• DOI:10.1080/13688790500134380
• Corpus ID: 145365993

Authenticity and representation: cuisines and identities in Korean-American diaspora

@article{Oum2005AuthenticityAR,
  title={Authenticity and representation: cuisines and identities in Korean-American diaspora},
  author={Young Rae Oum},
  journal={Postcolonial Studies},
  year={2005},
  volume={8},
  pages={109 - 125}
}

• Y. Oum
• Published 1 January 2005
• Art
• Postcolonial Studies

From a cultural perspective, food is much more than a source of physical nourishment or a part of quotidian routines. Food is amediumof emotional bonding, social relations, community building, religious practices, and is a battleground of cultures and politics. The focus of this article is the relationship between Korean (American) identity and food. First, I will examine how food is used in identity processes both in the US and in Korea. Next, the problem of defining a national cuisine, particularly the case of Korean cuisine, will be discussed. Thirdly, I will examine the narrative styles and strategies of Korean American representations of the “Korean cuisine”, by analysing how the cuisine is constructed in Korean American diaspora, and then contrasting these representations with those of Koreans in Korea. Food and cuisine are important tools and signifiers in nationalist discourses as well as immigrant literature. In the Korean American diaspora, Korean food is variously an object of nostalgia, longing, and desire; or a symbol of national identity and spirit; or a source of conflict, alienation, and embarrassment. Korean cuisine in the US is politicised and negotiated, hybridised and multilayered, gendered and classed, as is any other aspect of diaspora.