2008 (Dobson). Chinese often have instant noodles as a quick meal on cross-country train rides, resembling the Japanese practice of eating bento boxes on Shinkansen bullet trains (Atkinson). Tingyi’s rivals Nissin Hualon and Uni-President owned 14.2 percent and 10.5 percent of the market share in 2008, respectively (Dobson). China is currently the largest consumer of instant noodles, eating 46.2 billion packets in 2013 alone.

Even though instant noodles had a humble beginning as simple, Japanese chicken broth ramen, the highly customizable nature of instant noodles to South Korea and China allowed instant noodles to take distinct flavors and forms to match the tastes or emulate dishes of their cultures, which allowed them to succeed in all three regions. Starting with its home country of Japan, while Nissin still produces its beloved Cup Noodles and Chikin Ramen, it has collaborated with ramen restaurants such as Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto to both advertise the restaurant and allow one to enjoy the taste of restaurant quality ramen in the comfort of one’s home. Most instant ramen in Japan come in flavors such as tonkotsu (pork), shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), and miso (soybean-paste), flavors traditionally associated with ramen sold in traditional ramen shops. However, in addition to traditional flavors there are also Japanese curry-flavored ramen, where the powder for broth is replaced with Japanese curry powder. Besides ramen, yakisoba instant noodles are also popular in Japan. Some notable instant Yakisoba from Japan include Nissin’s U.F.O., Maruka food’s Peyang Yakisoba, and Myojo Food’s Ippeichan Yakisoba. Unlike ramen, yakisoba is a traditional sauce-based street food noodle, with its instant forms only requiring hot water, and replaces the standard soup base powder with a packet of yakisoba sauce.

In South Korea, most noodle dishes are characteristically red and spicy, including the most popular South Korean instant noodle, Shin Ramyeon. Consisting of wheat noodles in a spicy beef-based broth, this instant noodle highlights Korea’s preference for spicy foods, as seen in the consumption of red baechu kimchi (red-pepper paste fermented cabbage) and gochujang (red pepper paste). Spicy instant noodles from South Korea include Nongshim’s Neoguri ramen, Ottogi’s Jin Rameyon. South Koreans often add on to their instant noodles, adding ingredients such as bean sprouts, boiled or fried egg, scallions, and mushrooms, transforming the simple packet of ramen into a substantial meal. Korean instant ramyeon is also commonly eaten with cabbage kimchi (Hurwitz). Besides ramyeon, South Korean instant noodles reflect the diversity of noodle dishes found in South Korea. There are instant forms of kalguksu (knife-cut noodles), bibimmyeon (cold noodles mixed with a sweet-spicy red pepper sauce), jjajangmyeon (Chinese-inspired noodles covered in a fried black bean sauce), and jjamppong (Chinese-inspired spicy seafood noodles). In recent years, there has been a trend of fusion foods in South Korean instant noodles. For example, take the recent internet sensation Buldak Bokkum Myeon, or fire chicken mixed noodles, released by Samyang in 2012. This instant noodle combines traditional ramen noodles with flavoring that resembles the Korean spicy chicken dish, buldak, into the noodles, complete with seaweed flakes and sesame seeds that one would find on the original dish. Another Korean instant noodle fusion food trend is the addition of cheese flavoring to traditional instant noodles. A recent Korean instant noodle trend that started five years ago, the Korean instant noodle company Paldo Foods released Cheese Ramyeon, a version of spicy ramyeon that included a packet of cheese powder in addition to powdered soup base, dehydrated vegetables, and noodles. Since then, other companies such as Ottogi have produced their own versions of cheese ramyeon. For instance, the aforementioned Buldak Ramen also received versions that included a powder for cheese and carbonara sauce in 2016 and 2017, respectively. It is said that this addition of powdered cheese to instant noodles came from the habit of some South Koreans who put American cheese on their food after its introduction to Korea by American troops during the Korean war (Hu).

In China, flavors such as beef, seafood, and spicy chili are commonly found in instant noodles. In particular, the leading brand of Chinses noodles, Master Kong, is known for its braised beef flavor. Like Korea and Japan, some instant noodle dishes imitate local flavors. For instance, Master Kong’s Tomato Sauce Instant Noodle attempts to replicate the flavor Sichuan tomato egg noodles. Another instant noodle brand, Baijia, incorporates key elements of Sichuan cuisine into their Sichuan line of products such as spiciness (chili oil) and Sichuan peppers. China also imports instant noodles from other countries, such as Shin Ramyeon from South Korea.

Although instant noodles became popular and eaten by many across Japan, South Korea, and China, over time, its consumption has been met with some resistance. For instance, the number of instant noodle packets eaten in China declined from 46.2 billion packets in 2013 to 38.5 billion packets in 2016, while consumption in all other markets remained constant over the years (Atkinson). While this trend can be attributed to the population shift of people from urban to rural areas since 2014 and the rise of the food delivery system in China (Atkinson), the main motivation for the decrease in consumption of instant noodle in China can be explained through traditional Chinese food culture’s association with health.

As explained in Lin Yutang’s The Importance of Living, the Chinese believe it is “a pretty crazy life when one eats in order to work and does not work in order to eat.” Food is seen as one of the main forms of enjoyment in China, with Yutang mentioning that Chinese people’s lives were “not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of their cooks” (Yutang, 248). Given this ideology, the Chinese had no distinction between food and medicine, with doctors as early as 6th century AD, attempting to cure illnesses with food first before medicine. Early Chinese cookbooks resembled pharmacopoeias, and Chinese medicine shops had medicinal ingredients, such as the horns of a young deer, next to ham (Yutang, 250). One important principle that connects Chinese food to medicine is the harmonizing of flavors—sour, salty, sweet, bitter, and pungent. Each flavor has a certain benefit to health by affecting different organs, such as bitterness helping the stomach and producing saliva. Instant noodles are categorized as salty, both due to the addition of salt in the noodle-making process and the use of salt in the broth. For instance, South Korea’s Shin Ramyeon noodles, which are also popular in China, contains 930 mg of sodium, 39 percent of the daily value of sodium. Eating excessively in one flavor, in this case saltiness, is frowned upon in Chinese society as it brings imbalance to the body. Therefore, the declining numbers of instant noodle sales from 2013 to 2016 can be explained as the rise of a more health-conscious China holding reviving its traditional values on food during the global increase in ‘unbalanced’ processed foods.

Continuing in topic of health, it has been shown that overconsumption of instant noodles was linked to obesity and higher risk of cardiometabolic disease. A study conducted on college students in Seoul, South Korea found an association frequent consumption of instant noodles to an increased risk factors of cardiometabolic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes (Huh et. al.). Recent studies also reported a positive correlation between obesity and frequent instant noodle consumption, as well as an increasing trend of premature death due to cardiovascular diseases in young adults 20 to 49 years of age in South Korea (Huh et. al.). Instant noodles, made with refined wheat flour (carbohydrate), as well as containing high amounts of calories, and fats. The soup powder or sauce also contributes fats and sugar, increasing the risk of cardiometabolic disease (Huh et. al.). In response to health concerns, noodle manufacturers have opted to alter the manufacturing process of instant noodles, such as dehydrating the noodles using hot air, which results in less fat content than traditional instant noodles, which are dehydrated by flash-frying. In 2016, Nissin reduced the amount of sodium and decided not to use MSG in their Cup Noodles (NISSIN).

In popular culture, instant noodles have been featured in television, internet, video games, and even has its own dedicated museum. Many South Korean movies and dramas feature scenes where characters are eating instant noodles, often in their bowl-noodle form, outside of a convenience store. Recently, in 2014 Samyang’s Buldak Bokkum Myeon became immensely popular not only in South Korea, but overseas as well due to it being the focus of an internet challenge called, “The Fire Noodle Challenge,” due to its intense spicy flavor. First done on the channel “Korean Englishman,” this challenge required the participants to finish a bowl of Buldak Noodles without a means to cool down the heat from the noodles. The video went viral, with other YouTubers filming themselves doing the challenge as well. In Japan, Nissin partnered with video game developer Square Enix in 2016 to cross-promote their video game, Final Fantasy XV. Advertisements for the game were present on Cup Noodle packages in 2016 while in-game content promoting Cup Noodles appeared within the game as product placement (Frank). Additionally, Cup Noodles has its own dedicated museum in Yokohoma dedicated to the accomplishments of creator Momofuku Ando and the Nissin. The interactive museum features the history and spread of Nissin products, including a replica of the shed where Ando discovered the method of flash-frying noodles. The museum even contains workshops that allows one to make their own cup noodles by mixing and matching toppings and soup flavorings (Cup Noodle Museum). However, the most well-known use of instant noodles in popular culture is its constant association with college students. Due to being inexpensive, time-saving, and filling, instant noodles have become one of the more affordable food options for college students. This, along with the prevailing stereotype that college students are poor, has led to many jokes and associations with college students as ‘ramen-eaters’ in not only East Asian countries like South Korea and China, but overseas in the United States as well.

            From its humble beginnings as a solution to waiting in long lines in Japan to an inexpensive meal that became popular among college students, instant noodles have become a prominent food product in Japan, South Korea, and China. The rise in popularity of the instant noodle can be attributed to its inexpensiveness, as well as its relatively short-time of preparation. The instant noodle also adapted to the tastes of the people of Japan, South Korea, and China, which allowed it to thrive in all three countries as a prominent form of noodles. Although excessive consumption has been linked to health issues, instant noodle companies are coming up with alternative processing techniques to make instant noodles a viable meal option. As instant noodle products continue to evolve and spread globally, perhaps one day they might truly become a “food of the people” across all cultures.

 

 

 

Bibliography

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Young Cho: Early Days of a South Korean Immigrant to the United States

As a first-generation South Korean immigrant to the United States, I was constantly made aware of my heritage. My family was originally from the South Gyeongsang Province of South Korea, born and raised in farming communities near the cities of Gimhae and Busan. My family, consisting of me, my mom, my dad, and my little brother, initially arrived in Athens, Georgia, where my dad had gotten a position to work as a chemist for the University of Georgia.

My family had to leave most of our beloved relatives when we left, as we had little to no connections within the United States.  My dad, a chemist, received his masters from the prominent Seoul University, the highest ranking college in South Korea. According to my mom, after graduation, my dad had been offered high positions in many Korean pharmacies, but had turned them all down when he was accepted to work in the United States. Whether it was the allure of working in one of the most economically prosperous countries in the world or just wanting to experience life in a new country, in the year 2004, when I was just five years old, my family packed our bags and left the land of my birth into unfamiliar territory.

When we arrived at our apartment in Athens, Georgia, like many minority groups immigrating to the United States, my parents deemed it a priority to keep me and my little brother tethered to South Korean culture. My mom, a former math tutor, used her teaching skills to teach me and my little brother not only multiplication tables using handwritten worksheets but also Korean using paperback workbooks she requested my aunt to send us at the start of every month. We also exclusively spoke Korean at home which provided extra practice and kept us fluent.

Additionally, instead of going to an American church on Sundays, we went to a Korean one, which brought with it a sizable South Korean community that helped show us the ropes of being a Korean family in America. Therefore, it was not too long before we knew where the best Korean restaurants to eat at were and the locations of Korean grocery stores that provided goods imported straight from our homeland, from boxes of napa cabbage to Korean snacks such as tteok (rice cakes). Due to this, my mom, who brought my grandmother’s recipes with her, made sure that our family had a Korean-style meal at least once per day, and preferred that we eat at home than eat out. To this day, I deeply associate my childhood with my mother’s cooking, from hearty fermented soybean paste soup (doenjang jjigae) to pan-fried yellow croaker. A majority of the meals I had involved vegetables, such as beans sprouts and spinach, with seafood also being common in dishes such as boiled clam soup. This preference for vegetables stems from my mom growing up on a farm, helping my grandparents tend to the fields with my uncle and two aunts. The preference for fish is due to Busan, the city close to where my grandparents’ farm was located, is the largest port city in South Korea. My mom used to tell me of her visits to Jagalchi market, one of the most famous fish markets in Busan, where my grandmother often demonstrated her skill of haggling to get lower prices for mackerel and hairtail fish.

However, the most memorable dish my mom made was a noodle dish called janchi guksu. Translating to “festivity noodles” in Korean, these noodles were originally eaten in during weddings and 60th birthday parties. In line with tradition we usually had them on birthdays, as the long noodles symbolized long life. Consisting of long, thin wheat flour-based noodles in a pale-yellow anchovy-kelp soup base, topped with carrots, Korean zucchini (hobak), strips of egg, and a little bit of soy sauce, these noodles were and still is my mother’s favorite dish to make. On days my mom decided to make janchi guksu, the air of our small apartment would become humid and fill up with a salty, fishy smell. My mom made sure to boil enough noodles so everyone had at least a second helping, which was almost always the case. The distinctive umami flavor that came from the anchovy-kelp broth as well as the salty kick from the soy sauce complemented the plain noodles well, leaving me with a warm, cozy feeling and wanting more until I was, as Koreans say, “ready to roll around.”

Today, South Korea is well-known for being a prominent distributor of electronics with companies such as Samsung and LG, as well as car brands such as KIA and Hyundai. Also, thanks to the surge in popularity of Kpop (Korean pop) music worldwide, South Korean culture has reached new levels of global awareness. Although modern Korea is widely known for electronics and popular culture, when I think of South Korea and my relatives, I cannot help but think about green mountaintops too many to count, my grandpa toiling away in the fields, and my grandma haggling for a decent price on mackerel in the local seafood markets.

As of now, it is thanks to my parents who kept me tied to my culture that shaped who I am. Through associating with Korean communities early on, my parents were able to preserve south Korean culture in a country over 7,000 miles away. I am the first in my family to attain citizenship to the United States, and also the first to attend college outside of Korea. However, even though my nationality has changed, deep inside my roots are still embedded in the mountainous rolling hills of Korea. After all, I do have the blood of two proud South Koreans running through my veins.

My goal now is to lead a life that embraces both my identity as an American and as a South Korean. I believe that living in a nation called the “melting pot” of cultures requires those with dual identities, especially immigrants, to pass on important aspects of their culture to future generations. As an American born in South Korea, I hope to one day teach my children and even grandchildren how to speak Korean, eat Korean foods, and most of all, come to love to identify as Korean-Americans, just as my parents have made me.

Analysis

The piece I chose to imitate was Dr. Christine Ristaino’s “Immigrant Story.” Given that I recently became a citizen of the United States this past May, this story particularly inspired me to look back into my early days in America to see how Korean culture has become an integral part of me for all these years. While my story is centered on my life with my two parents and my little brother, as we were the first in our family line to have settled down in a foreign country, Dr. Ristaino’s story of the struggles and hard work her great-grandparents had to go through as immigrants remined me of how hard my parents, especially my mother, worked to preserve Korean culture for me and my brother.

Through Dr. Ristaino’s piece, I learned that economic conditions were a major cultural influence on the people of Campania. The second and third paragraphs of the piece describe how Dr. Ristaino’s family had a “marquis story,” a story passed down the family line that claimed that Dr. Ristaino’s family was originally “direct descendants” of an Italian marquis, or nobility, that gave away every dollar they had to eventually become poor. She states that every Italian immigrant family supposedly had a story of this nature. This legend allows the family to be prideful of their lineage while at the same time justify the poor conditions in Campania. As shown in class discussions and the group projects, southern regions of Italy like Campania and Calabria were poorer compared to the rest of the peninsula, and as a result, many immigrants left the region, such as Dr. Ristaino’s ancestors. Their cuisine also reflected this, as people in the poor regions of Calabria had noodles that were simple and usually had barely any sauce. Similarly, one example Dr. Ristaino gives indicating her ancestor’s poor status was her great-grandfather Carlo Ristaino working as a stone and cement mason building the Hoover Dam for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA program, which was aimed at giving poor Americans a means to work.

Through writing my version of the “Immigrant Story,” I learned that my culture was influenced by geographical location. For instance, I realized that my mother’s insistence on using mostly vegetables and seafood stemmed from her familiarity with crops as the daughter of two farmers, and the preference of seafood most likely stems from the fact that Busan is the largest port city in South Korea, with Jagalchi market in downtown Busan being a prominent seafood market in Korea. In writing about janchi guksu noodles specifically, I learned that Korean culture shares values with other cultures as well, namely China. The noodles of janchi guksu representing long life and being eaten on 60th birthdays are strikingly similar to that of the long-life noodles of China, as they also represent long life (specifically through length) and was shown to be served at the narrator’s grandfather’s 60th birthday in Terry Durack’s short story, “Long-Life Noodles” in his book, Noodles. This shows that cultural values can be exchanged and incorporated into different cultures. Given the close proximity of China and Korea, it is likely that this idea stemmed from one country and, through cross-cultural exchanges such as trade, made its way into the other.

Both Dr. Ristaino’s piece and my piece are embedded with cultural DNA. In Dr. Ristaino’s piece, she constantly refers to the poor conditions of Campania, the region of Italy her family came from, a condition which shaped her ancestor’s cultural values. The poor conditions of the immigrants from Campania can be seen through her great-grandfather Carlo Ristaino working in the WPA program that was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The New Deal was specifically aimed at poor Americans and give them a way to gain prosperity during the Great Depression. Also, while great-grandfather Carlo was off working in the WPA, Dr. Ristaino’s great-grandmother Carolina Peppucci raised fifteen children to help work on the farm, an indication of poverty as children are seen as an extra pair of hands rather than needed to be educated. Another indication of the poverty seen in Italian immigrants can be seen in the low literacy rate in the Italian immigrant community of Milford where Dr. Ristaino’s great-grandfather Bernardino Lombardi served as a letter composer and reader. A low literacy rate is often indicative of a poor economy. As described in Juliana Della Croce’s Classic Italian Cookbook, and based on class discussions, there was an “exodus of emigrants” from Campania and other parts of poor southern Italy, as Italians left the peninsula to find better prospects overseas. However, as Dr. Ristaino describes in her story, “most Italians left poverty for more poverty,” referring to the Great Depression (1929-1939)  in the United States that occurred shortly after the mass Italian diaspora during the late 1800s. Therefore, this illiteracy as well as a need for children for farmhands can be attributed to being part of a culture that prioritizes work over education for children to maximize income for the family.

In my piece, cultural DNA manifests through my mom’s efforts in education and her cooking. As a former math tutor, my mom busied herself with teaching us multiplication tables and Korean as soon as we moved to America. This represents South Korean culture placing a high value on education, as unlike the United States, where extracurriculars are just as important, grades make or break one’s acceptance into a good college. This led to an intensive education system, where students are required to take extra tutoring classes late into the night, with even elementary school students returning home from studying past 11 PM. Additionally, the food my mom prepared for the family consisted of included mostly vegetables and fish. The use of vegetables reflected her coming from a farming culture and constantly helping my grandfather and grandmother out in the field with her siblings, which led to a familiarity with certain crops, as well as how to cook and pair them with other ingredients. My mom acquiring recipes from my grandmother also reflects South Korea’s patriarchal society, where women usually tend to housework such as laundry and cooking, while the men are the breadwinners. The symbolic significance of janchi guksu, being served at one’s 60th birthday and  the noodles representing long life also highlight the traditional cultural value of respect for the elderly, a value also reflected in China’s long-life noodles.

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Young Cho: A Cultural Analysis of My Grandma’s South Korean Kitchen Table

Of varying shapes and sizes, the kitchen table is a universal symbol of gathering, socializing, and, most importantly, eating. While the food served on these tables may provide insight into a culture, how the culture’s kitchen table is utilized before, during, and after meals can also provide valuable information about the beliefs and values held by the culture as well. Despite being ethnically South Korean, due to living in the United States for over 15 years of my life and having parents who believed that the most important aspect of food culture was the food itself, I was never properly informed or made aware of the cultural aspects that came with the usage of the Korean kitchen table. Therefore, the purpose of this study will be to learn the usage of a traditional South Korean kitchen table, specifically my grandma’s, before, during, and after a meal and afterwards analyzing what I have learned to identify any potential South Korean cultural values and beliefs.

What particularly interested me to conduct this study about my grandmother’s kitchen table is the fact that this particular kitchen table had been used by my mother before me, along with her older sister, younger sister, and younger brother, and therefore has been around for over 40 years. It is also worth noting that my grandmother and grandfather on my mom’s side of the family still lives in the same house my mom and her siblings grew up in, in Busan, South Korea. This, in combination with using the same kitchen table, indicated to me that the traditions held there withstood the test of time, and would best represent the cultural traditions and beliefs that were associated with the South Korean kitchen table. The most fascinating aspect of my grandmother’s kitchen table is that it, unlike most tables in the United States that are heavy and locked into one position of the room, my grandmother’s table is portable due to being light and having all four of its legs being able to be tucked beneath it. As such, it does not see much usage until it is time to eat. In terms of physical characteristics, the table is rectangular, can sit approximately six people, and is composed of a red wood of unknown origin, and coated with a protective covering that makes it sleek and shiny. It is not elevated like most tables used in the United States, and has a low profile, requiring people to sit on the floor around it. On the four sides of the table is an engraving depicting an old traditional Korean parade, with a king and queen marching along a road with their horses and servants.

The main anthropological methods I used to conduct my study was an interview with my grandma over the phone, as well as comparison of the information from the interview. As I am currently about 7,200 miles away from Busan, South Korea, where my grandmother currently resides, the interview method was made due to convenience. The comparison method was used to draw important generalizations based on the information given through the interview, especially among different genders and age groups, to identify potential cultural values, and to make cross-cultural comparisons to Chinese and Italian cultures learned in class. To ease my grandmother, the interviewee, into the interview, I let my grandma know personally that I was an “American-country boy,” basically a novice of traditional Korean traditions, and was looking forward to learning from an expert. This was to ensure she was free to talk about every aspect of the kitchen table a question demanded. I also eased her into answering the questions by saying that she could recall stories of any recent or past family gathering or meal that involved the table. The interview itself was organized into three parts, the beginning with the table usage before the meal, then during the meal, and finally after the meal.  Each part was roughly 20 minutes. The questions asked in each part were open-ended and mostly specific to the particular stage of the meal (before, during, after). Specific questions that were asked in all three parts of the interview included where the table was situated during that particular stage of the meal, and any specific roles men and women had during that stage of the meal.

Before the meal, the table would be in the kitchen, completely unfolded, as the older women, which included my aunt, my mom, and my grandma, prepared the setup for the meal. The order of the setup on the table typically involved placing the utensils, the metal spoon and chopsticks, on the table first. My grandma mentioned that she and my grandpa would have a special pair of gold-colored utensils placed at the supposed head of the table, where they would sit, with everyone else having regular silver-colored ones. The food would go on the table as they were ready, with dishes of banchan, or Korean side dishes, and bowls of cooked rice going on first while the main dish, usually some form of stew, large plate of fish, or Korean barbeque, going on the center of table last as they usually take longer. My grandma specifically mentioned that seafood was more often than not the centerpiece of the table and also constituted a majority of the banchan than other kinds of dishes, citing sea urchins, soy marinated crab, and odeng (fish cake) as some of the common side dishes, and grilled mackerel, seafood soup, and grilled hair tail fish as some of the common main dishes. Sometimes, when vegetables or fruit needed to be cut or peeled and not enough room is available in the sink, this process occurs at the table before any food is set. When I asked about role the men and children play before a meal, my grandma said that they usually relax in the living room by talking or watching TV.

During the meal, the table is usually carried by the men, usually my uncle, dad, or grandpa, to be set in the living room area, while the women either finish preparations on the main dish or move to the living room to join them. After everyone is seated, no one touches even their chopsticks until the grandparents, at the head of the table, lifted theirs. Then everyone says, “thanks for the food,” and digs in. At this time the table becomes a social hub, full of energy from the stories, laughter, and even competition as children rush to eat the best side dishes and parts of the main course before their cousins and siblings. My grandma specifically recalled a story about how my mom, when she was in elementary school, would often steal her siblings’ odeng off their rice bowl when they were looking away. Moms would sometimes help young children who were not yet used to using utensils yet eat, often exchanging their chopsticks for a simpler fork. Adults would also transfer food to children and young adults at the table, telling them to “eat a lot.” Most food on the table, with the exception of individual bowls of rice and soup, are shared among those present at the table. After most of the food was eaten, one of the women would bring cups and a large jug of water for everyone to “wash down” the food.

After the meal, the women would move the table back to the kitchen, where the dishes, bowls and utensils were taken indiscriminately off the table and washed. Again, the men and children would relax by sitting in the living room, continuing conversation or watch TV while the women cleared the table. After the dishes were done, the table would be wiped clean with a wet cloth, have its legs folded, and tucked into a corner of the kitchen, silently awaiting the next meal.

Through an hour-long period of questioning and reminiscing with my South Korean grandma about the long traditions of her kitchen table, I was able to conclude some major aspects of South Korean culture, and the kitchen table as a cultural artifact. Through a comparison of gender roles in the preparation and cleaning of the table, the women are responsible for both the setting up and the cleaning up the table, which indicates that South Korea is traditionally a patriarchal society, where the women are responsible for the cooking and cleaning while the men tend to not associate with the kitchen at all, as they are expected to work to provide for the family outside the home. This is also reflected in Italian culture in the excerpt that was shown in class from the BBC show Two Greedy Italians, where the women supposedly, “look after the house and do all the cooking,” while the “men relax,” which is a nearly identical separation of labor that was described to me about South Korean kitchen culture. Additionally, the ritual of having separate utensils for the elders and not eating until the grandparents do shows that South Korean culture is rooted in having the utmost respect for elders. This respect for the elderly, most likely stemming from Chinese Confucian beliefs, shows an acceptance of cultural values from China to Korea, potentially through interactions such as trade in the early days of the nation. Finally, the fact that most of the common dishes present on my grandma’s table are seafood shows that the kitchen table serves as a canvas on which to paint information about a culture’s geographic location. In this case, Busan is a city close to the sea, and therefore the abundance of seafood on the table reflects the numerous seafood markets and shops that would result from being close to the sea. Therefore, the interview I had with my grandma displays the kitchen table as a cultural artifact worthy of study, representing the beliefs, history, and even the geographical location that influenced the formation of the culture.

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Young Cho: Baechu Kimchi

One dish that is important to me and my culture is baechu kimchi, or cabbage kimchi, a form of kimchi that involves fermenting napa cabbage with Korean radish, red pepper flakes, jeotgal (salted seafood preserves), and other vegetables such as garlic and green onions. Even though there are reportedly over 200 types of kimchi, for me baechu kimchi stands out above all others as the earliest memories I have of eating  involve homemade baechu kimchi. It has a distinct red-orange color and a pungent, tangy smell from the red chili flakes and fermentation. The unique flavor, a combination of the spicy kick from the red pepper flakes and the salty, tangy taste from fermentation, in conjunction with the crunch from the cabbage, is something I never get tired of, and especially crave after eating foods that are too greasy.

In particular, my mom’s baechu kimchi is arguably one of the most important foods in my life, whose familiar flavors and texture kept loving and connected to Korean culture even though we were over 7,000 miles away from home. When I was five, my family had to leave South Korea to the United States as my father had decided to work overseas. As a Korean family in a foreign land with no intention of eating “junk food” like hamburgers and fries for most of our days, my mom, who has a passion for cooking, decided that one of the first things we had to do after unpacking was to create a good supply of baechu kimchi. As we lived in Athens, Georgia at the time, a city not known to have any good Asian supermarkets, I remember that once a month, when my mother deemed our baechu kimchi supply low, that our family would make an hour-long journey to Asian marts in Duluth and Buford to buy one or two huge boxes filled with napa cabbages. The day after grocery shopping was, as my mom called it, ‘kimchi making day,’ where she would bring out a huge plastic bin to transform the boxes of green cabbage into one or two months’ worth of baechu kimchi. As this process took the entire day, the burning, pungent smell of the garlic and the red chili powder would eventually take over the entire house, enveloping the furniture, and, unfortunately, my clothes. I learned to endure these days as the mountain of baechu kimchi that resulted from this long endeavor more than made up for the unpleasant smells during the manufacturing process. As my little brother and I grew older, my mom would allow us to help her make baechu kimchi, ordering us to lift large bins full of salted cabbage while she prepared the red pepper paste mixture that would coat the cabbage. Thanks to my mom’s insistence on making homemade kimchi, as I grew up in the States, baechu kimchi has been  beside me like an old friend, constantly reminding me about both my heritage and brings up memories of the various Korean meals I have shared with my family. To this day, even though most people buy their baechu kimchi at the store, due to growing up on my mom’s baechu kimchi, all other baechu kimchi fall short in terms of flavor or texture to me.

With regards to its cultural importance, kimchi is regarded as a national dish of Korea, with some variation of kimchi being served in almost every Korean meal. Today baechu kimchi is by far the most common form of kimchi available and has even become synonymous with the term kimchi itself. Kimchi in various forms has been around the Korean peninsula for over 4,000 years, as during Korea’s Three Kingdoms period (4th to 7th century, A.D.), where, as recorded by their Chinese neighbors, Koreans often salted vegetables for preservation. Before refrigerators, freshly made kimchi was placed into large earthenware pots called onggi and buried underground to start the process of fermentation. While kimchi became prominent in the Korean peninsula after the adoption of Buddhism and its vegetarian diet by the Korean people during the Silla dynasty (57 B.C. to 935 A.D.), the early forms of kimchi were simply salted vegetables but diversified over time to include seasonings like garlic and ginger. It was not until the late 16th to early 17th century during the Joseon dynasty that red peppers were introduced to East Asia through Portuguese traders. Furthermore, napa cabbage was introduced to the Korean peninsula in the 19th century, making baechu kimchi a more recent form of Korean kimchi. Baechu kimchi, while it can be eaten in all seasons thanks to the refrigerator, was originally intended to eat in the fall, when farmers harvested napa cabbage. During Kimjang, a Korean cultural tradition in late fall, for one month families, friends and neighbors would gather together and make enough kimchi to last the winter season. The preparation for Kimjang takes place yearly, as during the spring, families buy seafood to incorporate into the kimchi, such as shrimp and anchovies, and during the summer, they buy sea salt. Red pepper is then dried in late summer  before the Kimjang process begins.

Pictures:

A small plate of my mom’s homemade baechu kimchi. This particular batch was made just last month.

A picture of my little brother and me with my mom’s side of the family in Busan, South Korea. (From left to right: my aunt, me, my grandmother, my little brother, my mom)

Recipe:

Ingredients:

  1. Two large sized napa cabbage
  2. 1 Korean radish chopped into thin 3 inch sticks
  3. 1 1/2 cup kosher salt
  4. 5 cups of red pepper flakes
  5. 1 cup shrimp jeotgal
  6. 1 minced onion (about 1 cup)
  7. 1 cup garlic
  8. 1 tablespoon of minced ginger
  9. 10 stalks of chopped green onion
  10. 1 cup carrots sliced into thin 3 inch sticks
  11. 1/4 cup sweet plum extract
  12. 1/2 Minced apple
  13. 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
  14. 3 cups of water

Steps:

  1. Cut cabbages in half, wash with water
  2. Put salt inside the leaves of the cabbage, then place into a container for 2 hours
  3. Turn the cabbage pieces after 2 hours to ensure even salting, leave cabbage for another 2 hours
  4.  Rinse cabbage with cold water about three times
  5. While the cabbage is getting ready, put 1/2 cups of sweet rice flour and 3 cups of water into a pot, cook over medium-high heat while stirring, stop when bubbles are present, let it cool
  6. Pour the mixture into a bowl, add Korean radish, red pepper flakes, shrimp jeotgal, garlic, onion, ginger, green onion, carrots, apple, sweet plum extract, and mix well
  7. Spread this kimchi mixture on each leaf of the cabbage, place tightly in a container to go into the refrigerator for fermentation